Promoting knowledge on climate change

Abstract

Introduction. Climate change is a truly unique and unprecedented challenge facing humanity. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has defined it as “a climate change directly or indirectly attributed to human activity, which results in a change of the global atmosphere structure and which appears as something additional to natural climate variability observed over comparable periods of time ”. By its nature, climate change has a global dimension, however, less developed countries are the most vulnerable ones because many of them will be severely affected and their ability to adapt is very limited. Unfortunately, in the Republic of Moldova, climate change is sometimes seen as a distant and irrelevant concept.

An effective tool for informing and promoting prevention behaviours among people is social media. Health literacy is essential for the promotion of individual health and influences the extent to which the public engages in preventive behaviours.

Material and methods The review of 17 selected bibliographic sources in GoogleScolar and PubMed allowed this study to be conducted. The words used in the search engine were: "knowledge promotion" and "climate change". After obtaining the results, those health-related sources were selected.

Results. Climate change has a significant influence on agriculture, aquatic resources, forests, the energy and transport sector, as well as, on human and animal health. There is a direct correlation between high or low air temperature rates and an increase in blood pressure, blood viscosity, heart rate or bronchoconstriction. The increase in the frequency and intensity of heat waves is associated with an increase in deaths and illness reports. The emergence of health risks from climate change implies the search for means of raising awareness within a particular field. One of the effective methods is the organization of information campaigns for the target groups of the vulnerable population.

The public information and awareness campaign, designed to prepare and inform the public about the possible impact of climate change on health and to provide adaptation measures to reduce possible negative outcomes, must be permanently designed and implemented. The dialogue with civil society, the private sector and the non-governmental sector is not only a source of information but also an educational means. The mass awareness on climate change issues should be carried out for various target groups through the media, thus public debates should be organized. School and university education programs should include information on the phenomena, causes, consequences, and the magnitude of the climate change impact as well as prevention and adaptation measures.

Conclusions. In the context of current climate changes, it is important for the Republic of Moldova to provide strategies of raising awareness regarding climate changes, as being among the vulnerable countries, in order to reduce the impact of these phenomena on the health of the population. The media policy should be complemented by provisions to support spots with social messages broadcasted on TV, radio, online media.