Page - 81 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

81 4.5 Responses to  VBDs Along  with Biodiversity Loss and  Climate Change 4.5.1 Target the  Complexity Though the world is complex, our understanding of VBDs comes mainly from indi- vidual research disciplines. Who is at a high risk of VBDs is determined by biologi- cal, ecological, climatic, social, cultural, historical, political and economic factors (Lacey 2012; Marmot and Wilkinson 2005). Ecological factors refer, for example, to micro-climate, the natural landscape and anthropogenic settings. Biological fac- tors relate to population dynamics of vectors and the transmission dynamics of pathogens. Socio-cultural, political and economic factors comprise a number of variables relating to conservation of biodiversity, mitigation and adaption strategies of climate change impacts and health systems, including vector control, health ser- vices, the political context, public and private services (such as water supply), ‘macro-social’ events (such as urbanisation), and community and household-based practices, and how these are shaped by large-scale forces (such as gender, ethnicity, education, social and economic status) (Chu-Agor et  al. 2012; Huffaker 2015). All those factors need to be understood in a systemic context, rather than as individual factors, if we want to understand altered geographical and temporal distributions of VBDs. To give an example, dengue and chikungunya viruses are transmitted by the mosquitoes Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti. Their local transmission of dengue and chikungunya viruses is coupled with meteorological and climatological condi- tions, and ecological, socio-economic, demographic and cultural factors (Morrison 2014; Teurlai et  al. 2015; Harapan et  al. 2017, 2018). 4.5.2 Interconnecting People and  Knowledge There are several promising developments to interconnect people and knowledge in Europe and beyond. At the G7 summit on 7 and 8 June 2015, G7 member states committed them- selves to research and development in the field Neglected Tropical Diseases, which includes many VBDs such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and leishmaniasis. As a result, for example, the four German ministries Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Defence signed a research agreement on One Health that sup- ports interdisciplinary research on zoonotic diseases for the health of animals and humans. In accordance, the national network on zoonoses (https://www.gesund- heitsforschung-bmbf.de/de/nationales-forschungsnetz-zoonotische-infektionsk- rankheiten-6820.php) was founded in 2017, which interacts strongly with the German Research platform for zoonoses (http://www.zoonosen.net/EnglishSite/ Home.aspx). Both German initiatives aim to improve our understanding of zoonotic 4 Vector-Borne Diseases