Title: Managing health effects of extreme weather events

Authors: Siva Ram Vemuri

Addresses: Charles Darwin University, Australia

Abstract: Awareness of health consequences of human impacts on environments is not significantly changing the way health is currently being managed. Health models that are predicated on stable climate are not necessarily the most suitable under changing environmental conditions. The premise of the paper is that alternatives to |business as usual| health management initiatives are necessary as health costs are expected to escalate partly due to changing environments. This article is concerned with managing health effects due to extreme weather events. The paper deals with extreme weather events because of their inherent nature - as they lack spatial and temporal resolution and because of the challenges they pose, as climate models are unable to describe them adequately. The article suggests adopting an integrated multidimensional management system that links environmental context with health outcomes. Such a system assists health management in two significant ways. First, the system allows for creation of feedback mechanisms that can be used for generating better health management models. Second, the system enables learning to occur so that continuous improvement of health management is possible.

Keywords: health effects; extreme weather events; environmental impact; health management initiatives; feedback mechanisms; modelling; learning; human health; continuous improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2004.053914

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2004 Vol.6 No.1, pp.17 - 28

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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