Climate change and communicable diseases in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries

This report summarises the unique public health challenges impacted by climate change faced by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the coming century, and outlines the need for greater investment in public health research and disease surveillance to better forecast the imminent epidemiological landscape. Significant data gaps currently exist regarding vector occurrence, spatial climate measures and communicable disease case counts in the GCC—presenting an immediate research priority for the region. Epidemiologists and health economics researchers Thomas Rawson, Katharina Hauck and Neil Ferguson of the Jameel Institute at Imperial College London, outline policy work necessary to strengthen public health interventions, and to facilitate evidence-driven mitigation strategies. Such research will require a transdisciplinary approach, utilising existing cross-border public health initiatives, to ensure that such investigations are well-targeted and effectively communicated.