Keyword: One Health

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global threat, and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) bears a disproportionate share of this burden. This narrative review examines how deficiencies in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) contribute to AMR in SSA. It draws on peer-reviewed literature, institutional reports, and regional policy documents published between 2015 and 2025. Sources were identified through databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and WHO/UN databases using combinations of keywords including ‘AMR’, ‘WASH’, ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’, and ‘One Health’. We survey recent literature on the regional AMR problem, the role of inadequate WASH in propagating resistant infections among humans, animals, and the environment, and the relevance of a One Health approach. Key themes include the high AMR mortality in Africa, the persistence of antibiotic residues and pathogens in poorly managed water and sanitation systems, and how poverty-related WASH gaps drive frequent infections that require antibiotics. Evidence suggests that unsafe water and sanitation facilitate the environmental circulation of resistant bacteria and genes. The One Health framework is highlighted as essential for addressing these links, since AMR crosses human, animal, and ecological domains. We conclude that improving WASH infrastructure and practices, alongside integrated AMR strategies, is critical to curb resistance in the region. Focusing on WASH under a One Health perspective can reveal overlooked pathways of AMR spread and inform targeted interventions in SSA.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is changing how emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) spread over the world. The ecological conditions in which diseases, vectors, and hosts interact are changing because of rising temperatures, shifting patterns of rainfall, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. This narrative review compiles existing research on climate-sensitive infectious illnesses and elucidates the principal mechanisms influencing observed changes. Food- and water-borne illnesses (e.g., cholera, leptospirosis) are increasingly linked to droughts, floods, and disruptions in infrastructure. Vector-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya, malaria, and Lyme disease are spreading to highland and temperate areas. At the same time, zoonotic spillovers like Ebola, Nipah, and SARS-CoV-2 are happening more commonly in areas where the ecosystem has been altered. New worries are thermotolerant fungal infections and microorganisms that live in permafrost. This review does not offer new epidemiological modelling; instead, it puts recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates into context. These estimates reveal that the burden of infectious diseases is rising in regions that are sensitive to climate change, including sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Weak surveillance systems, health disparities caused by climate change, and broken data streams are some of the biggest gaps in response. Improvements in AI-based forecasting, satellite surveillance, pathogen genomes, and One Health methods provide useful tools for taking action before something happens. It is important to build public health systems that are climate-responsive, transdisciplinary, and fair in order to reduce the growing dangers posed by infectious illnesses connected to climate change.