Editing Drought (section)

=== Social and health impacts ===
The most negative impacts of drought for humans include [[crop failure]], [[food crisis]], famine, malnutrition, and [[poverty]], which lead to loss of life and [[mass migration]] of people.<ref name=":3" />

There are negative effects on the health of people who are directly exposed to this phenomenon (excessive [[heat wave]]s). Droughts can also cause limitations of water supplies, increased water pollution levels, high food-costs, stress caused by failed harvests, [[water scarcity]], etc. Reduced water quality can occur because lower water-flows reduce dilution of pollutants and increase [[contamination]] of remaining water sources.<ref>Mosley LM (2014). Drought impacts on the water quality of freshwater systems; review and integration. Earth-Science Reviewss. {{doi|10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.11.010}}.</ref><ref>10. Mosley LM, Zammit B, Leyden E, Heneker TM, Hipsey MR, Skinner D, and Aldridge KT (2012). The Impact of Extreme Low Flows on the Water Quality of the Lower Murray River and Lakes (South Australia). Water Resources Management 26: 3923–3946.</ref>

This explains why droughts and water scarcity operate as a factor which increases the gap between [[Developed country|developed]] and [[Developing country|developing countries]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Prokurat|first=Sergiusz|year=2015|title=Drought and water shortages in Asia as a threat and economic problem|url=http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-95d2a7ec-8c5f-474d-84ed-8b8baed8f8c0/c/235_PDFsam_Joms_3_26_2015.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Journal of Modern Science|volume=26|issue=3|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-95d2a7ec-8c5f-474d-84ed-8b8baed8f8c0/c/235_PDFsam_Joms_3_26_2015.pdf|archive-date=2022-10-09|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>

Effects vary according to vulnerability. For example, subsistence farmers are more likely to migrate during drought because they do not have alternative food-sources. Areas with populations that depend on water sources as a major food-source are more vulnerable to famine.
[[File:Queuing for registration in the heat of the sun (5977577531).jpg|thumb|People displaced by a drought in [[Somalia]] arriving at a camp in [[Dolo Odo|Dolo Ado]], Ethiopia, 2011]]
Further examples of social and health consequences include:
* [[Water scarcity]], [[Harvest|crop failure]], [[famine]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=García|first1=R. V.|title=The constant catastrophe : malnutrition, famines, and drought|last2=Escudero|first2=J. C.|date=1981|publisher=Pergamon Press|isbn=9781483189666|edition=1st|location=Oxford; New York|page=3}}</ref> and [[hunger]] – drought provides too little water to support food crops; [[malnutrition]], [[dehydration]] and related diseases
* [[Mass migration]], resulting in [[internally displaced person|internal displacement]] and international [[refugee]]s
* Social [[unrest]]
* [[War]] over natural resources, including water and food
* [[Cyanotoxin]] accumulation within food chains and water supply (some of which are among the most potent toxins known to science) can cause cancer with low exposure over the long term.<ref>
{{cite web|title=Toxins from freshwater algae found in San Francisco Bay shellfish|url=http://news.ucsc.edu/2016/10/microcystin-toxin.html|access-date=5 November 2017}}
</ref> High levels of [[microcystin]] appeared in [[San Francisco Bay Area]] salt-water shellfish and fresh-water supplies throughout the state of California in 2016.