Abstract:

Background: Climate change has had a profound effect on socioeconomic, cultural, political, technological and even biological nature of man and plants in the world. This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between climate change and health of adult residents of Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Methods: A sample survey method was used with structured questionnaire and oral interview. Random sampling technique was employed to get the sample size of 142. Informed consent of participants was obtained before commencement of the study. 142 questionnaires were duly completed and returned. Data were analyzed using frequencies, mean, standard deviation and percentages. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was employed to find the relationship between the test variables of the hypotheses.

Findings: Majority of respondents (48.6%) had tertiary education, 20.4% had secondary education, while 18.3% are illiterate. 42.3% got their information on climate change through radio, while only 4.9% got theirs through research institutes. 54.9% had adequate knowledge about climate change and only 9.2% had very inadequate knowledge. 37.3% experienced malaria and headache together due to climate change, while few (0.7%) experienced skin rashes. Significant relationship existed between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their present health status (r = 0.348, p = 0.001, α = 0.05). Significant relationship was similarly found between the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and their perception of the effect of climate change on their health (r = 0.392, p = 0.001, α = 0.05).

Conclusion: Climate change had negative impacts on the health of adult residents of Ile-Ife. Governments should ensure preservation of the ozone layer and also increase awareness of the citizens on climate change and the effects on human health.

Keywords: Climate, Climate change, Health, Relationship, Adult residents, Knowledge.

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