Pandemic is an opportunity to regain sense of shared humanity, says Dr. Kikon

Dimapur, Dec. 4 (EMN): The Covid-19 pandemic has offered an opportunity for the people to regain a sense of shared humanity, helped us realise things that matter the most to us, like health and safety of our loved ones, and the extension of health and safety of our loved ones in the community will reflect how we can give back to the coming generations, according to Dr. Nyan Kikon, State Nodal Officer of IDSP.

The doctor said this at a national webinar on Covid-19 and Climate Change: Challenges and Responses organised by Nagaland State Climate Change Cell, NASTEC, on December 3, informed an update from DIPR.

He went on to say that ‘the global pandemic illustrates how inequality is a major barrier in ensuring health and wellbeing of the people and how social and economic inequalities materialise in unequal access to healthcare system’.

Speaking from the perspective of environment and climate, Prof. T Jayaraman, Senior Fellow Climate Change, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, stressed on green house gas (GHG) emission, saying that there is no way for the contemporary world to function until there is an alternative.

He said that the Covid-19 needs to be eradicated, but it would be impossible to completely eradicate GHG emissions. He added that the pandemic threat will recede once a vaccine is developed, but when it comes to climate change, “there is a side which is positive and it is tied to our economic well-being but also since global warming is a threat to everyone, we need to ensure a balance in the environment”.

CCF& State Nodal Officer for Climate Change, Supongukshi, stated at the webinar that ‘the improvement in environment from Covid-19 response could be reversed by rapid expansion of polluting economic activities; unless there is a focus to promote environmental health climate change will gradually increase and it will pose as a threat to everything and everyone’.

The resource persons also said that there is no evidence of direct connection between climate change and transmission of Covid-19 but climate change may indirectly affect the pandemic response as it undermines environmental determinants of health and poses additional stress on health systems, informed the update.

“Strengthening health systems and greater protection of biodiversity and natural environment may help reducing the risks of future outbreaks of diseases,” it added.