Indigenous health at risk from rising temperatures: researchers

ABC News Online, Posted Mon Jan 5, 2009 4:26pm AEDT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/05/2459487.htm

Researchers are warning climate change will have a bigger impact on Indigenous people than it will on non-Aboriginal Australians.

An article in the Medical Journal of Australia says resources are needed now to deal with the problem.

The article says temperatures could rise by at least three degrees Celsius in the north by the year 2050.

It says that will be a major problem in remote communities, where cardiovascular and respiratory disease is rife and facilities are not adequate to shield people from the heat.

The report also warns of an increase in communicable diseases.

It says rising temperatures will create good breeding grounds for disease carrying mosquitoes.

Potentially deadly bacteria, already rampant in Indigenous communities, will also thrive under the warmer conditions, while research shows the incidence of bacterial diarrhoea alone could rise by up to 18 per cent.