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Managing the Health Impacts of Drought in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Aderita Sena

    (Institute of Health Communication and Information (ICICT), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Av. Brasil 4365, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21045-900, Brazil)

  • Christovam Barcellos

    (Institute of Health Communication and Information (ICICT), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Av. Brasil 4365, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21045-900, Brazil
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Carlos Freitas

    (National School of Public Health (ENSP), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Av. Brasil 4036, RJ 21040-361, Brazil
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Carlos Corvalan

    (Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Brasilia 70800-400, Brazil
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

Drought is often a hidden risk with the potential to become a silent public health disaster. It is difficult to define precisely when it starts or when it is over, and although it is a climatological event, its impacts depend on other human activities, and are intensified by social vulnerability. In Brazil, half of all natural disaster events are drought related, and they cause half of the impacts in number of affected persons. One large affected area is the semiarid region of Brazil’s Northeast, which has historically been affected by drought. Many health and well-being indicators in this region are worse than the rest of the country, based on an analysis of 5565 municipalities using available census data for 1991, 2000 and 2010, which allowed separating the 1133 municipalities affected by drought in order to compare them with the rest of the country. Although great progress has been made in reducing social and economic vulnerability, climate change and the expected changes in the semiarid region in the next few decades call for a review of current programs, particularly in public health, and the planning of new interventions with local communities. This study reviews the literature, analyzes available data and identifies possible actions and actors. The aim is to ensure there will be sufficient and sustainable local adaptive capacity and resilience, for a population already living within the limits of environmental vulnerability.

Suggested Citation

  • Aderita Sena & Christovam Barcellos & Carlos Freitas & Carlos Corvalan, 2014. "Managing the Health Impacts of Drought in Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:10:p:10737-10751:d:41262
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Helen Berry & Kathryn Bowen & Tord Kjellstrom, 2010. "Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(2), pages 123-132, April.
    2. Michel Jancloes & Madeleine Thomson & María Mánez Costa & Chris Hewitt & Carlos Corvalan & Tufa Dinku & Rachel Lowe & Mary Hayden, 2014. "Climate Services to Improve Public Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-5, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Coral Salvador & Raquel Nieto & Cristina Linares & Julio Díaz & Luis Gimeno, 2020. "Quantification of the Effects of Droughts on Daily Mortality in Spain at Different Timescales at Regional and National Levels: A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Aderita Sena & Kristie Ebi, 2020. "When Land Is Under Pressure Health Is Under Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Dayanna Rodrigues da Cunha Nunes & Orivalde Soares da Silva Júnior & Renata Albergaria de Mello Bandeira & Yesus Emmanuel Medeiros Vieira, 2023. "A Robust Stochastic Programming Model for the Well Location Problem: The Case of The Brazilian Northeast Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Babak Jalalzadeh Fard & Jagadeesh Puvvula & Jesse E. Bell, 2022. "Evaluating Changes in Health Risk from Drought over the Contiguous United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Anna Yusa & Peter Berry & June J.Cheng & Nicholas Ogden & Barrie Bonsal & Ronald Stewart & Ruth Waldick, 2015. "Climate Change, Drought and Human Health in Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-54, July.
    6. G. Y. Valenzuela-Morales & M. Hernández-Téllez & C. R. Fonseca-Ortiz & M. A. Gómez-Albores & A. Esquivel-Ocadiz & R. Arévalo-Mejía & A. Mejía-Olivares & C. A. Mastachi-Loza, 2023. "Climatic and socioeconomic regionalization of the meteorological drought in Mexico using a predictive algorithm," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1381-1403, June.
    7. Júlia Alves Menezes & Ana Paula Madureira & Rhavena Barbosa dos Santos & Isabela de Brito Duval & Pedro Regoto & Carina Margonari & Martha Macêdo de Lima Barata & Ulisses Confalonieri, 2021. "Analyzing Spatial Patterns of Health Vulnerability to Drought in the Brazilian Semiarid Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-19, June.

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