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. 2023 Jan 20;857(Pt 2):159327.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159327. Epub 2022 Oct 8.

The ecosyndemic framework of the global environmental change and the COVID-19 pandemic

Paraskevi Begou  1 , Pavlos Kassomenos  2
Affiliations

The ecosyndemic framework of the global environmental change and the COVID-19 pandemic

Paraskevi Begou et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

The ecosyndemic theory combines the concept of 'synergy' with 'epidemic' and the term "eco" implies the role of the environmental changes. Each of the conditions enhances the negative impacts of the other in an additive way making our society more vulnerable and heightening individual risk factors. In this study, we analyze the mutually reinforcing links between the environment and health from the complexity angle of the ecosyndemic theory and propose the characterization of the COVID-19 pandemic as ecosyndemic. We use the term 'ecosyndemic' because the global environmental change contributes to local-scale, regional-scale and global-scale alterations of the Earth's systems. These changes have their root causes in the way that people interact with the physical, chemical, and biotic factors of the environment. These interactions disturb nature and the consequences have feedbacks in every living organism.

Keywords: Biodiversity; COVID-19; Climate change; Ecosyndemic; SARS-CoV-2; Syndemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Difference in monthly average precipitation totals (mm/month) between 2015–2019 and 2011–2015.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Conceptual model of the ecosyndemic framework.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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