CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN INFECTIOUS DISEASES (REVIEW)

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) has concluded that climate change has significant effects on human health. In order to understand how climate change impacts infectious diseases; it is essential to understand the pathways of disease transmission. Diseases transmitted directly from source of infection to the affected individual are least affected by environmental factors. If diseases are transmitted indirectly through a physical vehicle or a biological vector, climate change will have significant effect on disease transmission through the effect on the vehicle or the vector and the pathogen. The effect of climate change varies from one region to the other. Moreover, vulnerability to the effects of climate change varies from one individual to the other, from one group to the other and from one country to the other. Disease transmission is also affected by socioeconomic factors, globalization of travel and trade, land use, unplanned urbanization, population growth, and cultural attitudes, among other factors.