Drought in the Semiarid Region of Brazil: Exposure, Vulnerabilities and Health Impacts from the Perspectives of Local Actors

Conclusion The results obtained from this research shows, in general, the fragility in the social and political infrastructure necessary to improve the living conditions of populations, particularly those that depend on family agriculture in drought prone areas. The conditions of social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities presented in the region can be amplified by the drought process, and can aggravate the impacts resulting drought events, thus disadvantaging the population of this region, as shown in the Fig. 1. The general perception of the interviewees of the health sector shows an agreement with what is found in the literature on the relationship between drought and health conditions. However, the lack of specific knowledge regarding the relation between drought and health, both by health professionals and managers, and the lack of intra and intersectoral integration, prevents the appropriate planning of actions aimed at managing risks and impacts of drought on health. This fragility of the health system tends to disregard the process that determines drought conditions, with consequences in the recognition of this climatological event as a public health problem. Lack of comprehensive recognition of the issue may result in the possibility of greater negative impacts on health conditions and, consequently, on the life of these populations. With the projection that droughts in this Brazilian Semiarid region would be aggravated in the future by the global process...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research