Climate change: A health challenge even as India struggles in pandemic

India, along with other countries, will have to expand surveillance activities to detect the shifting patterns of diseases, according to emerging research

Even as India struggles to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, experts warn climate change may bring worse health challenges in its wake. A warmer climate may affect other diseases endemic to South Asia, including mosquito-borne diseases, such as chikungunya and dengue, parasitic diseases, such as leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, and tick-borne diseases. As temperatures change, vector populations of mosquitoes, for instance, will be impacted. This, in turn, could lead to changes in transmission intensity or shifts in the geographical ranges where the diseases are found.
 

India, along with other countries, will have to expand surveillance activities to detect the shifting