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Adapting to climate change. Jonathan Suk 30 June 2010. Drivers of emerging infectious diseases. Main categories of drivers associated with emergence and re-emergence of human pathogens. Rank* Driver. 1 Changes in land use or agricultural practices.
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Adapting to climate change Jonathan Suk 30 June 2010
Drivers of emerging infectious diseases Main categories of drivers associated with emergence and re-emergence of human pathogens Rank* Driver 1 Changes in land use or agricultural practices 2 Changes in human demographics and society 3 Poor population health, e.g. HIV, malnutrition 4 Hospitals and medial procedures 5 Pathogen evolution, e.g. antimicrobial drug resistance, increased virulence 6 Contamination of food sources or water supplies 7 International travel 8 Failure of public health programmes 9 International trade 10 Climate change * Ranked by the number of pathogen species associated with them (most to least). Source: Woolhouse, M.E.J. & Gowtage-Sequeria, S. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2005, Vol. 11(12): 1842-1847.
Vector-borne diseases/pathogens that may be linked to climate change in Europe *Disease not currently prevalent in continental EU region
Current distribution of Aedes albopictus in the EU Source: Schaffner, F. Development of Aedesalbopictus risk maps. TigerMaps project. ECDC, Stockholm 2008. (Forthcoming.)
Climate change at ECDC • Vulnerability and risk assessments • International workshop on Environmental Change and Infectious Disease • International workshop on Linking Environmental and Epidemiologic Data • Risk assessment of vector-borne diseases in the EU (V-borne) • Impact of climate change on food- and water-borne (FWB) diseases in Europe • Risk maps for Aedesalbopictus • Risk maps for dengue fever and aedesaegypti • Adaptation strategies • Chikungunya communication toolkit • Adaptation and vulnerability toolkit • Response • ECDC/WHO risk assessment of chikungunya in northern Italy
1. Vector Surveillance: VBORNET • Objectives • To establish a network of expertise in entomology across the EU • To obtain data on vectors of primary concern to health in the EU (mosquitos, ticks) • To promote EU-wide harmonization of standards and methods for vector surveillance
Surveillance Direct exposures(heat stroke, drowning…) CO2 CO2 CO2 Indirect exposures(vector-borne diseases, other infectious diseases) Climate change Environmental consequences Socio-economic impacts(homelessness, refugees…) time 2. Environmental monitoring Health outcomes
3. Adaptation handbook • Background • Climate change as a threat multiplier – addressing climate-sensitive diseases should also benefit public health today • Objectives • To assist EU Member States to conduct national and regional vulnerability assessments as concerns climate change and communicable diseases • To develop comprehensive advice for ECDC and EU Member States on how to implement regionally targeted adaptation strategies to mitigate against future communicable disease transmission due to climate change.
Pragmatic approach • Identify baseline description (epidemiologic, socio-economic, current disease burden), and note it is changing alongside climate • Identify climate-sensitive diseases most relevant for a given region, and then weighing options for action • Identify climatic drivers (rainfall, drought, temperature) most relevant to these diseases • Develop adaptation strategies with future projections in mind, and engage other sectors where possible • Strategy needs to be evidence-based, but does not necessarily need to involve sophisticated modelling
Assessment Process Aim, demarcation Organisational structure: Working group, reference group, etc Base-line description Climate, diseases, vulnerability factors Iterative process Assessment: Vulnerability and impacts Quality control Base-line description Adaptation measures Assessment: Adaptive strategies and measures Policy decision Follow-up/ monitoring: Impacts and measures
Identifying priorities for action Probability of an outbreak/strength of climate change-disease relationship Weighted significance of climate change on the transmission of a specific infectious disease in an area High Medium Low High Medium Low Low Medium High Severity of consequence for society risk group
Thank you. Jonathan.Suk@ecdc.europa.eu