A One Health Approach for Improving Global Health: A Narrative Review

### **The Awareness and Knowledge of Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases: A Pilot Study**

**Darfarieza Izani Yusof1 , Siti Adriana Ismail1 , Nureen Umairah Amir1 , Nur Anisah Mohd Radzi1 , Nurul Mawaddah Muhd Faizul2, Mohd Dzulkhairi Mohd Rani1 , and Nurul Azmawati Mohamed1** <sup>1</sup> Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia <sup>2</sup> Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia

Climate change indirectly influences the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic diseases and becomes a global issue. Humans are responsible for the existence of this interaction, and their inattentiveness and greed exacerbate this issue. A pilot study was conducted to observe the awareness and knowledge of the interaction between climate change and zoonotic diseases among university students in Malaysia. An online survey was distributed to all university students in Malaysia through Google form. It consisted of qualitative and quantitative questions related to climate change and zoonotic diseases. There were 186 respondents, and most of them were degree students who participated in this survey. A total of 114 (61.3%) of them are aware of the relationship between climate change and zoonotic diseases, and 176 (94.6%) respondents agreed that zoonotic diseases could be introduced to humans due to climate change. In addition, 75.3% of respondents think that their social circle also believed that climate change and zoonotic diseases were serious problems. This survey proved that the majority of respondents are aware of and have good knowledge regarding the relationship between climate change and zoonotic diseases.

Darfarieza Izani Yusof1, Siti Adriana Ismail1, Nureen Umairah Amir1, Nur Anisah Mohd Radzi2, Nurul Mawaddah Muhd Faizul1, Mohd Dzulkhairi Mohd Rani1, and Nurul Azmawati Mohamed1

#### Abstract

<sup>1</sup> Faculty of Medicine & Health Science, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia <sup>2</sup> Faculty of Engineering & Build Environment, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia 1

Climate change indirectly influences the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic diseases. Humans' attitudes are responsible for the existence of this interaction. A pilot study was conducted via the distribution of an online survey to observe the awareness and understanding of the interaction between climate change and zoonotic diseases among university students in Malaysia. There were 186 respondents who participated in this survey, and 114 (61.3%) of them were aware of the relationship between climate change and zoonotic diseases. A total of 75.3% of respondents thought that their social circle also believed that climate change and zoonotic diseases are a serious problem. This survey proved that the majority of respondents are aware and have good understanding of the relationship between climate change and zoonotic diseases.

Southeast Asia One Health University Network

### Introduction Quantitative

Climate change has been indirectly impacting both human and animal health and has significantly influenced the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic diseases. This is because climate change can affect habitats for plants, insects and animals and it is also expected that the ecology and epidemiology of infectious diseases will change (Parkinson et al., 2014).

In 2016, a large outbreak of anthrax disease in Arctic Russian Siberia was caused by high thawing rates that may have led long-buried infected carcasses to surface again [1]. Therefore, zoonotic disease has consistently become a major and burning health concern as it extensively causes millions of deaths each year.

### Objective

To study the awareness and knowledge of interactions between climate change with zoonotic diseases among university students in Malaysia.

### Methodology

A cross sectional study conducted by distribution of an online survey on the 4th of February 2022 to all university students in Malaysia asking questions related to climate change and zoonotic diseases. The survey contains three sections consisting of qualitative and quantitative form questions. Inclusion criteria are:

Primary qualitative data collected: A few subjective questions were given for a more in-depth understanding and to observe respondents' opinion about study topic.

Primary quantitative data collected: A collective question was testing general knowledge of climate changes and zoonotic diseases that is happening nowadays.

#### Discussions


#### Conclusions

Nowadays, there is emergence of a variety of zoonotic diseases that are influenced by climate change and have become global issues. After the survey was done, we concluded that the majority of respondents are aware and have good understanding of the relationship between climate change and zoonotic diseases. To recapitulate, with this discovery, everyone can begin to increase their efforts to educate and expand their knowledge to every corner of the world. Hence, there is a potential to continue this research in a wide range of subjects and to distribute them to all Malaysia university students.

#### References



#### Qualitative

50% of respondents believe climate change can be completely solved via technological advancements and continuous human discovery. Another half of respondents mention that it is impossible to completely solve the problem because they believe recovery from climate change and its effects is a long term process. They also agree that unstoppable human greed accelerates climate change.

Respondents Awareness of the Interaction Between Climate Change and Zoonotic Disease

Respondents Agreement toward the Statements Regarding the Interaction between Climate Change and Zoonotic Disease
