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Health has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "a state
of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity." Different aspects of this well-being are related to
weather and climate; primarily, however, it depends fully on the community's
welfare. Because Latin America has a large tropical and subtropical environment,
its inhabitants already are exposed to a number of infectious diseases and pests
typical of these zones. The most vulnerable communities are those living in
poverty, those with a high prevalence of undernutrition, and those with chronic
exposure to infectious disease agents (IPCC 1996, WG II, Section 18.1.3). As
a result, an increasing number of people who are living under these critical
conditions in Latin America would be affected if, as expected, global warming
aggravates disease and pest-transmission processes. Table
6-8 provides data on the estimated number of undernourished people in Latin
America.
The major potential health impacts have been classified as "direct" and "indirect"
impacts, according to whether they occur predominantly via the direct effect
of exacerbated values of one or more climate variables (e.g., temperature, precipitation,
solar radiation) on the human organism or are mediated by climate-induced changes
in complex biogeochemical processes or climatic influences on other environmental
health hazards.
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