Climate Change and Infectious Diseases; Evidence from Highly Vulnerable Countries (original) (raw)

Climate change and infectious disease risk management: a localised health security perspective

2008

Pathogenic risks in relation to climate change are not fully understood and to a large extent have to be regarded as unpredictable. It is therefore important to focus attention on human vulnerability and coping for which more certain influences on disease risk can be assessed. Despite commonplace environmental conditions for infectious diseases around the world, only some people are affected. This is because the larger proportions of disease risks are regularly a function of human socio-economic and consequent biological susceptibility to infection rather than significant changes in environmental hazards. As poverty and environmental degradation exacerbate disease risks for billions, poverty reduction is the core issue in mitigating climate related infectious disease risks, but human impoverishment and climate change can be complexly interrelated. Studies in Mozambique and Bangladesh are used here to examine key issues in the complex association between climate change and health. So...

Climate Change and Infectious Diseases

New South Wales Public Health Bulletin, 2007

When estimating or modelling the health impacts of climate change, there are many uncertainties due to incon-sistencies and gaps in global knowledge about climate vari-ability, lack of reliable data across populations, poor applicability of global models to local scenarios and incom- ...

Infectious disease, development, and climate change: a scenario analysis

Environment and Development Economics, 2007

We study the effects of development and climate change on infectious disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. Infant mortality and infectious disease are close related, but there are better data for the former. In an international cross-section, per capita income, literacy, and absolute poverty significantly affect infant mortality. We use scenarios of these three determinants, and of climate change to project the future incidence of malaria, assuming it to change proportionally to infant mortality. Malaria deaths will first increase, because of population growth and climate change, but then fall, because of development. This pattern is robust to the choice of scenario, parameters, and starting conditions; and it holds for diarrhoea, schistosomiasis, and dengue fever as well. However, the time and level of the mortality peak is very sensitive to assumptions. Climate change is important in the medium term, but dominated in the long term by development. As climate can only be changed with a substantial delay, development is the preferred strategy to reduced infectious diseases, even if that is exacerbated by climate change.

Global health impacts due to infectious diseases and climate change: A narrative review

2013

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), environment is explained in terms of human health, such as physical, chemical and biological factors that are external to a person and all the related behavioral changes that affect population health. Quality of life and health is generally affected by people’s interaction with the environment.The purpose of this narrative review was to address various global health impacts such as heat wave impact, impact of floods and droughts, impact of allergens and impact of air pollution. A major emphasis of this review was on climatic impact on a variety of infectious diseases, particularly the interplay between ‘global warming’ and its effects on transmission of infectious diseases across the world. An analysis of vector borne disease transmission, infectious disease transmission modeling, in the backdrop of global warming, the concept of ‘one health’ and the effects of rising sea levels, which are purported to be due to global warming, were ...

Historical Prevalence of Infectious Diseases and Adaptation to Climate change: does Institution matter?

Research Square (Research Square), 2022

This study investigates how the historical prevalence of infectious diseases in uences vulnerability to climate change through institutional quality. The study uses ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares estimation techniques with data from 145 countries for the period 1990 to 2015. Our study shows that the historical prevalence of infectious diseases in uences, directly and indirectly, vulnerability to climate change. First, the historical prevalence of infectious diseases increases vulnerability to climate change. Second, this increasing effect decreases with the protection against expropriation risks. Therefore, countries with a high prevalence of historical infectious diseases should strengthen the protection against expropriation risks to mitigate the historical roots of climate change vulnerability.

An integrated assessment framework for climate change and infectious diseases

Environmental Health Perspectives, 1999

Man.iy potenialhuman hel effects have ,been yot d t:o: result either direty or indrectl from glba cli e ade C.h.angesinthe prevence and spread of.ifectious diseases asme *o.f:the: most widely cited potential effects.o.f clima.te change, and c.oul.d. have. signifcant.cone-:quences for.human..... health as wel as ecoomi an socea impcs Thse:cagsi ies .incidence. would bemediated through. .b..io,logic,, :ecologic, .:sociologi,e adpeioloicpro ess *that i.nterac .:w ..itheach. other:an .wh.ic.h ma .themselves beinfl..... uenced byclimate change. .Althoug hypothesized .infectious disease.:effects:.have .been.widely: discussed,. th*ere have: no..nt yet bfe.en:thorough: quantitative.studies addressing: he man.processes atwork. pa is *ofthe complexit o.f teman inmdirect and.feedbc interactions o.r mechanisms that bear: onall .aspects.of the climate issu.e It also results from:thedifficultyofincdeo q always-anging determinants of these diseases..This paper propos.esa frameworkfor.an integrat-*.ed assessmentofthe impacts.*. climate change on in ts diseases. The framework. ..identificatio.n. of potentially imortant indirectin.teractions:.or mechanism, .identification of *::important ch gaps,.aa means of. integrating tared reearch.from.a variety of.disciplines into an enhancedunderst g o f whole. system.K o clate change,: infectiou. s

The impact of climate change on health in low and middle income countries- a public health perspective

Introduction: Climate is changing and this is a fact. The impact on health is serious. There are many devastating outcomes from such changes. Injuries, displacements, Food security, changes in diseases pattern and return of diseases were eliminated. In already vulnerable communities and countries climate change effect is an added burden which accelerate the gloomy end to these communities. Objective: Is to attract attention of the stakeholders in both sides of the economic world rich and poor countries to seriously considering the impact of climate change and work together for solutions. Discussion: The responsibility of the causes led and leading to climate change is lying on the shoulders of the richer countries being an industrialized countries, however the price is paid by the developing or the poorer countries. The reason mainly could be attributed to their limited coping mechanisms. The events explained by climate change lead these countries to remain in the vicious cycle of poverty. Conclusion: a global action and intervention that consider both sides of the world is crucial. Inclusion of the developing countries in the proposed solutions could contribute in enhancements of such proposals. Further researches are required to address link of the climatic changes and wars specially in the flaming world we live in today.

Assessing climate change impacts on public health in Haiti: a comprehensive study of disease distribution, modeling, and adaptation strategies

Diouf et al., 2024

This study examines the relationship between climate change and public health in Haiti, a country already facing socioeconomic challenges. The well-being of Haiti’s vulnerable population is expected to be further affected by climate change, leading to an increase in vector-borne, water-borne, and heat-related diseases. As one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change effects,Haiti is currently experiencing an increase in vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, and chikungunya, as well as water-borne diseases and emerging zoonotic outbreaks. This study aims to improve planning, decision-making, and responses to public health challenges by utilizing health data, climatic information, and impact models. The methodology involves the creation of a comprehensive climate and health database to uncover detailed spatial-temporal relationships on a national scale. By evaluating disease indicators from historical periods (1950-2014) and future projections (2015-2100) using the Shared Socio-Economic Pathways (SSPs) from the multi-model ensemble meanof theCMIP6models, targetdiseases, includingmalaria,meningitis,dengue,and heat-sensitive chronicdiseases are assessed.Our resultshighlight adecrease inrainfall and a strong increase in temperatures, especially within western Haiti under the extremeSSP585 scenario. The ability of the impactmodels to simulate the seasonality and spatial distribution of malaria incidence, dengue and heatwaves was performed. The analysis of risks related to climate-sensitive diseases’ climatic parameters shows that Haiti’s west and central regions aremostly exposed to vector-borne and waterbornediseases. Models predict a decrease in malaria casesdueto climate changewith hot temperatures and a decline in rainfall, while dengue transmission patterns may undergo changes. These findings will inform the implementation of context-specific early-warning systems and adaptation strategies for climate-sensitive diseases while acknowledging the challenges of integrating climate-altered data into health policies.

Review of the Evidence Linking Climate Change to Human Health for Eight Diseases of Tropical Importance

As human societies are beginning to feel the early effects of 21st Century climate change, adaptation is becoming an increasingly important area of enquiry across a range of human sectors and activities. This is particularly true for the health sectors of tropical developing countries, as many of these countries will be some of the first to experience the impacts of global warming. Given this, it is important to understand the mechanisms through which climate change may impact on human health, and thus on the social welfare in tropical developing countries and the resourcing requirements of their health sectors. This paper reviews and synthesizes the published literature on the causal links between climate change and human disease for eight diseases of tropical importance: malaria, dengue fever, gastroenteritis, schistosomiasis, leptospirosis, ciguatera poisoning, meningococcal meningitis, and cardio-respiratory disease.

Climate Change, Noncommunicable Diseases, and Development: The Relationships and Common Policy Opportunities

Annual Review of Public Health, 2011

The rapid growth in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including injury and poor mental health, in low- and middle-income countries and the widening social gradients in NCDs within most countries worldwide pose major challenges to health and social systems and to development more generally. As Earth's surface temperature rises, a consequence of human-induced climate change, incidences of severe heat waves, droughts, storms, and floods will increase and become more severe. These changes will bring heightened risks to human survival and will likely exacerbate the incidence of some NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, some cancers, respiratory health, mental disorders, injuries, and malnutrition. These two great and urgent contemporary human challenges—to improve global health, especially the control of NCDs, and to protect people from the effects of climate change—would benefit from alignment of their policy agendas, offering synergistic opportunities to improve population and pl...