Effects of High Altitude Exposure on the Body

From Tibet to the Andes to the highlands of Ethiopia, around 150 million people around the world work at high altitude. Many were born there, but in a globalized world of mass migration, many weren’t, and are toiling in environments that their bodies maybe aren’t accustomed to.

What does that mean for their health and for the companies that employ them? We go to a high altitude copper mine in the Chilean Andes and talk to doctors about the potential risks of working on top of the world.

Producer / presenter: Gideon Long

(Image: A mine high in the Andes. Credit: Getty Images)