New Publication: Multicountry study on precipitation and diarrhea morbidity

Climate change impacts human health conditions, including diarrheal diseases that are climate-sensitive infectious diseases. In 2021, diarrheal diseases caused more than 1,238,000 deaths, particularly affecting young children and older adults, and remain the leading cause of the global burden of diseases around the world. With the increased incidence of extreme weather events attributed to climate change, an improved understanding of the effects of climate factors on diarrheal diseases is necessary and imperative to reduce the disease burden in the uncertain future.

The latest GHP study titled “The Association between Total Precipitation and Diarrhea Morbidity: A Multicountry Study across Diverse Climate Zones”, analyzed data from 29 sites across 8 countries to explore how precipitation levels influence diarrhea morbidity in different climate zones.

Overall cumulative exposure–response association curves between the natural logarithm of weekly total precipitation and diarrhea morbidity in tropical (n = 204), arid (n = 87), temperate (n = 370), and cold regions (n = 231). Vertical lines indicate minimum risk precipitation (MRP).

The findings reveal that both arid and wet conditions can increase risk, with notable variations across tropical, temperate, and arid regions. This research contributes to climate-adaptive public health strategies and highlights the importance of integrating environmental data into disease prevention efforts.

Publication details: Pan R, Chua PLC, Madaniyazi L, Ng CFS, Tobias A, Guo Q, Phung VLH, Hossain N, Lynch V, Jung CR, Salazar MA, Roye D, Phung D, Coêlho MSZS, Saldiva PHN, Hales S, Huang C, Semenza JC, Hashizume M. The association between total precipitation and diarrhea morbidity: A multicountry study across diverse climate zones. Environmental Epidemiology. 2025.

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