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

• Main Author: Sameera Karnik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Makhdoomi Printers 2013-01-01
• Series: Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health
• Subjects: environment; climate; global warming; infectious diseases
• Online Access: http://gjmedph.com/uploads/R-Vo2No2.pdf

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 some of the highlighted issues addressed in this review. Towards the end, attention was drawn towards the limitations of addressing vector disease transmission related insufficient studies particularly studies which conduct predictive modeling of infectious disease transmission, which were marred by lack of innovation.