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Changing climate and environmental conditions modify the ecological habitat and with it the suitability for the transmission of many water-borne, air-borne, food-borne, and vector-borne pathogens. Beside an increase in the incidence of for example hepatitis, viral gastroenteritis and cholera, vectors transmitting disease such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease are on the rise globally with prolonged transmission periods and spread to new geographical areas. Shifts in the prevalence of infectious diseases not only reflect the effects of temperature, humidity and other weather-related phenomena on pathogens, vectors and animal hosts, but are also part of a nexus of social and environmental factors influenced by climate change, including land use, migration and vector control

This category provides a selection of educational material as overview to climate sensitive infectious diseases on the one hand and a planetary health lens to specific infectious diseases relevant to the East African context, such as Schistosomiasis. This will enable users to expand on the classic view and understanding of infectious diseases towards other related aspects, such as fertilizer use, eutrophication, changes in the lake ecosystems, and connections with population growth and consumption patterns.  

Learning objectives:

• Learners will be able to apply a planetary health lens to climate sensitive infectious diseases.

• Learners will be able to outline the context-specific challenges of infectious diseases arising from the planetary crisis and will be able to identify adaption measures.