A healthy body and a sound mind, a prerequisite to a happy life, has taken a downward trend with the change in climate patterns impacting every walk of life with health the most affected.
The ailing population across different age groups has increased - from the young to the old, health complaints have surged in recent years as per data collected from villages and hospitals.
Further, reports culled from villages indicated a surge in cases of mental illness, breathlessness, cough, high fever, joint pains and stomach ache.
Recently a mumps-like viral infection was also reported in Manipur with children in the age group from 4 to 14 years of age being the most affected.
It may also be mentioned that several cases of asiatic water buffaloes, cows, piglets and poultry death has been widely reported in the state with farmers incurring heavy loss, and has become a recurring issue.
Other diseases has surpassed Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a disease which was once considered a dreaded one, due to environmental, inclement weather conditions and poor food habits which are nothing but outcomes of long simmering climatic undercurrents rearing its ugly tentacles what are called impacts of changing climate patterns, a challenging concerns facing the global world today.
Coupled with these, people's scant regard for nutritious and organic foods is a matter of cause and effect. The food people consume and the resultant health conditions reflects whether they are taking healthy food or spurious ones.
Looming question also arises as to why people have lately become very prone to illness. The writing on the wall says it all with the food they take; the air they breathe and the water they drink being contaminated and polluted due to man-made actions.
Commenting on the impact of climate change on public health, a doctor who is familiar with the prevailing public health system of Ukhrul district said diseases like scrub typhoid, dengue, malaria and water borne diseases, among others, which were less reported in the last decade, had increased sharply in recent years. The doctor attributed this to the impact of changing climate patterns on human health.
People talk of organic and its health benefits, but like the proverbial “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, similarly it must be noted that not all that people sell in the market is organic. In their rush to earn quick money farmers have started using chemical fertilizers in their farms while selling in the guise of organic cushioning chemical produce with eye-catching items.
They do this notwithstanding its long term effect on health, in particular, the consumers.
However, the good news is that there are still several farmers who religiously preserve their farms for pure organic.
The abrupt shift in climate, particularly heat waves hovering in the surface and atmosphere has made life miserable for the poor yet hardworking people who toil day in and day out in the fields for their family sustenance. But the magnitude of the heat was such that they were compelled to stay indoors. The crops they had planted were scorched to death with the exception of climate resilient crops like millet.
The most tangible impact of climate change is far flung villagers tagging ‘fan’ as a basic necessity in their homes today, which was unheard of in the past decades. Local populace complaints of its way too hot to stay outdoors let alone working in the fields in such conditions where the level of humidity and temperature is soaring has become the talk of the villagers.
These findings are based on the research conducted to explore the status of public health in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, a home of the unique and endangered Shirui Lily, the state flower.
Unpredictable rainfall is another pressing concern. Prolonged exposure to high temperature and heavy rainfall accompanied by hail and windstorm has led to massive destruction of lives and property in the state. Landslides and mudslides have become a recurring scene throwing life out of gear with the main lifeline and inter-village roads chock-a-blocked. In all these misfortunes mankind borne the brunt.
Disclosing exclusively to the Imphal Free Press, Aso K, 57, who is a cultivator from Ukhrul district said: “In our days people who have rice were valued and highly regarded in the society. They were regarded as rich and people listened to them.”
“The paddy we sow was purely organic. Most of us were hale and hearty, physically and mentally. Those who were considered rich have enough to last 5 to 10 years with people who harvested less burrowing from them and paying with interest when the due date comes. We cultivate enough plots of fields and farm lands as much as we can and almost 90 per cent had bumper harvest. Our daily life revolved around it,” he recalled.
“Sadly, incentives received from the government have made people lazy, including me. This has made us live in our comfort zone wrongly believing that aid provided by the government is enough to manage, an Utopian dream. We have enough plot of arable land to plough, sow and cultivate and with help from experts on soil management, irrigation and crop patterns we could revive our agriculture,” Aso expressed while appealing farmers to introduce new farm practice in sync with change in the region and switch to climate resilient crops like millets and not make it barren.
Organic and chemical based products are totally different. In theory we all talk of organic but what farmers actually planted in their farms is not pure organic. I am not fit to talk about health complications but I can express with full conviction that purely organic is good for health, Aso said.
“We consume what we produce, so why kill our own body by consuming unhygienic and chemical fertilizers based foods, instead of home grown organic food,” he reasoned.
He stated that laziness has its own price, though a notorious one. Fat belly is an unknown sight in our heyday but looking around, today our place is being filled with people with fat belly. It is not a healthy sign for us to only eat, sleep and talk.
At the time when changing climate has severely impacted paddy yields and farm crops, huge chunks of chemical fertilizer based rice imported from outside the state has further worsened the already complicated situations facing the state. However, it is not clear whether goods and domesticated animals imported from outside the state are screened before it is introduced in the market.
