The Coronavirus Pandemic Is a Warning About Preparing for Climate-Driven Disease Outbreaks

C+S 2020 students are blogging about topics that interest them for Applications in Climate and Society, a core spring class.

As covid-19 sweeps across the globe, communities are confronting the harsh realities of an unabated infectious disease. In the wake of this growing pandemic, at least a third of the world’s population is under quarantine or experiencing travel restrictions of some kind—including me. These stay-at-home orders and lockdowns have resulted in fewer cars on the road and factories shutting down, leading to global reductions in air pollution. However, for every silver lining, there’s a dark cloud. For me, covid-19 raises alarm bells about other environmental issues, namely climate-induced migration. Evidence suggests that when climate change contributes to mass migration, infectious diseases will reemerge and spread rapidly. 

The mass movement of Syrian refugees is particularly telling. By 2016, 3.8 million Syrians had fled their war-torn country. The country’s civil war caused the reemergence of diseases such as polio, cholera, and tuberculosis. These diseases migrated with displaced Syrians. Refugees to other countries as well as those internally displaced within their own country are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases because loss of medical personnel and services, damaged infrastructure, and reduced funding that can disrupt vaccinations. Controlling the spread of illness also becomes more difficult in refugee camps that suffer from overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and poor access to healthcare. Lebanon and Iraq both experienced the reemergence of diseases originating in Syria. Several countries with Syrian refugees have also reported increased cases of diseases, such as measles.

Climate change will intensify migration, as rising temperatures and sea levels, drought and extreme weather events displace communities. A study published in 2015 considered the impact of various climate migration scenarios on infectious disease. The study found that every climate change migration scenario posed some level of risk to public health. It noted pathways for disease transmission and reemergence, including decreased immunization, overcrowding in refugee camps, and lack of sanitation, shelter and healthcare. 

Nations face dueling humanitarian crises to maintain public health, migration and ensuring everyone who needs care gets it. Health screenings and developing effective healthcare services for refugees can help governments and communities do both. These solutions emerged from research around Syrian refugees and address some of the core sources of infectious disease within migrant communities. 

I believe nations have a moral obligation to aid populations fleeing persecution, violence and environmental dangers. This is particularly true of countries like the U.S. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” To truly honor this statement, we must create systems that incorporate refugees into American life in safe and healthy ways. Universal implementation of solutions like healthcare screenings, health outreach programs and increased health care accessibility for refugees could prevent future infectious disease outbreaks before they start. 

The spread of covid-19 has revealed the ease with which infectious diseases can travel across continents and global connectivity is partially to blame. Open markets, supply chains, planes and bullet trains allow goods, people and diseases to spread around the world faster than ever before. The dire circumstances the world faces today paint a grim picture for the future consequences of climate-induced migration as more people are forced to move. But the current pandemic presents an opportunity for countries to learn, improve their healthcare systems, develop preventative measures, and become more resilient to the spread of infectious diseases.