Climate Change and Vectorborne Diseases

The effects of climate change are widespread and rapidly intensifying and are largely driven by greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Global mean temperatures have already increased by 1.1°C since 1900,1 with most of the change having occurred in the past 50 years. The extent of change is most extreme in highland and polar regions (Fig. 1), and temperatures in tropical regions are creeping closer to the thermal limits of many organisms. Given the current policies and actions, a warming of 2.5°C to 2.9°C or more by the end of this century is expected.2