Climate Change and Diseases: Impact of Climate Change on Infectious Diseases

Global climate change is a phenomenon that is now considered strongly associated with human activities. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, which have remained steady at 180-220 ppm for the past 420,000 years, are now close to 370 ppm and rising. Due to improvements in meteorology, we are now able to better understand long-term changes in climate. Such understanding might enable the prediction of where and when infectious disease outbreaks may occur. Infectious disease distribution involves many of the complex social and demographic factors. Meteorological factors that influence transmission intensity of infectious diseases include humidity, temperature and rainfall patterns. Breakdown in public health services have been mainly responsible for the recent resurgence of infectious diseases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in its 2007 report that climate change may contribute to expanding risk areas for infectious diseases such as dengue and may increase the burden of diarrhoeal diseases, putting more people at risk. We describe in this book the links between climate and health, future implications, and recommendations.