Climate variability and hospitalizations due to infectious diarrheal diseases in a municipality of the Western Brazilian Amazon Region

Association between detection rate of norovirus GII and climatic factors in the Northwest Amazon region

Worldwide, approximately one fifth of all cases of diarrhea are associated with norovirus, mainly in children, with a defined seasonality in temperate climates, but seasonal dynamics are less known in tropical climates. The objective was to investigate the impact of external clinical, epidemiological, and climatic factors on norovirus detection rates in samples from children under 5 years of age from Roraima, the Amazon region of Brazil. A total of 941 samples were included. According to climatic factors, we observed correlations between external climatic factors and weekly positivity rates, where temperature (P = 0.002), relative humidity (P = 0.0005), absolute humidity (P < 0.0001) and wind speed had the strongest effect (P = 0.0006). The Brazilian Amazon region presents a typical and favorable scenario for the persistence, expansion, and distribution of viral gastroenteritis.

Importance

This study is important as it will serve as a basis for studies carried out in Brazil and Latin American countries on the epidemiological importance, seasonality, climate change, antigenic diversity, among other factors in the circulation of gastroenteric virus.

Vertical Stratification of Solitary Bees and Wasps in an Urban Forest from the Brazilian Amazon

Solitary bees and wasps that nest in cavities in tree trunks are important components of terrestrial ecosystems, providing pollination services, and in the case of wasps, the regulation of their prey populations. However, little is known about the vertical strata where bees and wasps build their nests. This is especially the case of urban forest remnants in the Amazon, which is relevant in the context of the global crisis in insect losses. We investigated the existence of vertical stratification in the nesting of solitary bees and wasps in an urban forest in Rio Branco, state of Acre, in the western Brazilian Amazon. We focused on whether wood temperature, ants, and termites are predictors of bee and wasp nesting. We sampled bee and wasp nests in the forest using trap-nests made with wooden blocks containing cavities with three different diameters for twelve months. Trap-nests were installed randomly at three heights in the forest. We collected 145 nests of 25 species, belonging to 11 genera and 6 families. A higher number of nests and species were collected in the upper stratum of the forest, strengthening the hypothesis that there is vertical stratification in the assemblage of solitary bees and wasps. Wood surface temperature and termite attacks on trap-nests were significantly different between strata, which may explain the vertical stratification of bee and wasp assemblages. Considering the importance of these insects for tropical forest ecosystems, the conservation of structurally complex and stratified forests is of paramount importance to maintain the diversity of this insect group.

The Impact of Climate Change on Health Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematised Review and Thematic Analysis

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of climate change on health services as categorized by the WHO's Building Blocks for creating Climate-Resilient Health Systems. Objective: The objective was to conduct a systematized review of the published literature concerning the impact of climate change, using a thematic analysis approach to address our aim and identify areas for further research. Design: A search was conducted on 8 February 2022 using the Embase and PubMed research databases. Peer-reviewed scientific studies that were published in English from 2012 to 2022, which described at least one report concerning the impact of climate change on health services in LMICs, were included. Studies were organized based on their key characteristics, which included the date of publication, objective, method, limitations, participants, and geographical focus. The Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Results: Twenty-three studies were included in this review. Five areas of health services which align with the WHO building blocks framework were impacted by climate change. These health service areas included: (1) Service Delivery, (2) Human Resources, (3) Health Finance, (4) Healthcare Products and Technology, and (5) Leadership and Governance. However, research concerning the impact of climate change on health information systems, which is part of the WHO building blocks framework, did not feature in our study. The climatic effects were divided into three themes: meteorological effects, extreme weather events, and general. The research in this study found that climate change had a detrimental impact on a variety of health services, with service delivery being the most frequently reported. The risk of bias varied greatly between studies. Conclusions: Climate change has negatively impacted health services in a variety of different ways, and without further actions, this problem is likely to worsen. The WHO building blocks have provided a useful lens through which to review health services. We built an aligned framework to describe our findings and to support future climate change impact assessments in this area. We propose that further research concerning the impact of climate change on health information systems would be valuable, as well as further education and responsible policy changes to help build resilience in health services affected by climate change.

Identifying gaps on health impacts, exposures, and vulnerabilities to climate change on human health and wellbeing in South America: a scoping review

There is an important gap in regional information on climate change and health, limiting the development of science-based climate policies in South American countries. This study aims to identify the main gaps in the existing scientific literature on the impacts, exposure, and vulnerabilities of climate change on population health. A scoping review was performed guided by four sub-questions focused on the impacts of climate change on physical and mental health, exposure and vulnerability factors of population to climate hazards. The main findings showed that physical impacts mainly included infectious diseases, while mental health impacts included trauma, depression, and anxiety. Evidence on population exposure to climate hazards is limited, and social determinants of health and individual factors were identified as vulnerability factors. Overall, evidence on the intersection between climate change and health is limited in South America and has been generated in silos, with limited transdisciplinary research. More formal and systematic information should be generated to inform public policy.

Funding

None.

Factors associated with diarrheal disease in the rural Caribbean region of Colombia

OBJECTIVE:

To analyze factors associated with diarrheal disease in the rural Caribbean region of Colombia.

METHOD:

A cross-sectional study conducted in the rural area of the Cesar Department, Colombia, between November 2017 and June 2018. Self-reported cases of diarrheal disease were surveyed, and water samples from 42 households were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were employed in the analysis of socioeconomic status, environmental and sanitary conditions, and we evaluated their association with the diarrheal disease using the Poisson regression models. Each model was adjusted with variables suggested by specific directed acyclic graphs.

RESULTS:

Poor water supply conditions, hygiene and basic sanitation were reported in the study area. All water samples were classified either as high risk for health problems or unfit for human consumption. The diarrheal disease had a prevalence of 7.5% across all ages and of 23.5% in children under five years old. The variables rainy season (PR = 0.24; 95%CI 0.07–0.85), children under five years old (PR = 4.05; 95%CI 1.70–9.68), water from deep wells (PR = 16.90; 95%CI 2.45–116.67), water from artificial ponds (PR = 11.47; 95%CI 1.27–103.29), toilets availability (PRA = 0.23; 95%CI 0.06–0.96), and swine presence (PR = 0.20; 95%CI 0.05–0.74) were significantly associated with the occurrence of diarrheal disease.

CONCLUSION:

Water supply, hygiene and basic sanitation conditions have been associated with the diarrheal disease, affecting almost a quarter of the population under five years old. There is an urge for the design of effective policies that improve environmental and sanitation conditions in rural areas.

The (in)visible health risks of climate change

This paper scrutinizes the assertion that knowledge gaps concerning health risks from climate change are unjust, and must be addressed, because they hinder evidence-led interventions to protect vulnerable populations. First, we construct a taxonomy of six inter-related forms of invisibility (social marginalization, forced invisibility by migrants, spatial marginalization, neglected diseases, mental health, uneven climatic monitoring and forecasting) which underlie systematic biases in current understanding of these risks in Latin America, and advocate an approach to climate-health research that draws on intersectionality theory to address these inter-relations. We propose that these invisibilities should be understood as outcomes of structural imbalances in power and resources rather than as haphazard blindspots in scientific and state knowledge. Our thesis, drawing on theories of governmentality, is that context-dependent tensions condition whether or not benefits of making vulnerable populations legible to the state outweigh costs. To be seen is to be politically counted and eligible for rights, yet evidence demonstrates the perils of visibility to disempowered people. For example, flood-relief efforts in remote Amazonia expose marginalized urban river-dwellers to the traumatic prospect of forced relocation and social and economic upheaval. Finally, drawing on research on citizenship in post-colonial settings, we conceptualize climate change as an 'open moment' of political rupture, and propose strategies of social accountability, empowerment and trans-disciplinary research which encourage the marginalized to reach out for greater power. These achievements could reduce drawbacks of state legibility and facilitate socially-just governmental action on climate change adaptation that promotes health for all.