Global warming puts children at greater health risk

Washington: Climate change poses a threat to human health and safety, but children are uniquely vulnerable, especially those in the poorest countries, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in a policy statement released on Monday.

"Children are uniquely at risk to the direct impacts of climate changes like climate-related disaster -- including floods and storms -- where they are exposed to increased risk of injury, death, loss of or separation from caregivers and mental health consequences," explained lead author of the policy statement Samantha Ahdoot.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 88 percent of the existing burden of disease attributable to climate change occurs in children younger than five years old.

"They are also more vulnerable to the secondary impacts of global warming, like disease,” Ahdoot pointed out.

Children in the world's poorest countries, where the disease burden is already disproportionately high, are most affected by climate change, according to a technical report that accompanies the policy statement.