Climate Change and Vector-Borne Viral Diseases

Abstract

This chapter presents a synthetic view of the health impact of climate change and variability on vector-borne viral diseases (VVD) in order to assist evidence-based decision and policy making for disease prevention and control. The first part of the chapter discusses the epidemiological background of VVD, including the scope; the temporal-spatial distribution around the world; a summary of the factors that affect their transmission, including the causal relationship between climatic factors and VVD; and its prevention and control. The second part focuses on the association between climatic variables and some emerging VVD, such as dengue fever (DF), Rift Valley fever (RVF), viral encephalitis, yellow fever (YF), and others. Finally, the chapter provides implications and recommendations to inform decision and policy making for a range of stakeholders, for example, public health practitioners, doctors, and other health service providers at medical clinics, governments, researcher centers, and local communities.