Loss of home due to climate harms health, says study – 07/06/2023 – Environment

Research has shown that people who lose their homes or have their homes partially destroyed as a result of weather events also suffer from effects on their physical and mental health.

According to the study, the damage may be related to emotional well-being, social life and mental health, and last an average of one to two years after the disaster.

The survey also showed that vulnerable people are more affected by the loss of housing as a result of extreme weather events.

Up to two years after the environmental disaster, people who lose their homes and own them suffer more from stress and damage related to lost material value, while those who rent are forced to move and suffer more from housing insecurity.

As a result, these people become more mentally ill and also have difficulties related to mobility, including body aches, loss of vitality and limitation in daily tasks due to emotional problems, especially in the year they lost their homes.

The research results were published last Monday (5) in the specialized journal The Lancet Planetary Health. The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

To assess the role of weather events that cause home destruction on health, the researchers designed a so-called case-control study. Data were analyzed from individuals who had damages related to housing after natural disasters and also from those who did not suffer losses (as a control).

The data used are part of the Hilda survey (Dynamics of Housing, Income and Work in Australia), a kind of IBGE, with support from the Australian Department of Social Work.

Information from 2,003 individuals from 2009 to 2019 was included, the last year that presented natural disasters in Australia, such as the fires that started in January 2019 and continued until the spring of the same year.

The main weather-related events were fires, floods and cyclones, and the damage to health was divided into mental deterioration, physical, social and emotional well-being.

The effects related to the loss of housing were classified into cost-related aspects, including infrastructure, security (such as housing stability) and physical condition of the property (whether it was more or less vulnerable to disasters).

In the analysis, the researchers classified, from 0 to 100, the level of satisfaction of residents with their housing, physical and emotional conditions. According to the survey, people who suffered losses with their homes had an average score 2 points below the control group, reaching up to 4 points less for mental health.

The lowest points observed were in the year of the disaster, but most extended for one to two years after the event, reaching eight years after, when there was no conclusion of a solution for new housing.

In general, the most affected individuals were people aged 30 and over, born in Australia, who lived in remote areas or in regionalized communities, unemployed people, individuals receiving government benefits and people with chronic health conditions.

According to Ang Li, first author of the study and research associate at the Center for Research on Excellence in Housing and Health at the University of Melbourne, although the average was two points, in some cases the drop in the level of health may have been higher.

“For those who live in worse housing conditions or had previous health factors, the deterioration was much more significant”, he said.

If, on average, the decrease in the respondents’ health was only two points, this means that in the broader context there are people who are very resilient and, therefore, little affected by damages and losses related to housing, and others who are very vulnerable and will be more affected.

In the research, the scientists tested the so-called social determinants of health, which include social vulnerability factors (such as poverty, low education and living in housing in risk areas) and their interactions with exposure indicators (damage to housing). With this, it was proven what other studies had already pointed out: that these factors will, in fact, have a greater role in the damages suffered by the loss of housing.

The author recalls that in Australia, as in many countries, housing finance tools are aimed at purchasing real estate as a material asset, not as a fundamental right to life, safety and health.

“Government interventions in relation to poor housing conditions could help prevent some of the worst health effects observed, not only in relation to weather events, but also to improve public health as a whole, which ends up being a cycle where worse health conditions are themselves a source of social vulnerability,” he said.

Despite including the start of the wildfire period in Australia, Li says the study should continue to now cover more recent years, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It will be challenging to include the data in the pandemic years because we know that the disease itself has played a significant role in the worsening mental health and quality of life of people around the world. negative effects on health and a potential aggravating effect”, he added.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}