Climate Change and Eye Disease

Book excerpt: 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.