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MEDIA: 'How satellites have become Earth’s new health and nature watchdogs'
06 February 2025
PML’s Dr Dhritiraj Sengupta has written for The Conversation UK on how satellites can improve monitoring for environmental and human health; including three different categories of disease: waterborne diseases, Vector-borne diseases, and Non-communicable diseases.
‘Environmental and animal health are both closely linked to human health. Climate change has a huge influence on these connections, as it can make disease outbreaks such as the 2003 Sars virus and the recent H5N1 bird flu more likely.
By increasing the chance of human-wildlife contact, disruptions like deforestation can increase the risk of disease (like COVID-19) transferring from wildlife to people. Many other factors beyond medicine also determine health, such as sanitation, water supply and farming practices […]
Satellite data can improve environmental and human health monitoring for three different categories of disease…’