Health, environmental change and adaptive capacity; mapping, examining and anticipating future risks of water-related vector-borne diseases in eastern Africa

Taylor, David; Kienberger, Stefan; Malone, Jack; Tompkins, Adrian M.

doi:10.4081/gh.2016.464

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Climate change threatens to hinder the progress that has been made in this arena. In the future, climate information may be used to produce “malaria risk maps” that take into account heat, humidity, precipitation, and altitude, so that clinicians and public health workers can adapt to these changes …”

Section: Climate Change and Infectious Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of climate change on human health in Africa, a dermatologic perspective: a report from the International Society of Dermatology Climate Change Committee

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout much of the African continent, healthcare systems are already strained in their efforts to meet the needs of a growing population using limited resources. Climate change threatens to undermine many of the public health gains that have been made in this region in the last several decades via multiple mechanisms, including malnutrition secondary to drought-induced food insecurity, mass human displacement from newly uninhabitable areas, exacerbation of environmentally sensitive chronic diseases, and enhanced viability of pathogenic microbes and their vectors. We reviewed the literature describing the various direct and indirect effects of climate change on diseases with cutaneous manifestations in Africa. We included non-communicable diseases such as malignancies (non-melanoma skin cancers), inflammatory dermatoses (i.e. photosensitive dermatoses, atopic dermatitis), and trauma (skin injury), as well as communicable diseases and neglected tropical diseases. Physicians should be aware of the ways in which climate change threatens human health in low-and middle-income countries in general, and particularly in countries throughout Africa, the world's lowest-income and second most populous continent.The African continent has the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and accounts for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 2 In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the socioeconomic conditions are strongly linked to the climatic conditions, loss of healthy life years as a result of climate change is predicted to be up to 500 times greater than in Europe. 3 By 2020, 85-250 million Africans are projected to experience increased water stress as a result of climate change, and crop yields from rain-fed agriculture may decrease by up to 50%. 4 Since 30-40% of Africa's GDP and about three quarters of its population rely on agricultural production as a primary income source, the economic consequences of this could be devastating. 2Given that most of the continent is in the tropical climate zone, sea level rise is expected to be higher than average, and there are at least three African coastal cities with populations over 8 million that may be severely affected. 2 According to the World Bank, as of 2019, the combination of erosion, flooding, and pollution have led to losses of over 3.8 billion United States Dollars (USD) annually, or 5.3% of the combined GDP of Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Togo, four countries along the West African Coast. 5 African nations will be forced to continue their development under these constraints, and at a high cost; the United Nations (U.N.) estimates climate change adaptation costs to Africa of ª

show abstract

Section: Climate Change and Infectious Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of climate change on human health in Africa, a dermatologic perspective: a report from the International Society of Dermatology Climate Change Committee

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This phenomenon poses a substantial long-term challenge to human society, primarily materializing as greenhouse effects resulting from heightened energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions (Kerr, 2001;Wang and Zhao, 2018). In a bid to address global climate change and facilitate worldwide carbon emission reduction (Chowdhury, 2012), more than 130 countries and regions have articulated ambitious goals or visions centered around "carbon neutrality" (Dhakal, 2009;Taylor et al, 2016). In alignment with the 2020 Paris Agreement, the Chinese government has pledged to attain its peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 (Dong et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological and economic influencing factors on the spatial and temporal evolution of carbon balance zoning in the Taihu Basin

Wang,

Duan

2024

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The escalation in carbon dioxide concentration has precipitated global climate warming, accentuating ecological and environmental concerns. Notably, China stands as the world’s largest carbon emitter, with the Taihu Lake basin emerging as a carbon-intensive region within the country. This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis spanning 2005 to 2020, calculating the economic contribution coefficient of carbon emissions and the ecological carrying coefficient of carbon absorption in the Taihu Lake basin. The study includes a delineation of carbon balance zones and an exploration of the geographical and spatial influences of both ecosystem and economic factors. The overarching trend in carbon emissions within the Taihu Lake Basin initially exhibited rapid growth, followed by a fluctuating decline, with the pivotal year being 2012, recording the apex of emissions at 575.8293 million tons. Concurrently, total carbon absorption demonstrated a fluctuating growth trajectory, ascending from 82.3503 million tons in 2005 to 85.6488 million tons in 2020. The carbon emission intensity in the basin manifested a pattern of high concentration in the northeast and low concentration in the southwest, while the carbon absorption intensity displayed the inverse pattern. The carbon balance across the Taihu Lake Basin revealed a spatial incongruity, characterized by a suboptimal pattern in the northeast and a favorable pattern in the southwest. Zhejiang Province emerged as an ecological stronghold within the basin, acting as the primary carbon sink functional area. Urban built-up areas and forested regions emerged as principal influencers of carbon balance in the Taihu Lake basin. Urban construction land, population density, and arable land area were identified as primary contributors to carbon emissions, whereas per capita GDP, forests, grasslands, and water bodies were identified as main contributors to carbon absorption in the watershed.

show abstract

“…Five projects comprise the TDR IDRC Research Initiative (see Table 1 for a list of projects). The projects, led by researchers from research institutions in Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mauritania, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and in collaboration with existing disease control programmes in the context of the National Adaptation Plans for Climate Change (NAPs) in Africa [ 14 ], were focused on addressing malaria, schistosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis and Rift Valley fever. The projects provided a holistic research perspective to elucidate how environmental and socio-economic change affects transmission dynamics and disease burden of VBDs through changes in vector ecology, human ecology, social organization, demography and health systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for research towards understanding the population health vulnerabilities to vector-borne diseases: increasing resilience under climate change conditions in Africa

Ramirez

2017

Infect Dis Poverty

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundDiseases transmitted to humans by vectors account for 17% of all infectious diseases and remain significant public health problems. Through the years, great strides have been taken towards combatting vector-borne diseases (VBDs), most notably through large scale and coordinated control programmes, which have contributed to the decline of the global mortality attributed to VBDs. However, with environmental changes, including climate change, the impact on VBDs is anticipated to be significant, in terms of VBD-related hazards, vulnerabilities and exposure. While there is growing awareness on the vulnerability of the African continent to VBDs in the context of climate change, there is still a paucity of research being undertaken in this area, and impeding the formulation of evidence-based health policy change.Main bodyOne way in which the gap in knowledge and evidence can be filled is for donor institutions to support research in this area. The collaboration between the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the International Centre for Research and Development (IDRC) builds on more than 10 years of partnership in research capacity-building in the field of tropical diseases. From this partnership was born yet another research initiative on VBDs and the impact of climate change in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. This paper lists the projects supported under this research initiative and provides a brief on some of the policy and good practice recommendations emerging from the ongoing implementation of the research projects.ConclusionData generated from the research initiative are expected to be uptaken by stakeholders (including communities, policy makers, public health practitioners and other relevant partners) to contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of social, environmental and climate change on VBDs(i.e. the nature of the hazard, vulnerabilities, exposure), and improve the ability of African countries to adapt to and reduce the effects of these changes in ways that benefit their most vulnerable populations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40249-017-0378-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Health, environmental change and adaptive capacity; mapping, examining and anticipating future risks of water-related vector-borne diseases in eastern Africa

Abstract: Not available.

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

The effects of climate change on human health in Africa, a dermatologic perspective: a report from the International Society of Dermatology Climate Change Committee

The effects of climate change on human health in Africa, a dermatologic perspective: a report from the International Society of Dermatology Climate Change Committee

Ecological and economic influencing factors on the spatial and temporal evolution of carbon balance zoning in the Taihu Basin

Support for research towards understanding the population health vulnerabilities to vector-borne diseases: increasing resilience under climate change conditions in Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About