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Climate service for Belgian
vector-borne disease management

Improved access and use of climate data for surveillance and prediction of tick-borne and mosquito-borne diseases in Belgium

Context

Vector-borne diseases are caused by bacteria, parasites and viruses that are transmitted by infected arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, ticks, sand flies and fleas. The presence of the diseases depends on the presence of vectors and animal/human reservoirs, which is influenced by many factors, such as climate change, international travel, trade and land use.

 

Over the past decades, vector-borne diseases, such as those transmitted by ticks and exotic mosquitoes, have increased in Europe as well as in Belgium which demonstrates the urgent need for real-time and structured access and use of climate data to allow timely surveillance and prediction of these vectors.

Objectives

The project ‘Climate service for Belgian vector-borne disease management’ aims to develop a climate service custom-made for the “Vector-borne diseases and zoonoses” unit at the Belgian federal institute of public health or Sciensano, to address the rising impacts of climate change on public health by facilitating the surveillance and prediction of diseases related to vectors like ticks and exotic mosquitoes.

 

This service aims to operate in an automated way, ensuring a structured access and use of advanced and real-time climate data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) (e.g. ERA5) and the Automatic Weather Stations or AWS operated by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMIB). Real-time climate data of temperature, humidity, and precipitation will be integrated into Sciensano’s disease monitoring and prediction systems (see schematic overview below). This will enable daily updates and provide spatially detailed data that reflects urban climate variations, offering timely insights for both tick and mosquito-borne disease management.

scheme_climate_service_vector_borne_dise

Highlights

Stakeholder workshop at the Belgian Climate Center - The first user and stakeholder workshop in December 2024 gathered over 15 stakeholders from various relevant institutions, including the Flemish Government (Department of Care and Department of Environment), the Belgian Federal Government (FPS Public Health), the Institute of Tropical Medicine, the Spatial Epidemiology Lab (ULB), the Belgian Climate Risk Assessment Centre (CERAC), and Vivalis.

The workshop introduced the technical approach, data tools, and expected outcomes of the project. An interactive session also gave the opportunity to the broader community of stakeholders working on the health and environment interface, to discuss and express their specific challenges or gaps in addressing vector-borne disease management, features or functionalities of a climate service and the use of different networks and community platforms.

Facts​

Documentation

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Summary report of the kick-off stakeholder workshop on 12 December 2024 [pdf]

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