Adaptation to climate change-driven infectious disease risks in Canada

Presenter: Dr. Nick Ogden is a UK-trained veterinarian with a doctorate in vector-borne disease ecology and post-doctoral training in disease modelling. He is a senior research scientist and Director of Public Health Risk Sciences division within the National Microbiology Laboratory of Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), focusing on assessing disease risk by study of the ecology, epidemiology and genetic diversity of vectors and zoonotic and vector-borne micro-organisms. A key component of his work is assessing impacts of climate change on zoonoses and vector-borne diseases, and developing tools for public health adaptation. During the pandemic he led PHAC’s COVID-19 modelling and emerging science teams. Summary: Multiple national and international assessments of possible impacts of climate change on infectious diseases have highlighted a range of climate sensitive diseases, and the possibility of i) geographic spread of infectious diseases from endemic areas to regions where they have not been seen before; and ii) more epidemic behaviour of mosquito-borne, and food and water-borne infectious diseases due to climate variability and extreme weather events. To address these threats adaptation programs requires enhanced activity across public health functions of risk assessment, surveillance, and interventions (preventive measures, public health guidance, control measures, risk communications, early warning systems). Our progress in this endeavour will be described.

Mediasite Presenter

4/16/2024 7:00:00 PM