Knowledge of the interactions between climate and health date back to the time of Aristotle, but our understanding of this subject has recently progressed rapidly as technology has become more advanced. At the same time the ability to forecast weather (in terms of both accuracy and lead-times) has greatly improved in recent years, especially with the use of remote sensing. The increased accuracy of climate predictions, and improving understanding of interactions between weather and infectious disease, has motivated attempts to develop models which predict changes in the incidence of epidemic-prone infectious diseases. Such models are designed to provide early warning of impending epidemics which, if accurate, would be invaluable for epidemic preparedness and prevention.

http://www.who.int/globalchange/

publications/en/oeh0401.pdf