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Climate change and its associated impacts have been closely linked to increased risks of infectious disease transmission, with projections indicating that these risks will further intensify the global burden of infectious diseases and lead to substantial disruptions in human societies. This situation is further complicated by a significant rise in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), which increased from 33.3 million to 71.1 million between 2013 and 2022, reflecting the extensive human displacement driven by various factors such as conflicts, violence, and natural disasters.
In a recent perspective piece in Nature Climate Change, our team of researchers — an international collaboration between researchers from the Department of Biology and the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford and Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) — came together to deepen our understanding of the impacts of the interrelated crises of climate change, migration, and infectious diseases and to explore their potential implications for research and policy. This work is part of the broader initiative to address the pressing concerns around climate-sensitive diseases as part of the Climate Amplified Diseases and Epidemics (CLIMADE) consortium.
Our review and analyses show that high-income countries that have contributed the most to global emissions face a lower infectious disease burden and are less vulnerable to the added impacts of climate change. On the other hand, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and Asia, that have made the least contribution to the global emission of greenhouse gasses, have continued to experience the greatest burden from infectious diseases and the highest vulnerability towards climate change. Most of the internal displacements as a result of weather-related hazards occurred in Asia and Africa.