COVID-19 and Ecosyndemic Vulnerability: Implications for El Niño-Sensitive Countries in Latin America

Ivan J. Ramírez; Jieun Lee

doi:10.1007/s13753-020-00318-2

Volume 12 Issue 1

Dec. 2021

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Ivan J. Ramírez, Jieun Lee. COVID-19 and Ecosyndemic Vulnerability: Implications for El Niño-Sensitive Countries in Latin America[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(1): 147-156. doi: 10.1007/s13753-020-00318-2

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Ivan J. Ramírez, Jieun Lee. COVID-19 and Ecosyndemic Vulnerability: Implications for El Niño-Sensitive Countries in Latin America[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(1): 147-156. doi: 10.1007/s13753-020-00318-2

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COVID-19 and Ecosyndemic Vulnerability: Implications for El Niño-Sensitive Countries in Latin America

doi: 10.1007/s13753-020-00318-2

Ivan J. Ramírez^{1,2
,
,},
Jieun Lee³

1 Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA;
2 Consortium for Capacity Building, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research(INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80308, USA;
3 Department of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80639, USA

Funds:

A preliminary version (Ramírez and Lee 2020, preprint) of this manuscript is found at the Earth and Space Science Open Archive (ESSOAr). We would like to thank several reviewers for their comments that helped improve the manuscript.

Available Online: 2021-12-25
Publish Date: 2021-12-25

Abstract

Abstract

Latin America has emerged as an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador report some of the highest COVID-19 rates of incidence and deaths in the region. These countries also face synergistic threats from multiple infectious diseases (that is, ecosyndemic) and quasi-periodic El Niño-related hazards every few years. For example, Peru, which is highly sensitive to El Niño, already copes with an ecosyndemic health burden that heightens during and following weather and climate extreme events. Using an ecosyndemic lens, which draws on a multi-disease hazard context of place, this commentary highlights the importance of El Niño as a major factor that not only may aggravate COVID-19 incidence in the future, but also the broader health problem of ecosyndemic vulnerability in Latin America.
- Coronavirus,
- COVID-19,
- Ecosyndemic,
- El Niño,
- El Niño-Southern oscillation,
- Infectious disease vulnerability,
- Latin America

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References(68)

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