Public health threats don't stop at borders. Our thinking can't either.

From wildfire smoke to emerging diseases, climate resilience increasingly depends on what communities can learn from one another. 

In June 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted across the United States, turning skies orange and sending air quality readings into dangerous territory. Within weeks, the smoke had crossed the Atlantic, reaching Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. 

NASA tracked the plume across more than 2,000 miles of ocean, illustrating an uncomfortable reality: An environmental crisis can travel far beyond the community where it began. 

The health consequences aren't necessarily equal everywhere. Much of the smoke reaching Europe remained high in the atmosphere, while communities in North America experienced hazardous ground-level pollution. But the larger lesson remains.  

For public health agencies, that changes the nature of preparedness. Local surveillance remains essential, but understanding emerging threats increasingly requires information from beyond local and national boundaries. 

A changing climate, a changing disease map 

The expanding geographic range of infectious diseases offers another example. 

Dengue, historically concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions, is becoming a growing concern in Europe as warmer temperatures and changing rainfall patterns create more favorable conditions for mosquito vectors. 

According to the World Health Organization, Europe recorded 304 locally acquired dengue cases in 2024, up from 130 in 2023. By June 2025, the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, had become established in 30 countries across the WHO European Region. 

For epidemiologists, these shifts complicate familiar assumptions about where diseases are likely to emerge. Surveillance strategies informed by historical patterns must now account for changing environmental conditions, human mobility and new opportunities for transmission. 

The implications extend to laboratory capacity, disease reporting and the ability to recognize unusual patterns before isolated cases become larger outbreaks. 

Related: How better-connected data strengthens public health response 

When environmental emergencies become humanitarian crises 

Climate-related disasters create health challenges that persist long after the immediate danger has passed. 

Flooding, storms and wildfires can interrupt medical care, compromise sanitation and force families from their homes. Displacement may expose vulnerable populations to additional health risks while placing pressure on already strained public services. 

The scale is considerable. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports that disasters triggered 29.9 million internal displacements worldwide in 2025. By year's end, nearly 13.6 million people were living in displacement because of disasters. 

Not every disaster is attributable to climate change. Nevertheless, the figures illustrate why climate preparedness must account for population health and continuity of essential services. 

They also underscore the importance of connecting environmental monitoring with epidemiological intelligence and emergency response planning. 

Related: When public health data crosses borders 

Local solutions, global lessons 

There is a more encouraging side to this interconnectedness. 

Communities facing similar risks can learn from one another, adapting successful approaches without having to develop every solution independently. 

Consider extreme heat. In 2025, Austin, Miami, New York and Washington, D.C., joined the C40 Heat, Health, and Equity Challenge Fund, supporting community-based programs to protect vulnerable residents. 

The initiative illustrates how local experimentation can contribute to broader public health practice. A successful outreach strategy or heat-warning protocol developed in one city may offer valuable lessons for another. 

Equity matters here. Older adults, outdoor workers and people without reliable access to cooling face disproportionate risks. Effective responses depend on understanding which populations are most exposed and whether interventions are reaching them. 

Video: Maven-Integrated Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Management  

Connecting intelligence to action 

Global collaboration ultimately depends on the quality and accessibility of information. 

The WHO's International Health Regulations, legally binding on 197 countries, establish obligations for identifying and reporting public health risks with international implications. 

Its collaborative surveillance framework goes further, emphasizing the importance of connecting information across public health disciplines, institutions and geographic boundaries. 

For agencies, the challenge is turning that information into timely decisions. Environmental observations, laboratory findings and disease surveillance data often exist in separate systems, making it difficult to recognize emerging patterns or coordinate an effective response. 

Technology can help close those gaps. 

Conduent's Maven® Public Health Management Solutions, for example, supports surveillance and case management across more than 100 jurisdictions, helping protect over 190 million people worldwide. Its interoperable architecture connects information from healthcare providers, laboratories and public health agencies, while integrated mapping and analytics help epidemiologists identify geographic patterns, track exposures and investigate outbreaks. 

Configurable workflows also allow agencies to respond to new diseases and changing reporting requirements without rebuilding their systems. And by supporting secure information sharing and coordinated case management, Maven helps public health teams work across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries. 

The underlying principle extends well beyond any single platform: Climate resilience depends on information resilience. Agencies need the ability to recognize threats early, understand their implications and coordinate action with partners near and far. 

The next environmental health crisis may begin thousands of miles away. What matters is how quickly we recognize the warning signs, share what we've learned and put that knowledge to work.