Within a few decades as rising temperatures and changing weather patterns drive the spread of these climate-sensitive infectious diseases globally, often to regions that have not seen them in the past.
There will be a growing number of suitable environments for the Aedes mosquito — which transmits dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, and other viruses — and it’s predicted that 1 billion people will be newly at risk of these diseases by the year 2080. As it stands, health systems worldwide are unprepared for this shift.
There is an urgent need to develop early warning systems for climate-sensitive infectious diseases that inform evidence-based public health decision-making. NOW!