Vectors, Environment and Society Unit, Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland.
Infect Dis Poverty. 2017 Dec 12;6(1):164. doi: 10.1186/s40249-017-0378-z.
Diseases transmitted to humans by vectors account for 17% of all infectious diseases and remain significant public health problems. Through the years, great strides have been taken towards combatting vector-borne diseases (VBDs), most notably through large scale and coordinated control programmes, which have contributed to the decline of the global mortality attributed to VBDs. However, with environmental changes, including climate change, the impact on VBDs is anticipated to be significant, in terms of VBD-related hazards, vulnerabilities and exposure. While there is growing awareness on the vulnerability of the African continent to VBDs in the context of climate change, there is still a paucity of research being undertaken in this area, and impeding the formulation of evidence-based health policy change.
One way in which the gap in knowledge and evidence can be filled is for donor institutions to support research in this area. The collaboration between the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the International Centre for Research and Development (IDRC) builds on more than 10 years of partnership in research capacity-building in the field of tropical diseases. From this partnership was born yet another research initiative on VBDs and the impact of climate change in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. This paper lists the projects supported under this research initiative and provides a brief on some of the policy and good practice recommendations emerging from the ongoing implementation of the research projects.
Data generated from the research initiative are expected to be uptaken by stakeholders (including communities, policy makers, public health practitioners and other relevant partners) to contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of social, environmental and climate change on VBDs(i.e. the nature of the hazard, vulnerabilities, exposure), and improve the ability of African countries to adapt to and reduce the effects of these changes in ways that benefit their most vulnerable populations.
通过媒介传播给人类的疾病占所有传染病的 17%，仍然是严重的公共卫生问题。多年来，在防治媒介传播疾病（VBD）方面取得了重大进展，特别是通过大规模协调控制方案，这有助于降低全球因 VBD 导致的死亡率。然而，随着环境变化，包括气候变化，预计 VBD 将受到重大影响，包括与 VBD 相关的危害、脆弱性和暴露。虽然人们越来越意识到非洲大陆在气候变化背景下易受 VBD 的影响，但在这一领域仍缺乏研究，阻碍了制定基于证据的卫生政策改革。
填补知识和证据差距的一种方法是让捐助机构支持这一领域的研究。世界卫生组织热带病研究和培训特别规划署（TDR）与国际研究与发展中心（IDRC）之间的合作建立在 10 多年来在热带病领域开展研究能力建设的伙伴关系之上。正是基于这种伙伴关系，又提出了一项关于 VBD 以及气候变化对萨赫勒和撒哈拉以南非洲影响的研究倡议。本文列出了在该研究倡议下支持的项目，并简要介绍了正在实施的研究项目中提出的一些政策和良好实践建议。
预计该研究倡议产生的数据将被利益相关者（包括社区、政策制定者、公共卫生从业者和其他相关合作伙伴）采用，以帮助更好地了解社会、环境和气候变化对 VBD 的影响（即危害的性质、脆弱性、暴露），并提高非洲国家适应和减少这些变化影响的能力，使最脆弱的人群受益。
