Priorities for vector-borne disease research under a planetary health framework: a scoping review and bibliometric analysis of climate change and aedes-vectored diseases in australia and indopacific region

Abstract

In recent years, three key arboviruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue have emerged and re-emerged in both hemispheres of the world to cause major human epidemics. The distribution if these viruses are driven by changes in climate and it is estimated that by 2050, almost half the world’s population will live in areas where Aedes mosquitoes have established. The two main vectors transmission, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have already caused outbreaks and epidemics of dengue, chikungunya and Zika in the Pacific region and in the Torres Strait in Australia. Understanding the distribution and spread of these diseases under future climate scenarios therefore remains a priority. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature from five scientific databases with the aim of providing a synthesis of the current state of literature on the emergence and reemergence of the mosquito-borne arboviruses to identify key drivers of transmission, changing risk under climate change and other drivers, current strategies for risk management and research gaps and priorities. We analyse these studies through the lens of an integrated risk framework based on the theoretical concepts of planetary health and the IPCC risk assessment framework to identify key drivers of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. We found that compared to other regions, there are limited studies (n=43) that address climate change and Aedes vectored arboviruses. Further we find that 32% of these studies are review studies, providing a broad overview of the research landscape. While the remaining studies acknowledged the influence of climate on spread of disease, only 6 studies assessed how climate factors and/or climate change will influence disease transmission and all of these studies were on Dengue virus. This study highlights the need for more understanding of factors driving risks of emergence and re-emergence of Aedes-vectored arboviruses in the region.