Resumen

MESQUITA RAMIREZ, Mirta Noemi et al. Climate change and its effects on children's health. A Narrative Review. Pediatr. (Asunción) [online]. 2025, vol.52, n.2, pp.133-142. ISSN 1683-9803.  https://doi.org/10.31698/ped.52022025010.

Climate change represents one of the greatest threats to children's health in the 21st century. With the increase in temperature worldwide, extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves, droughts, floods and hurricanes intensify. These affect children more intensely due to their physiological and social vulnerability. The lesser development of their immune systems, higher respiration rate, and a reduced ability to regulate body temperature, make them more susceptible to heat-related illnesses and respiratory infections.

Climate change and the desertification of vast regions due to deforestation favor the expansion of vectors such as mosquitoes, increasing the incidence of diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya. Alterations in rainfall and temperature patterns also affect food security, reducing the availability of nutritious foods and increasing the risk of child malnutrition, especially in developing countries. Air pollution, exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels, aggravates respiratory diseases such as asthma, which already affects millions of children worldwide. The psychological consequences should not be underestimated either: natural disasters and forced displacement generate stress, anxiety and trauma in childhood, with lasting effects on their emotional development. Climate change threatens not only the physical environment, but also the well-being of future generations. Protecting children's health requires urgent, equitable, and children's rights-centered climate action.

Palabras clave : Climate change; greenhouse effect; health; children; infants; adolescents; diseases.

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