Abstract
Arguably one of the most important effects of climate change is the potential
impact on human health. While this is likely to take many forms, the implications for future transmission of vector-borne diseases (VBDs), given their ongoing contribution to global
disease burden, are both extremely important and highly uncertain. In part, this is due not
only to data limitations and methodological challenges when integrating climate-driven VBD models and climate change projections, but, perhaps most crucially, the multitude of
epidemiological, ecological, and socioeconomic factors that drive VBD transmission, and this complexity has generated considerable debate over the last 10-15 years. In this article, and
Theme Issue, we seek to elucidate current knowledge around this topic, identify key themes and uncertainties, evaluate ongoing challenges and open research questions, and, crucially,
offer some solutions for the field moving forwards. Although many of these challenges are
ubiquitous across multiple VBDs, more specific issues also arise in different vector-pathogen systems. This Theme Issue seeks to cover both, reflected in the breadth and depth of the
topics and VBD-systems considered, itself strongly indicative of the challenging, but
necessary, multidisciplinary nature of this research field.
