title: Drought impacts on children's respiratory health in the Brazilian Amazon.
abstract: Drought conditions in Amazonia are associated with increased fire incidence, enhancing aerosol emissions with degradation in air quality. Quantifying the synergic influence of climate and human-driven environmental changes on human health is, therefore, critical for identifying climate change adaptation pathways for this vulnerable region. Here we show a significant increase (1.2%-267%) in hospitalisations for respiratory diseases in children under-five in municipalities highly exposed to drought. Aerosol was the primary driver of hospitalisations in drought affected municipalities during 2005, while human development conditions mitigated the impacts in 2010. Our results demonstrated that drought events deteriorated children's respiratory health particularly during 2005 when the drought was more geographically concentrated. This indicates that if governments act on curbing fire usage and effectively plan public health provision, as a climate change adaptation procedure, health quality would improve and public expenditure for treatment would decrease in the region during future drought events.
authors.affiliation: University of Exeter - College of Life and Environmental Sciences Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, UK, EX4 4RJ.
authors.forename: Lauren T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: 1] University of Exeter - College of Life and Environmental Sciences Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, UK, EX4 4RJ [2] National Institute for Space Research, Remote Sensing Division, Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, São José dos Campos, SP - 12227-010, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz E O C
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Aragão
authors.affiliation: University of Bristol - School of Geographical Sciences, University Road, Clifton, Bristol; BS8 1SS.
authors.forename: Clive E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Sabel
authors.affiliation: Ritsumeikan University - Department of Geography 56-1 Tojiin-kita-machi, Kita-ku Kyoto, 603-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakaya
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002980:Climate; D055864:Droughts; D062306:Geography, Medical; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena