Climate change and the rising incidence of vector-borne diseases globally

Abstract

As the world experiences warmer weather, heat waves and flooding, the climate change is leading to the geographical expansion of mosquitos, which are known vectors of a range of infectious diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, yellow fever, rift valley fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis and Zika which affect millions of people worldwide (1). Climate change now threatens the spread of vector-borne diseases to previously low-risk areas in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas (2-7) According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an additional 250,000 deaths per year will occur in the next decades as a result of malnutrition, heat stress and vector-borne diseases (8).