Collaborators: Houriiyah Tegally & Monika Moir, Stellenbosch, South Africa & Moritz Kraemer, Oxford, UK
Summary: Climate change will continue to cause major disruptions to human society, including large-scale human migration. Infectious diseases are also predicted to increase in frequency and intensity over the next century. Whereas the link between climate and infectious diseases has been explored in detail, the intersecting crises of climate induced human migration and health remains understudied. Diseases most affected by climate change in Africa are predicted to be arboviruses (Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika). We propose to develop a transdisciplinary framework that links climate, extreme weather events, and human migration into prediction studies of future changes in climate sensitive arboviral diseases across Sub-Saharan Africa. First, we will explore how climate contributes to the risk of arboviruses to cause epidemics in a larger geographical range, and how this is influenced by behavioral factors in areas most affected by climate migrations. Secondly, we will explore the impact of migrations related to climate hazards and their impact on bringing people closer together in environments where pathogen transmission can be accelerated (urbanization). Our work will be done across multiple public health and research institutions in South Africa, Kenya and clinical research sites in West and Central Africa, making our outputs directly relevant to decision makers.
Activity type: Research project
CLIMADE team: Africa, Europe