Jul 3, 4:26 AM EDT

*Asian Countries Discuss Growing Global Warming Problems*

By MARGIE MASON
AP Medical Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Officials from more than a dozen Asian
countries met Tuesday in Malaysia to outline health problems their
populations are facing in relation to a rise in global temperatures.

Officials discussed ways to work together to limit the fallout in a
region expected to be hit hard by flooding, drought, heat waves,
mosquito-borne diseases and waterborne illnesses.

The World Health Organization estimates climate change has already
directly or indirectly killed more than 1 million people globally since
2000. More than half of those deaths have occurred in the Asia-Pacific
area, the world's most populous region. Those figures do not include
deaths linked to urban air pollution, which kills about 800,000
worldwide each year, according to WHO.

"We're not going to have a magic bullet to fix climate change in the
next 50 years. We need to motivate an awful lot of people to change
their behavior in a lot of different ways," said Kristie Ebi, of the
WHO's Global Environmental Change unit, a lead author on the health
chapter in a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a
U.N. network of 2,000 scientists.

Ebi said health officials are about a decade behind other sectors, such
as water and agriculture, in taking a look at what climate change could
mean and how to deal with it. She said countries seeing the effects
firsthand are now starting to realize that any problems with air, water
or food will directly affect people's health. The poorest countries in
Asia and Africa are expected to suffer the most.

Scientists have predicted droughts will lower crop yields and raise
malnutrition in some areas, dust storms and wildfires will boost
respiratory illnesses, and flooding from severe storms will increase
drowning, injury and disease such as diarrhea. Increasing temperatures
could also lead to the growth of more harmful algae that can sicken
people who eat shellfish and reef fish. People living in low-lying
coastal areas will also face more storms, flooding and saltwater
intrusion into fresh groundwater that is vital for drinking.

Singapore saw mean annual temperatures increase 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit
between 1978 and 1998, while the number of dengue fever cases jumped
10-fold during the same period.

Malaria has recently reached Bhutan and new areas in Papua New Guinea
for the first time. In the past, mosquitoes that spread the disease were
unable to breed in the cooler climates there, but warmer temperatures
have helped vector-borne diseases to flourish.

Melting of glaciers in the Himalayas have created about 20 lakes in
Nepal that are in danger of overflowing their banks, which could create
a torrent of water and debris capable of wiping out villages and farms
below.

The four-day workshop in Malaysia lays the groundwork for a
ministerial-level meeting on the topic next month in Bangkok, Thailand.