Perspectives on climate change and infectious disease outbreaks: is the evidence there?
File(s)s44168-024-00115-3.pdf (372.9 KB)
Published version
Author(s)
Charnley, Gina EC
Kelman, Ilan
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The accelerated warming of the planet caused by anthropogenic climate change is very concerning, as
its impacts have the potential to be broad and its effects widespread. One climate change impact with significant interest from scientists, politicians, the media and the general public, is the proposed changes to infectious disease dynamics. Climate change has the potential to alter disease transmission through expansion to naive populations or by worsening risk factors. However,
limitations exist in our ability to forecast the climate and disease, including how we incorporate changes in human behaviour and how we attribute climate/weather events solely to an infectious disease outcome. Broad statements about the impact of the climate on infectious disease may not be helpful, as these relationships are highly complex and likely lead to an oversimplification. The interdisciplinary field of climate-health research has the attention of those outside of science, and it is the responsibility of those involved to communicate attribution on an evidence basis, for better scientific communication and public spending. The uncertainty around the impacts of climate change is a call for action, to prevent pushing the Earth’s systems into the unknown.
its impacts have the potential to be broad and its effects widespread. One climate change impact with significant interest from scientists, politicians, the media and the general public, is the proposed changes to infectious disease dynamics. Climate change has the potential to alter disease transmission through expansion to naive populations or by worsening risk factors. However,
limitations exist in our ability to forecast the climate and disease, including how we incorporate changes in human behaviour and how we attribute climate/weather events solely to an infectious disease outcome. Broad statements about the impact of the climate on infectious disease may not be helpful, as these relationships are highly complex and likely lead to an oversimplification. The interdisciplinary field of climate-health research has the attention of those outside of science, and it is the responsibility of those involved to communicate attribution on an evidence basis, for better scientific communication and public spending. The uncertainty around the impacts of climate change is a call for action, to prevent pushing the Earth’s systems into the unknown.
Date Issued
2024-07-20
Date Acceptance
2024-03-23
Citation
npj Climate Action, 2024, 3
ISSN
2731-9814
Publisher
Springer Nature
Journal / Book Title
npj Climate Action
Volume
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-024-00115-3
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
61
Date Publish Online
2024-07-20