Climate Change and Infectious Diseases in Megacities of the Indian Subcontinent: A Literature Review

Abstract

Global environmental change or climate change is a growing and challenging area of multidisciplinary research. It poses an emerging threat to global public health as well as to the wellbeing of many populations (Costello et al. 2009; Campbell-Lendrum and Corvalan 2007). It inhibits the progress of poverty reduction and the reaching of the Millennium Development Goals (Mitchell and Tanner 2006). Annually, over 150,000 deaths and 5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) losses occur due to such change (Patz and Olson 2006). According to the recent report of the UCL Lancet Commission, the health effects of climate change will be even stronger in the next decades and will place the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk (Costello et al. 2009).