With 80% of the global population at risk from one or more vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, tools like early warning systems can help the world prepare, plan for and respond to them.
Early warning systems are not new. But with climate change, there is an increased interest in these systems to predict and plan for disease outbreaks like malaria. Several experts fear climate change will increase malaria transmission. Increased rainfall can open up more breeding sites for mosquitoes, and warmer temperatures allow malaria parasites to complete their cycle faster.
But early warning systems face some challenges to expansion and adoption, such as lack of in-country digital infrastructure and insufficient evidence of impact on patient outcomes. Data sharing and scarce resources also pose challenges in rolling them out.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
