Infectious Diseases Associated with Hydrometeorological Hazards in Europe: Disaster Risk Reduction in the Context of the Climate Crisis and the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

From isolation to revival: trade recovery amid global health crises

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of designing effective trade recovery measures in response to global health events (GHEs). This study combines international trade risk management theory and multi-case comparative analysis of past GHEs to present a theoretical framework for designing national trade recovery measures for future events.

RESULTS

The research finds that during GHEs, trade risks shift to fundamental uncertainty, requiring spatial-temporal-subject dimension recovery measures. The study suggests changing the focus of trade recovery policy design from emergency-oriented and single-dimension measures to reserve-oriented and enduring-effect measures of comprehensive dimensions at micro- and macroeconomic levels.

CONCLUSION

The study contributes to the debate on managing trade risks in times of crisis, where there is a need to develop effective trade recovery measures that account for the complexities of global trade and the unique challenges of GHEs. The findings provide practical guidance for trade officials and policymakers to design measures in response to GHEs to improve a country's overall trade recovery.

"Long walk to 2030": A bibliometric and systematic review of research trends on the UN sustainable development goal 3

Background

Since the initiation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations in 2015, researchers worldwide have investigated various aspects of it. One of the key areas of interest is the third SDG, which focuses on health, with its series of indicators.

Objective

This study aims to analyze the contributions of academia by using bibliographic mapping to examine scholarly publications on SDG health from 2015 to 2021.

Methods

We analyzed bibliographic data from The Lens database between 2015 and 2021 using Bibliometrix page and VOSviewer. Our analysis focused on scholarly productivity, bibliometric analysis, and geographic distribution of the outputs.

Results

We retrieved a total of 450 documents from The Lens database, with articles being the most dominant document typology at 99.8%. The mean age of the documents was 3.85 years, with a total of 18,440 citations. The mean citation per document was 40.98, and the mean citation per document per year was 5.85. The leading article, published in The Lancet journal, studied the effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health and received 1809 citations in five years. Keyword co-occurrence analysis generated three clusters, with the keyword 'human' appearing in 75.11% of all the publications. The University of London and World Health Organization were the leading institutions, while the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland were the most productive countries.

Conclusion

This study provides policymakers working on SDG health with valuable insights into research gaps within the indicators and funding challenges facing developing countries.

Interactions of urbanisation, climate variability, and infectious disease dynamics: insights from the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu

Climate change and shifts in land use/land cover (LULC) are critical factors affecting the environmental, societal, and health landscapes, notably influencing the spread of infectious diseases. This study delves into the intricate relationships between climate change, LULC alterations, and the prevalence of vector-borne and waterborne diseases in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India, between 1985 and 2015. The research utilised Landsat-4, Landsat-5, and Landsat-8 data to generate LULC maps, applying the maximum likelihood algorithm to highlight significant transitions over the years. This study revealed that built-up areas have increased by 67%, primarily at the expense of agricultural land, which was reduced by 51%. Temperature and rainfall data were obtained from APHRODITE Water Resources, and with a statistical analysis of the time series data revealed an annual average temperature increase of 1.8 °C and a minor but statistically significant rainfall increase during the study period. Disease data was obtained from multiple national health programmes, revealing an increasing trend in dengue and diarrhoeal diseases over the study period. In particular, dengue cases surged, correlating strongly with the increase in built-up areas and temperature. This research is instrumental for policy decisions in public health, urban planning, and climate change mitigation. Amidst limited research on the interconnections among infectious diseases, climate change, and LULC changes in India, our study serves as a significant precursor for future management strategies in Coimbatore and analogous regions.

Impact of wars and natural disasters on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases (REIDs) constitute significant health problems and are becoming of major importance. Up to 75% of EIDs and REIDs have zoonotic origin. Several factors such as the destruction of natural habitats leading humans and animals to live in close proximity, ecological changes due to natural disasters, population migration resulting from war or conflict, interruption or decrease in disease prevention programs, and insufficient vector control applications and sanitation are involved in disease emergence and distribution. War and natural disasters have a great impact on the emergence/re-emergence of diseases in the population. According to a World Bank estimation, two billion people are living in poverty and fragility situations. Wars destroy health systems and infrastructure, curtail existing disease control programs, and cause population movement leading to an increase in exposure to health risks and favor the emergence of infectious diseases. A total of 432 catastrophic cases associated with natural disasters were recorded globally in 2021. Natural disasters increase the risk of EID and REID outbreaks by damaging infrastructure and leading to displacement of populations. A Generic National Action Plan covering risk assessment, mechanism for action, determination of roles and responsibilities of each sector, the establishment of a coordination mechanism, etc. should be developed.

Health impacts of extreme weather events - Cascading risks in a changing climate

Background

Extreme weather events represent one of the most tangible impacts of anthropogenic climate change. They have increased in number and severity and a further increase is expected. This is accompanied by direct and indirect negative consequences for human health.

Methods

Flooding events, storms and droughts are analysed here for Germany from a systemic perspective on the basis of a comprehensive literature review. Cascading risks beyond the initial event are also taken into account in order to depict downstream consequences.

Results

In addition to the immediate health burdens caused by extreme weather events such as injuries, long-term consequences such as stress-related mental disorders occur. These stresses particularly affect certain vulnerable groups, e.g. older persons, children, pregnant women or first responders.

Conclusions

A look at the cascading risks described in the international literature allows us to develop precautionary measures for adaptation to the consequences of climate change. Many adaptation measures protect against different risks at the same time. In addition to planning measures, these include, above all, increasing the population's ability to protect itself through knowledge and strengthening of social networks.

An Emerging Health Crisis in Turkey and Syria after the Earthquake Disaster on 6 February 2023: Risk Factors, Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases

On 6 February 2023, Turkey and Syria were hit by two major earthquakes that caused extremely heavy structural damage to buildings and infrastructure in one of the most densely populated areas of Anatolia. The authors visited the devastated area shortly after the earthquakes in the frame of search and rescue and scientific missions in order to check whether the newly formed conditions have the potential to further affect public health. Based on the collected disaster-related field data, it is revealed that risk factors associated with and favoring emergence of infectious diseases are present in the affected residential areas from the first hours of the emergency state. The coexistence and synergy of many collapsed health facilities, cold winter conditions, destruction of lifeline infrastructures, overcrowding in emergency shelters, poor sanitation and adverse socio-economic conditions along with evolving crises and disasters (conflicts, pandemic and epidemics) may further aggravate the already fragile public health situation and cause considerable delays in the recovery process. Efficient disease surveillance at local and regional levels is a crucial requirement for early warning and protection against emerging infectious diseases in the earthquake-affected areas among other proposed measures for prevention and management of infectious diseases.