The Impact of Climate Change on the Transmission of Vector-borne Diseases and Drug Administration: A Review
Bismark Senyo Donkor
School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Richard Sedeafor *
Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Griffin Agyekum Mensah
Bunge Limited, Ghana.
Melchizedek Asamoah Amponsah
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Climate change continues to be a big threat to humanity, particularly due to its significant impacts on human health. Although there have been some studies on the impacts of climate change on human health, there is a huge gap on its prospective effects on the transmission of vector-borne diseases and drug administration. Therefore this review provides a comprehensive impacts of climate change on the transmission of vector-borne diseases and drug administration It is estimated that the global temperature on average will potentially rise by 1.0 – 3.0 oC, thus increasing the chance of the emergent and increased rate of transmission of vector-borne diseases. Climate change continues to have a significant impact on overly poor and vulnerable populations across tropical and sub-tropical regions across the world. Some studies have established the influence of climate change on the transmission of diseases due to increasing changes in weather patterns such as rainfall and increase in temperature, as a result of global warming. It is believed that climate change will have a long-term effect on the propagation of diseases, and subsequently affect treatment from drug administration. Rising temperatures and global warming due to climate change can alter disease patterns, drug stability and change drug properties, thus potentially increasing drug toxicity and reducing drug efficacy.
Keywords: Climate change, vector-borne diseases, drug administration