Strengthened Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation in Health: Integrated Response to Climate Sensitive Vector Borne Diseases in Cambodia

PROJECT PURPOSE

The project aims at strengthening capacity for dengue and other vectorborne disease outbreak detection, prevention and response, including at the community level, to protect vulnerable populations in areas at risk of increased vectorborne disease burden due to climate change.

KEY RESULTS

• Strengthened national institutional capacity to conduct meteorological, vector and epidemiological surveillance for climate-sensitive diseases and respond to outbreaks for climate change health adaptation;
• Increased awareness of vector borne disease risks of climate change and knowledge of appropriate protective behaviours and responses in identified high-risk populations;
• Strengthened evidence of the relationship between climatic determinants and vector borne disease burden.

Climate change is anticipated to adversely impact human health by a number of mechanisms. Ofthese, an increased incidence of vectorborne diseases (VBDs) is often cited as a leading health risk for reasons including that the distribution and behavior of insect disease vectors are affected by climatic parameters. In Cambodia, dengue and the emerging disease chikungunya are both transmitted by household-associated Aedesmosquitoes and cause tens of thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths annually. Their distribution is expanding, possibly because of climate change and related human behavior changes. Accurate monitoring of cases, understanding the responsible vector species and knowledge of the circulating viral serotype areimportant components of a climate change and health adaptation strategy. Funding for monitoring of these parameters and for outbreak response, particularly in the most vulnerable population groups, is limited.

The project is designed to improve the sensitivity and timeliness of dengue surveillanceallowing timely outbreak response; incorporation of climate data into routine disease surveillance reports; conducting mosquito surveillance to provide data on responsible vectors, their infection rate and appropriate control methods; conducting awareness raising campaigns in vulnerable communities to inform of risks and preventive behaviors; conducting research into climatic determinants of outbreaks, building research capacity and informing future climate change and health adaptation policy.