Climate Change and Eye Disease: Eye Health and Blindness in a Hostile Environment

This book examines the impact of climate change on eye disease and eye health. Filling a lacuna in the existing literature, Scott Fraser takes a deep dive into the eye diseases that are most affected by the climate crisis and explores the subsequent burden on organisations, charities and healthcare systems. Fraser begins by including short primer chapters on the basics of climate science and climate change, highlighting which environmental mechanisms directly and indirectly affect our health and why. He then looks in detail at the direct and indirect threats to eye health from climate change and examines factors including changing insect vectors, trauma from extreme weather events such as wildfires, floods and droughts, as well as the impact of crop failure, malnutrition, animal and plant migration. Highlighting the Global North vs South divide, the book goes on to consider issues around eye care, exploring the increased burden that climate-induced chronic eye diseases including cataracts, macular degeneration and nutritional eye diseases are placing on health care systems. These chapters also reflect on the ways in which eye care, ophthalmology, optometry, pharmaceutical and medical device companies all contribute to the climate footprint themselves. Unique and timely, this book will be a great resource for students and clinicians of ophthalmology, optometry and allied eye care professions, as well as climate scientists, researchers, policy makers, charities, NGOs working in related fields of environment and health.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1: Why is our climate changing and what is the cause? 1.1 What is the evidence the earth is getting hotter? 1.2 How do we know the Earth is getting hotter? 1.3 What is causing the earth to get hotter? 1.4 What are the consequences of these changes in our atmosphere? Chapter 2: How does climate change affect human health? 2.1 The direct effects to human health from climate change 2.2 The indirect effects to human health from climate change Chapter 3: Climate change and Eye Disease 3.1 Specific Effects of Climate Change on the Eye The Eyelids The Conjunctiva Dry Eye The Cornea The Lens Glaucoma The Retina The Uveal Tract 3.2 General Effects of climate change on ocular health Trauma Infectious Diseases Cardiovascular Disease Nutrition Inactivity, obesity and diabetes Changes in Animal Behaviour Migration, population changes and war Chapter 4: Climate change and Eye Care 4.1 Eye associated cancers 4.2 Dry Eye Disease 4.3 Cataract 4.4 Age Related Macular Degeneration 4.5 Infectious diseases and the eye 4.6 Vitamin A deficiency 4.7 Diabetic Eye Disease 4.8 Glaucoma 4.9 Ocular trauma 4.10 Climate change and the provision of eyecare services Chapter 5: Eye care effects upon climate change 5.1 The effect of healthcare on the climate 5.2 The effect of eye care on the climate 5.3 Cataract surgery, climate change and sustainability 5.4 Dry eye disease, eye drop use and climate change 5.5 The Retina and climate change 5.6 Glaucoma and climate change 5.7 Optometry and climate change 5.8 Practitioner awareness of climate change Chapter 6: The Burden of blindness 6.1 What is blindness? 6.2 Current numbers and projections 6.3 The economic costs 6.4 The personal costs Chapter 7: Rays of hope 7.1 Organisations, governments and industry 7.2 Trachoma 7.3 Onchocerciasis 7.4 Vitamin A deficiency 7.5 Diabetic Retinopathy 7.6 Technology 7.7 Education 7.8 Optometry 7.9 Finally Index