Mental health impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on mothers.

Background: The perinatal period is a time of increased vulnerability for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). Emotional trauma is a risk factor for PMAD development and is common among survivors of extreme weather events (EWEs), which are becoming more frequent and intense as the climate crisis progresses. EWE-related stress and anxiety have not been extensively studied in the perinatal population. However, the limited available data suggest a negative impact of EWE exposure on perinatal mental health, warranting further investigation and investment.Objective: To address this knowledge gap, we interviewed new Australian mothers to understand how EWEs affect the mental health of the perinatal population.Method: Australian mothers (18 years of age or older) with a baby under 12 months of age were recruited to participate in a single virtual focus group session (seven group sessions were run in total) and complete an anonymous survey. Participants were asked questions regarding their concerns about extreme weather and its impact, as well as their general maternal functioning. Maternal functioning, depression, and climate distress were measured via the survey.Results: The study sample comprised 31 Australian mothers (Mage = 31.74, SD = 4.86), predominantly located in Queensland. Findings from the focus groups suggested six key themes; however, of focus to this study are three themes related to maternal mental health: health and well-being, helplessness and avoidant coping, and resilience and adaptation. Predominant subthemes focused on trauma resulting from EWE exposure, economic and heat concerns, social isolation, hopelessness about the future, and feelings of resilience.Conclusions: The evidence linking adverse perinatal mental health outcomes with climate change and EWEs highlights the urgent need for interventions in this context to protect perinatal mental health and well-being. By acknowledging the traumatic impact of these experiences on mothers, this study supports advocacy for policies that specifically address this issue.

The extra consideration of navigating climatic events with children represented a complicating factor in addition to the demands of motherhood.Heat presented as a serious concern for participants, often as part of maintaining the balance between protecting their children's health and well-being and preserving their own mental health.Mothers simultaneously were disengaged from climate-related discussion or action and expressed feelings of helplessness in the face of the magnitude of climate change.

[Implications of demographic aging for welfare planning]. / Implicaciones del envejecimiento en la planeacion del bienestar.

PIP: The implications of demographic aging for the future planning of socioeconomic welfare for the elderly in Mexico are considered. The inevitability of the demographic aging process is first established. Next, the relationship between demographic aging and development is considered. Finally, the author spells out the problems of providing for the needs of the elderly, particularly in the area of social security and health.^ieng

[Aging: a new dimension in health in Mexico]. / El envejecimiento: una nueva dimensión de la salud en México.

The epidemiologic and demographic transitions have resulted in demographic aging of the Mexican population, increasing the absolute number and percentage of the elderly population. While in 1990, 3.1 million of persons were 65 and older constituting 3.7% of the country's population, these figures are projected to be 15.2 million and 11.7% by 2030. The growing demands on health care that this process involves will be centred on chronic and degenerative diseases and disabilities. Existing information indicates that health conditions and disabilities have greater incidences after the age of 75, and that they occur earlier and have more impact on the female population. Information about mortality organized by causes shows that the oldest population is also experiencing a transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases. These shifts have been observed in recent decades and they continue to occur. The degree of progress depends upon the economic and social situation: thus changes are as diverse and heterogeneous as the socioeconomic conditions within the nation. In any case, the advancing aging process and its relationship with diseases and disabilities points out necessary adjustments within the health system. New circumstances are brought into existence by an increasing importance of morbidity and co-morbidity, creating a need for modification of the models for clinic and hospital care, and the realization that the family maintains its central role as the main resource and care giver for the elderly.

Population in trans-border regions: the Southern California-Baja California urban system.

"This article is a case study of population growth and composition in the Southern California-Baja California trans-border urban system (TBS). The central question guiding the research is how the combination of geographic proximity and economic integration in two very different regions affects population characteristics in the Southern California-Baja California TBS. We begin by briefly defining trans-border urban systems. We then specify the attributes of the Southern California-Baja California TBS, contrasting them with attributes observed elsewhere in the United States and Mexico.... The data are drawn primarily from the U.S. and Mexican censuses. Secondary data from a variety of sources also are discussed."

[The epidemiology of aging: a further stage in the demographic transition]. / Epidemiologia del envejecimiento: una fase mas de la transicion demografica.

"Social and economic indicators depict Mexico as a country of intermediate development. It is also in intermediate stages of demographic and epidemiologic transitions. When these traits are translated into socio-demographic perspectives, all projections indicate that for the next fifty years we can expect: (i) percentage decreases in child and teen-age populations, (ii) large percentage and absolute increases in adult population, and (iii) important increases in the elderly population.... Among elders death due to infectious diseases is less common than within other sectors of [the] population. Mortality associated with chronic ailments has increased, with recent and remarkable changes during the last twenty years. This transformation is not evenly distributed. It is more accelerated in developed and urban areas as contrasted with the rural and less developed." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

[Demographic aging and social security. The insufficiency of old age pensions]. / Envejecimiento demografico y seguridad social. La insuficiencia de las pensiones por vejez.

PIP: The demographic transition is leading to demographic aging in Mexico, as lower fertility and greater life expectancy combine to produce absolute and percentage increases in the elderly population. Concern is growing about satisfying the material needs of the elderly population. Only a few developed countries are able to furnish adequate pensions to their retired workers through social security systems. In Mexico, class inequity is a greater determinant of the level of pension coverage than is generational solidarity. Mexico's 1990 census showed that the population of 81,250,000 was comprised of 24,517,000 economically active and 56,733,000 inactive persons. Of the 24,517,000 economically active, 7,282,000 mostly lower level employees and laborers were affiliated only with the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). 2,308,000 were covered by the IMSS and one of the complementary pension systems sponsored by the largest and most organized private companies. 2,629,000 were entitled to pensions through public sector employment and 584,000 through quasipublic employment. The remaining 11,571,000 had no rights to a pension. In other words, 47% of the labor force was not covered by any retirement pension system. 375,000 of the 5,007,000 persons over age 60 in the economically inactive population had some sort of pension from the IMSS. In 1990, 92% received the minimum pension, equivalent to 70% of the minimum salary. 229,000 had an IMSS pension and a complementary private pension. 196,000 pensioners in the public sector received an average pension of 1.5 times the minimum salary. 66,000 retired workers in quasipublic enterprises received pensions with automatic adjustments for inflation that frequently equaled 20 times the minimum salary. The total number of recipients of pensions of all types was 888,000,leaving 4,119,000 persons over 60 with no pension. Because of the deficiencies of the social security system, families must continue to be the institution that aids the elderly.^ieng

[Population in the northern border area. Urban dynamism and binational interrelation]. / La poblacion en la frontera norte. Dinamismo urbano e interrelacion binacional.

PIP: The 3300 km border between Mexico and the US constitutes the geopolitical separation between an underdeveloped country on the 1 hand and 1 of the most technologically and economically powerful countries in the world on the other. The border region is characterized by the contrasts on either side of the border and by the strong interrelation between both sides. Vast streams of persons, merchandise, money, services, communications, and cultural influences flow from 1 side to the other. The border region as a seat of population has a recent history. The border was defined in near current form only in the mid-19th century, when the expansionist tendencies of the US encountered a vast area of very sparse population. In 1900, the principal localities of the border zone had only about 39,000 inhabitants, of whom fewer than 5000 lived west of Ciudad Juarez. Between 1910-20, the population of the border region increased from 53,000 to 96,000 as a result of migrants fleeing the ravages of the revolution. The population of the border region was estimated at 3.826 million in 1988, resulting from rates of growth above Mexico's national average. Settlement in the area has depended on events and conditions in Mexico and on such US occurrences as Prohibition, the Great Depression, the 2nd World War, the Bracero program, and the Program of Border Industrialization. 82% of the border population lives in urban zones, partly because of lack of water. 80% of the urban population is concentrated in 6 cities, Juarez, Tijuana, Mexicali, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros. Much of the population of the 6 cities is composed of persons born elsewhere. The border area also has a large floating population of undocumented migrants in transit to or from the US. The high rates of urbanization and of binational interaction are reflected in demographic dynamics. In 1979, 71% of women in union in the border area vs 54% in the rest of Mexico had used contraception, and the infant mortality rate was 10% below the national average. In the 20-29 cohort there were 88 men per 100 women, reflecting male emigration and female inmigration. The rate of economic participation was higher than the national average, per capita production was greater, and unemployment rates were lower.^ieng