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Every year on April 7th, the World Health Organization celebrates World Health Day. Nursing's affiliation with the World Health Organization dates back to 1948, when the International Council of Nurses' relationship with the World Health Organization was officially recognized (International Council of Nurses, n.d.). More recently, the World Health Organization designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife in honor of Florence Nightingale's 200th birthday (National Army Museum, n.d.). Commemorating World Health Day is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate improvements in global health and to determine the work that still needs to be done.
As nurse educators and administrators of nursing education, we need to share the message that global health affects all of us. With the rapid pace of air travel today, infectious diseases like Zika, Ebola, or severe acute respiratory syndrome can spread to our own communities within 24 hours. Global health also is affected by climate change through alterations in disease vectors. For example, recent relatively mild winters in the United States have resulted in higher incidences of West Nile virus and Lyme disease (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Scientists resolutely affirm the reality of climate change, how it is exacerbated by human activity, and the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to its effects.
Climate change is associated with an increase in severe weather events, resulting in injury and death due to hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat, or floods. Long-term health effects due to climate change can include loss of crops due to drought or floods and resultant malnutrition, as well as contaminated water supplies. Families may be displaced following severe weather events, leading to a loss of their homes, jobs, access to health care, and entire communities. Climate change disproportionately affects low-income communities that find it difficult to recover from weather variability and climactic shocks.
Climate change also contributes to diminished air quality, resulting in increased asthma prevalence, incidence, and morbidity. Over recent decades, the prevalence and severity of asthma has risen globally, with the most dramatic increases among minority and impoverished populations (Nunes, Pereira, & Morais-Almeida, 2017).
Although the challenges associated with climate change can create hardships for families in the United States and...