February 20, 2024 | Originally published on Healthy Children
By: Pragya Rai, MD, FAAP, Elizabeth Friedman, MD, MPH, FAAP, Sheela Mahnke, MD, FAAP
Extreme heat and air pollution affect everyone, but especially children.
Children’s bodies and behaviors are different from adults. These differences mean kids are at higher risk of health problems from heat and air pollution. And they will be exposed to even more health issues unless we address climate change.
Air pollution comes from driving and transportation, industry, agriculture, wildfires and human activities that rely on burning fossil fuels for energy. These activities also create heat-trapping greenhouse gases, a main cause of climate change.
Read on to learn about solutions to protect kids from health problems caused by heat and air pollution…. READ THE FULL ARTICLE>
Elizabeth Friedman, MD, MPH, FAAP, is the medical director of the environmental health program and physician at Children’s Mercy, Kansas City, Mo. She is director of Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit Region 7 and assistant professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Medicine. She is a member of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health steering committee, co-chair of the Academic Pediatric Association Environmental Health, Climate Change and Sustainability Special Interest Group and a co-founder of the Missouri Clinicians for Climate Action.
Pragya Rai, MD, FAAP, is a pediatric pulmonologist at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, WA. She was a Climate and Health Equity Fellow for 2022 of The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. She is a certified Climate for Health ambassador, member of the Washington Pediatricians for Climate Action, and a steering committee member of 350 Spokane.
Sheela Mahnke, MD, FAAP, is a general pediatrician at a non-profit clinic, Every Child Pediatrics, in Denver, Colo. She has a passion for environmental health issues, particularly climate change, clean air and environmental justice. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Environmental Health and Climate Change and the AAP Colorado Chapter.
The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health or its members.