Climate changes, economic downturn and children's health

Abstract

Compared to adults, children are less able to survive extreme weather events. Therefore, the climate crisis is creating a real crisis of children's rights. Environmental hazards, shock and stress are already having devastating effects on the well-being of the youngest children, who face a crisis of water, health, education, protection and participation in social life and the economic benefits that should flow from it. The realization that fundamental changes are needed to address both growing inequality and climate chaos will have to be a globally shared concept, to avoid failing our children, whose voices and interests are often not heard or not taken seriously enough in the adults’ world. This brief commentary briefly discusses the impact of climate changes and related economic downturn on children's health.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Economic downturn
• Health