Conference to understand link between climate change and vector-borne diseases

The HEALTHY FUTURES project is coordinating a conference to bring together researchers at the cutting edge of efforts to understand relationships between climate change and vector-borne diseases. The conference will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, on 18-20 November 2014.

HEALTHY FUTURES is an EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)-funded project which aims to address the risk of outbreaks and transmission of three water-related vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in eastern Africa.

Climate and climate change information can be extremely useful to health planners, as it can help them to understand current distributions of some diseases, notably those involving a biological vector, and anticipate future outbreaks. An understanding of links between climate, societal changes and health can also help in modelling the health impacts of climate change. With this in mind, the sessions and presentations at the Climate Change and Vector Borne Diseases: Past, Present and Futures conference will be organised within three sub-themes: Environmental changes and vector-borne diseases; Statistical and dynamical disease modelling; Climate change related risk analysis and vulnerability assessment; and Adaptation to climate change related health impacts.

Source: University of Rwanda