Review of the Evidence Linking Climate Change to Human Health for Eight Diseases of Tropical Importance

As human societies are beginning to feel the early effects of 21st Century climate change, adaptation is becoming an increasingly important area of enquiry across a range of human sectors and activities. This is particularly true for the health sectors of tropical developing countries, as many of these countries will be some of the first to experience the impacts of global warming. Given this, it is important to understand the mechanisms through which climate change may impact on human health, and thus on the social welfare in tropical developing countries and the resourcing requirements of their health sectors. This paper reviews and synthesizes the published literature on the causal links between climate change and human disease for eight diseases of tropical importance: malaria, dengue fever, gastroenteritis, schistosomiasis, leptospirosis, ciguatera poisoning, meningococcal meningitis, and cardio-respiratory disease.