The Beyond TB Lecture of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease – The Union-NAR, conference serves to focus attention on forces outside the traditional TB world, assisting attendees to look beyond the usual partners, usual paths, and usual solutions to innovation and novel public health strategies to achieve the goal of eliminating tuberculosis as a public health threat.
CUNY ISPH Executive Director Denis Nash presented this year’s Beyond TB Lecture about the effects of climate change on HIV care, an emerging area of research in infectious diseases. In Nash’s presentation, “Estimating the Causal Effects of Extreme Weather Events on HIV care outcomes in the IeDEA Cohort Collaboration: Study design and early results,” he emphasized that climate and extreme weather may be underappreciated as important determinants of both HIV and TB outcomes. HIV is a major driver of TB globally, reinforcing the importance of protecting HIV care infrastructure in the face of climate disruptions. Some aspects of climate adaptation strategies for major diseases need to be disease-specific, and should account for the impact of extreme weather on facilitating spread, service delivery, and health systems.
Nash noted that the research team found no direct studies currently link climate change to TB, highlighting a significant research gap. He also discussed the identified plausible links suggesting that climate change could exacerbate TB determinants, such as increased poverty and food insecurity, displacement and migration due to extreme weather events, and the disruption of healthcare services.
Future directions for climate and TB research include the need for longitudinal studies on climate change, extreme weather, and TB outcomes. Other possible directions would be studies to improve understanding of pathways linking climate to TB and develop strategies to maintain TB care during extreme weather and other exogenous disruptions. And finally, Nash recommended more consideration and integration of TB control into climate adaptation policies.
