Eleventh International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

The devastating impacts of climate change are obvious on the environment and humans. However, given their weak adaptive capacities and resilience to impacts of climate change, the older adults and children are the most vulnerable. It is against this background that this paper examines the impact of climate change on the health of older adults in selected cities in Southwestern Nigeria. It analyses the trend of the climatic parameters, the types, prevalence and, both inter and intra urban variations in Climate Related Diseases (CRDs). A total of 1,154 questionnaires were randomly administered on older adults Ibadan, Osogbo and Ilorin in the three cities to elicit information on the prevalent CRDs. While CRDs from 2000 to 2015 were obtained from Teaching Hospitals in the three cities. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze inter and intra city variations in CRDs. The study reveals that the six most prevalent CRDs among older adults were respiratory infection (32%) hypertension (27%), diarrhea (15%), malaria (13%), while people within 60-69 years (52.1%) were the most vulnerable. Also, variations exist in the incidence of CRDs among cities with Osogbo having the highest (37%). The findings also show that the relationship between climatic parameters and diseases is significant (p= 0.003, R2=0.238). The study recommends green environmental management policy, awareness programmes on health implication of climate change and the need to maintain a hygienic environment, a balanced nutrition and clean healthy lifestyles.