A
Active Surveillance: Active surveillance occurs when vectors are collected in the environment and tested for diseases (Bouchard et al., 2019)
Adaptation (to climate change): The process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects. (IPCC, 2014)
Adaptation: refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts. It refers to changes in processes, practices, and structures to moderate potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change. In simple terms, countries and communities need to develop adaptation solutions and implement action to respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening, as well as prepare for future impacts.” (UNFCCC, 2020, n.p.)
Adaptive Capacity: Adaptive capacity is determined by the measures, assets, and strategies that people, families and communities can take to reduce their exposure and sensitivity to Vector-borne diseases. “Adaptive capacity is influenced by many interrelated factors, such as economic resources, technology, information and skills, infrastructure, institutions, existing inequalities in health status and pre-existing disease burdens“ (Clean Air Partnership, n.d., p. 7).
Advocacy: The active support of a cause, supporting others to act for themselves or speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.
Anthropogenic Climate change: “A change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods” (United Nations, 1992).
C
Campaigns: a planned series of activities intended to address and reduce the effects of climate change and related vector-borne diseases.
Capacity Building: the process of building a community`s or organization`s strength and sustainability. Capacity-building is defined as the “process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations
Cis-normative [behaviour]: The assumption that all or almost all people are cisgender, i.e., having a gender identity that matches their body and the gender assigned to them at birth, as opposed to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals (Russo, 2014).
Climate: Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system. (IPCC, n.d.)
Climate change: Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Note that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes. (IPCC, n.d. )
Climate change drivers: “Earth’s long-term climate and average temperature are regulated by a balance between energy arriving from the sun . . . and energy leaving the Earth…. When this balance is disrupted in a persistent way, global temperature rises or falls. Factors that disrupt this balance are called ‘climate drivers’ or ‘climate forcing agents,’ evoking their influence in forcing climate toward warmer or cooler conditions” (Bush & Lemmen, 2019, p. 38).
Climate change resilience: “is the ability to survive, recover from, and even thrive in changing climatic conditions” (Rudolph et al., 2015, p. 11).
Climate change vulnerability: “is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity” (Giordano, n.d., p. 3).
Climate Justice: The impacts of climate change will not be borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations. Consequently, there has been a growing focus on climate justice, which looks at the climate crisis through a human rights lens (UN, 2019). Climate justice strives to ensure intergenerational justice (ensuring that future generations are not left to deal with the long term effects of past and present day fossil fuel consumption) as well as international justice (ensuring that LMIC are not disproportionately impacted by past and present day fossil fuel consumption) (Kovats, 2016)
Coalition: two or more groups who share a mutual issue or concern and join forces to attain a common goal in reference to addressing an issue (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Colonization: “occurs when a new group of people migrates into a territory and then takes over and begins to control the Indigenous group. The settlers impose their own cultural values, religions, and laws, seizing land and controlling access to resources and trade. As a result, the Indigenous people become dependent on the settlers” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74).
Community: A collection of people who interact with one another and whose common interests or characteristics gives them a sense of unity and belonging.
Community Engagement: All community members should be invited to participate in engagement initiatives and be given an opportunity to learn about strategies that can reduce risk and enhance community response and plans to prevent VBD infections and complications. (Public Health – Seattle & King County, n.d).
Cultural safety: “Cultural safety is an outcome based on respectful engagement that recognizes and strives to address power imbalances inherent in the health care system. It results in an environment free of racism and discrimination, where people feel safe when receiving health care.” (First Nations Health Authority, n.d.).
D
Direct Strategies: support equitable care by providing information, infrastructure, and resources to support the most vulnerable.
Downstream approach: “taking an individual curative focus, a view that does not consider economic, sociopolitical, and environmental factors” (Stanhope et al., 2017, p. 14)
Drivers: “a factor which causes a particular phenomenon to happen or develop” (Lexico, 2020).
E
Ecoanxiety: Anxiety caused by an awareness of the complex and threatening problems associated with climate change (Albrecht et al., 2007).
Ecoliteracy: “The ability to identify, classify and name different aspects of the environment, including the ability to take action and participate in the decision making process of environmental problems and issues”; understanding of the environment by nurses helps to promote and contribute to economic development that addresses social equity and ecological sustainability (Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, 2019, May 28).
Ecological Determinants of Health: “The ecosystem-based ‘goods and services’ that we get from nature are the ecological determinants of health. Among the most important of these are oxygen, water, food, fuel, various natural resources, detoxifying processes, the ozone layer and a reasonably stable and habitable climate” (Canadian Public Health Association, 2015, p. iv).
Ecoparalysis: The feeling of hopelessness from the belief that an individual is incapable of effective action to mitigate climate change (Albrecht, 2011).
Ecosystem Approach: “The ecosystem approach to parasitic and vector-borne diseases requires an integrative process that is transdisciplinary, that employs systems thinking, and that engages “stakeholders” as equal participants or collaborators to enable adaptive capacity” (Alonso Aguirre et al., 2019, p. 2-3).
Environmental Health: addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors that impact human health. “Our environment includes the land, air, water, food, housing and other resources that need to be cared for and considered to sustain healthy children, families and communities” (First Nations Health Authority, 2016, p.1).
Environmental Justice: “Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations” (Bullard, 2018, p.1).
Epidemiology: The study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations. It is also the application of this study to the control of health problems. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).
Epidemiological Triangle: Consists of an external agent, a susceptible host, and an environment that brings the host and agent together. In this model, disease results from the interaction between the agent and the susceptible host in an environment that supports transmission of the agent from a source to that host (CDC, 2012)
Equitable Care: “means delivering care that does not differ in quality according to characteristics of the patient or patient group such as their age, gender, geographical location, cultural background, ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic status” (OpenLearn, n.d. p. 1).
Evidence-based: The “integration of the best research evidence, clinical expertise and the patient’s unique values and circumstances” (Bhargava & Bhargava, 2007, para. 3). In the Indigenous context, this includes Two-Eyed Seeing which considers the strengths of Western knowledge from one eye and Indigenous knowledge from the other, then brings both eyes mindfully together for the benefit of all (Bartlett et al., 2015).
F
First Nations: “the accepted term for people who are Indigenous and who do not identify as Inuit or Métis. Today there are around 630 First Nations in Canada” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74).
G
Gender: “Gender refers to the roles, behaviours, activities, attributes and opportunities that any society considers appropriate for girls and boys, and women and men. Gender interacts with, but is different from, the binary categories of biological sex.” (WHO, 2020)
Gender based analysis: “[T]he process by which a policy, program, initiative or service can be examined for its impacts on various groups of women and men. GBA+ provides a snapshot that captures the realities of women and men affected by a particular issue at a specific time. This means that analysts, researchers, evaluators and decision makers are able to continually improve their work and attain better results for Canadian men and women by being more responsive to their specific needs and circumstances” (Status of Women Canada, n.d., Background section).
Globalization: the intensification of cross-national interactions that promote the establishment of trans-national structures and the global integration of cultural, economic, ecological, political, technological, and social processes on global, supra-national, national, regional, and local levels. (Rennen & Martens, 2003)
Greenhouse effect: “warming of the surface and lower atmosphere of a planet (such as Earth or Venus) that is caused by conversion of solar radiation into heat in a process involving selective transmission of short wave solar radiation by the atmosphere, its absorption by the planet’s surface, and reradiation as infrared which is absorbed and partly reradiated back to the surface by atmospheric gases” (Merriam-Webster, 2020, n.p.).
H
Health equity: “Equity is the absence of avoidable, unfair, or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically or by other means of stratification. “Health equity” or “equity in health” implies that ideally everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential.” (WHO, 2020). For example, the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples continues to lag behind that of the Canadian population on virtually every measure. This is not about lifestyle factors or the culture of a people, rather it reflects historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples (Browne et al., 2016).
Health professionals: Health professionals maintain health in humans through the application of the principles and procedures of evidence-based medicine and caring. Health professionals study, diagnose, treat and prevent human illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in accordance with the needs of the populations they serve. They advise on or apply preventive and curative measures and promote health with the ultimate goal of meeting the health needs and expectations of individuals and populations and improving population health outcomes (World Health Organization, 2013).
Health protection: A term used to describe important public health functions in the areas of food hygiene, clean water, clean air, drug safety, and other activities that reduce, as much as possible, the risks to health linked to preventable environmental causes (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010).
Historical injustices: Past moral wrongs committed by previously living people that have a lasting impact on the well-being of currently living people (Holmes & Hunt, 2017).
I
Indigenous Peoples: The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America. The term Indigenous Peoples can be used to describe collectively the three groups recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982—First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. These are separate Peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices, spiritual beliefs, and political goals. (Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2019)
Infectious diseases: Illnesses caused by organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Many of these organisms live in and on our bodies and are normally harmless and can even be helpful. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person; others are transmitted by insects or other animals. Some come from consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms in the environment (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Integrated Vector Management (IVM): “is a rational decision-making process to optimize the use of resources for vector control. The aim of the IVM approach is to contribute to achievement of the global targets set for vector-borne disease control, by making vector control more efficient, cost effective, ecologically sound and sustainable. Use of IVM helps vector control programmes to find and use more local evidence, to integrate interventions where appropriate and to collaborate within the health sector and with other sectors, as well as with households and communities” (World Health Organization, 2012, p. vi).
Interprofessional: Different healthcare professionals — with diverse knowledge, skills and talents —collaborating to achieve a common goal.
Intersectionality: “[A]cknowledges the ways in which people’s lives are shaped by their multiple and overlapping identities and social locations, which, together, can produce a unique and distinct experience for that individual or group, for example, creating additional barriers or opportunities. In the context of race, this means recognizing the ways in which peoples experiences of racism or privilege, including within any one racialized group, may differ and vary depending on the individual’s or group’s additional overlapping (or ’intersecting’) social identities, such as ethnicity, Indigenous identification, experiences with colonialism, religion, gender, citizenship, socio-economic status or sexual orientation” (Government of Ontario, 2017).
Inter-sectoral collaboration: Joint action taken to improve the health of populations by health professionals, governments, and the private sector, as well as representatives of voluntary and non-profit groups.
Inuit: “An Indigenous group living in the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Russia” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74). In Canada, the majority of the Inuit live in 51 communities in the Inuit Nunangat.
L
Land: Cultures have different philosophies about land. For Indigenous People of Turtle Island, land is thought of and spoken of in the same vein as a family member. Land is a living, breathing spiritual being that must be acknowledged and respected. Indigenous philosophies describe that we have a symbiotic relationship and duty to take care of land, while in return, it takes care of us. People from European cultures think of land as a thing, an item, a commodity. They see land as something that can be owned by people, bought and sold, just as a car, a book, a carton of milk. This clash of cultural philosophies about land is central to understanding disputes between Indigenous People and the Government of Canada. (C Joseph, personal communication, July 2020)
Levels of prevention: The levels of prevention delineate where action occurs with respect to preventing an illness or injury, occurring long before the risk factors or negative health outcome occurs (as in the case of primordial and primary prevention) to after the negative outcome has manifested signs and symptoms.
Lived experience: An understanding of an individual’s experiences, choices, and options and how they influence the person’s perception of events.
Lyme disease: Lyme disease is an infectious disease spread through the bite of infected ticks (Government of Canada, 2017)
M
Meaningful Strategies: support equitable care by involving robust community engagement and “a place-based approach that entails a holistic understanding of a community’s needs and assets, and direct involvement of community members” (Mohnot, et al., 2019, p. 20).
Metis: are people who are Indigenous and do not identify as First Nations or Inuit. The Métis National Council defines “Métis” as a person who “self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Indigenous peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation” (Wilson, 2018, p. 10).
Mitigation: in the context of climate change, is defined as a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases (IPCC, 2013), since greenhouse gases (GHGs) have climate warming effects. A source is any process, activity, or mechanism that releases GHGs to the atmosphere. Both natural processes and human activities release GHGs. A sink is any process, activity, or mechanism that removes GHGs from the atmosphere. In addition to GHGs, mitigation also applies to reducing emissions of other substances that have a warming effect on the climate. (Bush & Lemmen, 2019)
Mitigation (of climate change): interventions that reduce the rate and magnitude of global warming (IPCC, 2014); Taking action to reduce climate change, by reducing GHG emissions (Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, 2019 May 28)
Mosquitoes: Main vector that transmits the viruses that cause numerous VBDs, including dengue, malaria, West Nile, and Zika. (Ludwig et al., 2019; Bush & Lemmen, 2019).
N
Non-binary: Someone who does not identify as exclusively a man or a woman. A spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine, including having no gender at all (Wikipedia, 2020).
Notifiable disease: “…any of various health conditions that upon detection are required to be reported to public health authorities. For certain diseases, namely those of an infectious nature, mandatory disease reporting plays a critical role in preventing and controlling the spread of disease in populations. In many places, state and local officials have the authority to mandate disease reporting within their jurisdictions” (Kirian, n.d., n.p.).
P
Passive Surveillance: Passive surveillance relies on doctors, veterinarians and the public to submit vectors, such as ticks or mosquitos for testing (Soucy et al., 2018)
Place-based solutions: “stakeholders engaging in a collaborative process to address issues as they are experienced within a geographic space, be it a neighbourhood, a region, or an ecosystem” (Policy Horizons Canada, 2011, p. 6).
Primary prevention: Education and health promotion strategies designed to help people avoid acquiring unhealthy conditions, diseases, and injuries, thus reducing their population-wide incidence (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008); a type of intervention or activity that seeks to prevent the occurrence of a disease (based on the natural history of disease) or an injury. (Stanhope et al., 2017)
Primordial Prevention: “Includes broader activities that focus on preventing the emergence of risk factors that are known to create conditions for disease” (Stanhope et al. , 2017, p.302).
Protective factors: Conditions and attributes (skills, strengths, resources, supports, and coping strategies) in individuals, families, communities, and society at large that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and mitigate or eliminate risks to health and well-being in families and communities; variables that assist in managing the stressors associated with being at risk; examples of these factors include literacy, social support networks and family support systems. (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Q
Quality of life: “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, personal beliefs, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment” (WHO, 2020, n.p.).
Quaternary Prevention: a lesser known area of prevention, first introduced in 1986. This 5th level of prevention has been defined as “Action taken to identify patient at risk of over-medicalization, to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions, which are ethically acceptable” (Martins et al, 2017).
R
Registered nurse (RN): Registered nurses “are self-regulated health-care professionals who work autonomously and in collaboration with others to enable individuals, families, groups, communities and populations to achieve their optimal levels of health. At all stages of life, in situations of health, illness, injury and disability, RNs deliver direct health-care services, coordinate care and support clients in managing their own health. RNs contribute to the health-care system through their leadership across a wide range of settings in practice, education, administration, research and policy” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2015).
Resilience: “Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new, or alter current, climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks” (Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, n.d., n.p.). The World Economic Forum also recognizes the ability to “absorb shocks when they…come along” (2020, n.p.). Three 3A capacities comprise resilience: the ability to Adapt to, Anticipate and Absorb climate extremes and disasters (BRACED, 2015) http://www.braced.org/resources/i/?id=cd95acf8-68dd-4f48-9b41-24543f69f9f1)
Risk: The potential for consequences where something of value is at stake and where the outcome is uncertain, recognizing the diversity of values. Risk is often represented as probability of occurrence of hazardous events or trends multiplied by the impacts if these events or trends occur. (IPCC, 2014); “The quantitative probability that a health effect will occur after an individual has been exposed to specified amount of hazard. A hazard only results in a risk if there has been an exposure – not if the hazard is contained or there is no opportunity for exposure” (Hutchinson & Kovats, 2016, p. 23.)
Risk factors: Variables that create stress and therefore challenge the client’s health status (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
S
Secondary prevention: The second level of health care, based on the earliest possible identification of disease so that it can be more readily treated or managed and adverse sequelae can be prevented (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008); activities that seek to detect a disease early in its progression (early pathogenesis) before clinical signs and symptoms become apparent, to make a diagnosis and begin treatment; it relates to the natural history of a disease. (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Sensitivity: The impact that disease exposure has on people and communities determines their sensitivity to the risk and effects of VBD infections. Sensitivity is related to numerous factors including social determinants of health, potential exposure, compromised immune systems, and access to preventative information and resources. (Clean Air Partnership, 2011).
Social determinants of health: The social determinants of health influence the health of populations. They include income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions; social environments; physical environments; personal health practices and coping skills; healthy child development; gender; and culture (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016); the social conditions and broader forces (e.g. politics and economics) that interact to influence risks to health and well-being and affect how vulnerable or resilient people ar to disease or injury (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Social Justice: is “the fair distribution of resources and responsibilities among the members of a population, with a focus on the relative position of one social group in relationship to others in society as well as on the root causes of disparities and what can be done to eliminate them” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2009, p. 2).
Solastalgia: Feelings of distress and isolation because of the gradual loss of one’s home environment, which can include climate change-related displacement (Albrecht, 2011).
Surveillance: A systematic and ongoing observation and collection of data on disease occurrence to describe phenomena and detect changes in frequency or distribution (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Sustainable Development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”(Brundtland, 1987, n.p.).
T
Tertiary prevention: The prevention of disease progression and attendant suffering after it has become clinically obvious and a diagnosis has been established. This activity includes the rehabilitation of disabling conditions (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008).
Traditional Knowledge: “refers to those Indigenous systems of knowledge, as well as cultural practices and methodologies related to the production of knowledge based on traditional belief systems, relationships to the environment, and community practices. It is the accumulated and living knowledge possessing a depth and breadth of information built upon the historic experiences of Peoples living on the land and adapts to social, economic, environmental, spiritual and political change. Its value in understanding species, ecosystems, sustainable management, conservation and use is unparalleled. It comprises of a deep understanding of complex interrelationships between individual environment components, the dynamics of local ecosystems and the peoples that live in them” (Chiefs of Ontario, n.d., n.p.).
Transmission: The passing of a pathogen causing communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to another individual or group, regardless of whether the host was previously infected.
Trauma: “[B]oth the experience of, and a response to, an overwhelmingly negative event or series of events, such as interpersonal violence, personal loss, war or natural disaster. In the context of violence, trauma can be acute (resulting from a single event) or complex (resulting from repeated experiences of interpersonal and/or systemic violence)” (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2018).
Trauma informed care: “[S]eeks to create safety for clients/patients by understanding the effects of trauma, and its close links to health and behaviour. Unlike trauma-specific care, it is not about eliciting or treating people’s trauma histories but about creating safe spaces that limit the potential for further harm for all people” (Varcoe, et al., 2016).
Two-eyed seeing: “To see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing, and to see from the other eye with the strengths of Western ways of knowing, and to use both of these eyes together” (Bartlett, Marshall & Marshall, 2012).
U
Upstream Approach: “looks beyond the individual to take a macroscopic, big-picture population focus. It also includes a primary prevention perspective” (Stanhope et al., 2017, p. 14).
V
Vector: An organism, typically a biting insect or tick, that transmits a disease or parasite from an animal, plant, or human to another animal, plant, or human.
Vector: A vector is an organism, often a bloodsucking insect, that can spread infectious agents from animal to human or between humans (WHO, 2020).
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs): VBDs are transmitted among their human or animal hosts by arthropods, usually insects. A broader definition of VBDs recognizes that other animals can serve as the infectious disease vector by harboring pathogens that cause disease only in susceptible populations (Hierlihy, 2017).
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs): “human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors” (WHO, 2020, n.p.);
Vector-borne disease surveillance: Monitoring VBDs by collecting information and samples to determine the distribution, density, and species of vector. Surveillance data is used in decision-making about public education and VBD reduction activities. Surveillance plays a critical role in the detection, prevention, and clinical management of mosquito-borne diseases (North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, 2017).
Vulnerability: The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. Vulnerability encompasses a variety of concepts and elements, including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt. (IPCC, 2014)
W
Ways of knowing: Ways in which we acquire knowledge about the world around us and figure out our relationship with it (Theory of Knowledge, n.d.; Cull et al., 2018).
West Nile Virus: A bite from an infected mosquito can cause infection with West Nile virus. Infected mosquitoes can spread the virus to humans and other animals (Government of Canada, 2015).
A
Active Surveillance: Active surveillance occurs when vectors are collected in the environment and tested for diseases (Bouchard et al., 2019)
Adaptation (to climate change): The process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects. (IPCC, 2014)
Adaptation: refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts. It refers to changes in processes, practices, and structures to moderate potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change. In simple terms, countries and communities need to develop adaptation solutions and implement action to respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening, as well as prepare for future impacts.” (UNFCCC, 2020, n.p.)
Adaptive Capacity: Adaptive capacity is determined by the measures, assets, and strategies that people, families and communities can take to reduce their exposure and sensitivity to Vector-borne diseases. “Adaptive capacity is influenced by many interrelated factors, such as economic resources, technology, information and skills, infrastructure, institutions, existing inequalities in health status and pre-existing disease burdens“ (Clean Air Partnership, n.d., p. 7).
Advocacy: The active support of a cause, supporting others to act for themselves or speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.
Anthropogenic Climate change: “A change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods” (United Nations, 1992).
C
Campaigns: a planned series of activities intended to address and reduce the effects of climate change and related vector-borne diseases.
Capacity Building: the process of building a community`s or organization`s strength and sustainability. Capacity-building is defined as the “process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations
Cis-normative [behaviour]: The assumption that all or almost all people are cisgender, i.e., having a gender identity that matches their body and the gender assigned to them at birth, as opposed to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals (Russo, 2014).
Climate: Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system. (IPCC, n.d.)
Climate change: Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Note that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes. (IPCC, n.d. )
Climate change drivers: “Earth’s long-term climate and average temperature are regulated by a balance between energy arriving from the sun . . . and energy leaving the Earth…. When this balance is disrupted in a persistent way, global temperature rises or falls. Factors that disrupt this balance are called ‘climate drivers’ or ‘climate forcing agents,’ evoking their influence in forcing climate toward warmer or cooler conditions” (Bush & Lemmen, 2019, p. 38).
Climate change resilience: “is the ability to survive, recover from, and even thrive in changing climatic conditions” (Rudolph et al., 2015, p. 11).
Climate change vulnerability: “is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity” (Giordano, n.d., p. 3).
Climate Justice: The impacts of climate change will not be borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations. Consequently, there has been a growing focus on climate justice, which looks at the climate crisis through a human rights lens (UN, 2019). Climate justice strives to ensure intergenerational justice (ensuring that future generations are not left to deal with the long term effects of past and present day fossil fuel consumption) as well as international justice (ensuring that LMIC are not disproportionately impacted by past and present day fossil fuel consumption) (Kovats, 2016)
Coalition: two or more groups who share a mutual issue or concern and join forces to attain a common goal in reference to addressing an issue (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Colonization: “occurs when a new group of people migrates into a territory and then takes over and begins to control the Indigenous group. The settlers impose their own cultural values, religions, and laws, seizing land and controlling access to resources and trade. As a result, the Indigenous people become dependent on the settlers” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74).
Community: A collection of people who interact with one another and whose common interests or characteristics gives them a sense of unity and belonging.
Community Engagement: All community members should be invited to participate in engagement initiatives and be given an opportunity to learn about strategies that can reduce risk and enhance community response and plans to prevent VBD infections and complications. (Public Health – Seattle & King County, n.d).
Cultural safety: “Cultural safety is an outcome based on respectful engagement that recognizes and strives to address power imbalances inherent in the health care system. It results in an environment free of racism and discrimination, where people feel safe when receiving health care.” (First Nations Health Authority, n.d.).
D
Direct Strategies: support equitable care by providing information, infrastructure, and resources to support the most vulnerable.
Downstream approach: “taking an individual curative focus, a view that does not consider economic, sociopolitical, and environmental factors” (Stanhope et al., 2017, p. 14)
Drivers: “a factor which causes a particular phenomenon to happen or develop” (Lexico, 2020).
E
Ecoanxiety: Anxiety caused by an awareness of the complex and threatening problems associated with climate change (Albrecht et al., 2007).
Ecoliteracy: “The ability to identify, classify and name different aspects of the environment, including the ability to take action and participate in the decision making process of environmental problems and issues”; understanding of the environment by nurses helps to promote and contribute to economic development that addresses social equity and ecological sustainability (Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, 2019, May 28).
Ecological Determinants of Health: “The ecosystem-based ‘goods and services’ that we get from nature are the ecological determinants of health. Among the most important of these are oxygen, water, food, fuel, various natural resources, detoxifying processes, the ozone layer and a reasonably stable and habitable climate” (Canadian Public Health Association, 2015, p. iv).
Ecoparalysis: The feeling of hopelessness from the belief that an individual is incapable of effective action to mitigate climate change (Albrecht, 2011).
Ecosystem Approach: “The ecosystem approach to parasitic and vector-borne diseases requires an integrative process that is transdisciplinary, that employs systems thinking, and that engages “stakeholders” as equal participants or collaborators to enable adaptive capacity” (Alonso Aguirre et al., 2019, p. 2-3).
Environmental Health: addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors that impact human health. “Our environment includes the land, air, water, food, housing and other resources that need to be cared for and considered to sustain healthy children, families and communities” (First Nations Health Authority, 2016, p.1).
Environmental Justice: “Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations” (Bullard, 2018, p.1).
Epidemiology: The study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations. It is also the application of this study to the control of health problems. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).
Epidemiological Triangle: Consists of an external agent, a susceptible host, and an environment that brings the host and agent together. In this model, disease results from the interaction between the agent and the susceptible host in an environment that supports transmission of the agent from a source to that host (CDC, 2012)
Equitable Care: “means delivering care that does not differ in quality according to characteristics of the patient or patient group such as their age, gender, geographical location, cultural background, ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic status” (OpenLearn, n.d. p. 1).
Evidence-based: The “integration of the best research evidence, clinical expertise and the patient’s unique values and circumstances” (Bhargava & Bhargava, 2007, para. 3). In the Indigenous context, this includes Two-Eyed Seeing which considers the strengths of Western knowledge from one eye and Indigenous knowledge from the other, then brings both eyes mindfully together for the benefit of all (Bartlett et al., 2015).
F
First Nations: “the accepted term for people who are Indigenous and who do not identify as Inuit or Métis. Today there are around 630 First Nations in Canada” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74).
G
Gender: “Gender refers to the roles, behaviours, activities, attributes and opportunities that any society considers appropriate for girls and boys, and women and men. Gender interacts with, but is different from, the binary categories of biological sex.” (WHO, 2020)
Gender based analysis: “[T]he process by which a policy, program, initiative or service can be examined for its impacts on various groups of women and men. GBA+ provides a snapshot that captures the realities of women and men affected by a particular issue at a specific time. This means that analysts, researchers, evaluators and decision makers are able to continually improve their work and attain better results for Canadian men and women by being more responsive to their specific needs and circumstances” (Status of Women Canada, n.d., Background section).
Globalization: the intensification of cross-national interactions that promote the establishment of trans-national structures and the global integration of cultural, economic, ecological, political, technological, and social processes on global, supra-national, national, regional, and local levels. (Rennen & Martens, 2003)
Greenhouse effect: “warming of the surface and lower atmosphere of a planet (such as Earth or Venus) that is caused by conversion of solar radiation into heat in a process involving selective transmission of short wave solar radiation by the atmosphere, its absorption by the planet’s surface, and reradiation as infrared which is absorbed and partly reradiated back to the surface by atmospheric gases” (Merriam-Webster, 2020, n.p.).
H
Health equity: “Equity is the absence of avoidable, unfair, or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically or by other means of stratification. “Health equity” or “equity in health” implies that ideally everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential.” (WHO, 2020). For example, the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples continues to lag behind that of the Canadian population on virtually every measure. This is not about lifestyle factors or the culture of a people, rather it reflects historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples (Browne et al., 2016).
Health professionals: Health professionals maintain health in humans through the application of the principles and procedures of evidence-based medicine and caring. Health professionals study, diagnose, treat and prevent human illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in accordance with the needs of the populations they serve. They advise on or apply preventive and curative measures and promote health with the ultimate goal of meeting the health needs and expectations of individuals and populations and improving population health outcomes (World Health Organization, 2013).
Health protection: A term used to describe important public health functions in the areas of food hygiene, clean water, clean air, drug safety, and other activities that reduce, as much as possible, the risks to health linked to preventable environmental causes (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010).
Historical injustices: Past moral wrongs committed by previously living people that have a lasting impact on the well-being of currently living people (Holmes & Hunt, 2017).
I
Indigenous Peoples: The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America. The term Indigenous Peoples can be used to describe collectively the three groups recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982—First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. These are separate Peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices, spiritual beliefs, and political goals. (Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2019)
Infectious diseases: Illnesses caused by organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Many of these organisms live in and on our bodies and are normally harmless and can even be helpful. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person; others are transmitted by insects or other animals. Some come from consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms in the environment (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Integrated Vector Management (IVM): “is a rational decision-making process to optimize the use of resources for vector control. The aim of the IVM approach is to contribute to achievement of the global targets set for vector-borne disease control, by making vector control more efficient, cost effective, ecologically sound and sustainable. Use of IVM helps vector control programmes to find and use more local evidence, to integrate interventions where appropriate and to collaborate within the health sector and with other sectors, as well as with households and communities” (World Health Organization, 2012, p. vi).
Interprofessional: Different healthcare professionals — with diverse knowledge, skills and talents —collaborating to achieve a common goal.
Intersectionality: “[A]cknowledges the ways in which people’s lives are shaped by their multiple and overlapping identities and social locations, which, together, can produce a unique and distinct experience for that individual or group, for example, creating additional barriers or opportunities. In the context of race, this means recognizing the ways in which peoples experiences of racism or privilege, including within any one racialized group, may differ and vary depending on the individual’s or group’s additional overlapping (or ’intersecting’) social identities, such as ethnicity, Indigenous identification, experiences with colonialism, religion, gender, citizenship, socio-economic status or sexual orientation” (Government of Ontario, 2017).
Inter-sectoral collaboration: Joint action taken to improve the health of populations by health professionals, governments, and the private sector, as well as representatives of voluntary and non-profit groups.
Inuit: “An Indigenous group living in the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Russia” (Wilson, 2018, p. 74). In Canada, the majority of the Inuit live in 51 communities in the Inuit Nunangat.
L
Land: Cultures have different philosophies about land. For Indigenous People of Turtle Island, land is thought of and spoken of in the same vein as a family member. Land is a living, breathing spiritual being that must be acknowledged and respected. Indigenous philosophies describe that we have a symbiotic relationship and duty to take care of land, while in return, it takes care of us. People from European cultures think of land as a thing, an item, a commodity. They see land as something that can be owned by people, bought and sold, just as a car, a book, a carton of milk. This clash of cultural philosophies about land is central to understanding disputes between Indigenous People and the Government of Canada. (C Joseph, personal communication, July 2020)
Levels of prevention: The levels of prevention delineate where action occurs with respect to preventing an illness or injury, occurring long before the risk factors or negative health outcome occurs (as in the case of primordial and primary prevention) to after the negative outcome has manifested signs and symptoms.
Lived experience: An understanding of an individual’s experiences, choices, and options and how they influence the person’s perception of events.
Lyme disease: Lyme disease is an infectious disease spread through the bite of infected ticks (Government of Canada, 2017)
M
Meaningful Strategies: support equitable care by involving robust community engagement and “a place-based approach that entails a holistic understanding of a community’s needs and assets, and direct involvement of community members” (Mohnot, et al., 2019, p. 20).
Metis: are people who are Indigenous and do not identify as First Nations or Inuit. The Métis National Council defines “Métis” as a person who “self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Indigenous peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation” (Wilson, 2018, p. 10).
Mitigation: in the context of climate change, is defined as a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases (IPCC, 2013), since greenhouse gases (GHGs) have climate warming effects. A source is any process, activity, or mechanism that releases GHGs to the atmosphere. Both natural processes and human activities release GHGs. A sink is any process, activity, or mechanism that removes GHGs from the atmosphere. In addition to GHGs, mitigation also applies to reducing emissions of other substances that have a warming effect on the climate. (Bush & Lemmen, 2019)
Mitigation (of climate change): interventions that reduce the rate and magnitude of global warming (IPCC, 2014); Taking action to reduce climate change, by reducing GHG emissions (Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, 2019 May 28)
Mosquitoes: Main vector that transmits the viruses that cause numerous VBDs, including dengue, malaria, West Nile, and Zika. (Ludwig et al., 2019; Bush & Lemmen, 2019).
N
Non-binary: Someone who does not identify as exclusively a man or a woman. A spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine, including having no gender at all (Wikipedia, 2020).
Notifiable disease: “…any of various health conditions that upon detection are required to be reported to public health authorities. For certain diseases, namely those of an infectious nature, mandatory disease reporting plays a critical role in preventing and controlling the spread of disease in populations. In many places, state and local officials have the authority to mandate disease reporting within their jurisdictions” (Kirian, n.d., n.p.).
P
Passive Surveillance: Passive surveillance relies on doctors, veterinarians and the public to submit vectors, such as ticks or mosquitos for testing (Soucy et al., 2018)
Place-based solutions: “stakeholders engaging in a collaborative process to address issues as they are experienced within a geographic space, be it a neighbourhood, a region, or an ecosystem” (Policy Horizons Canada, 2011, p. 6).
Primary prevention: Education and health promotion strategies designed to help people avoid acquiring unhealthy conditions, diseases, and injuries, thus reducing their population-wide incidence (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008); a type of intervention or activity that seeks to prevent the occurrence of a disease (based on the natural history of disease) or an injury. (Stanhope et al., 2017)
Primordial Prevention: “Includes broader activities that focus on preventing the emergence of risk factors that are known to create conditions for disease” (Stanhope et al. , 2017, p.302).
Protective factors: Conditions and attributes (skills, strengths, resources, supports, and coping strategies) in individuals, families, communities, and society at large that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and mitigate or eliminate risks to health and well-being in families and communities; variables that assist in managing the stressors associated with being at risk; examples of these factors include literacy, social support networks and family support systems. (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Q
Quality of life: “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, personal beliefs, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment” (WHO, 2020, n.p.).
Quaternary Prevention: a lesser known area of prevention, first introduced in 1986. This 5th level of prevention has been defined as “Action taken to identify patient at risk of over-medicalization, to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions, which are ethically acceptable” (Martins et al, 2017).
R
Registered nurse (RN): Registered nurses “are self-regulated health-care professionals who work autonomously and in collaboration with others to enable individuals, families, groups, communities and populations to achieve their optimal levels of health. At all stages of life, in situations of health, illness, injury and disability, RNs deliver direct health-care services, coordinate care and support clients in managing their own health. RNs contribute to the health-care system through their leadership across a wide range of settings in practice, education, administration, research and policy” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2015).
Resilience: “Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new, or alter current, climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks” (Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, n.d., n.p.). The World Economic Forum also recognizes the ability to “absorb shocks when they…come along” (2020, n.p.). Three 3A capacities comprise resilience: the ability to Adapt to, Anticipate and Absorb climate extremes and disasters (BRACED, 2015) http://www.braced.org/resources/i/?id=cd95acf8-68dd-4f48-9b41-24543f69f9f1)
Risk: The potential for consequences where something of value is at stake and where the outcome is uncertain, recognizing the diversity of values. Risk is often represented as probability of occurrence of hazardous events or trends multiplied by the impacts if these events or trends occur. (IPCC, 2014); “The quantitative probability that a health effect will occur after an individual has been exposed to specified amount of hazard. A hazard only results in a risk if there has been an exposure – not if the hazard is contained or there is no opportunity for exposure” (Hutchinson & Kovats, 2016, p. 23.)
Risk factors: Variables that create stress and therefore challenge the client’s health status (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
S
Secondary prevention: The second level of health care, based on the earliest possible identification of disease so that it can be more readily treated or managed and adverse sequelae can be prevented (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008); activities that seek to detect a disease early in its progression (early pathogenesis) before clinical signs and symptoms become apparent, to make a diagnosis and begin treatment; it relates to the natural history of a disease. (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Sensitivity: The impact that disease exposure has on people and communities determines their sensitivity to the risk and effects of VBD infections. Sensitivity is related to numerous factors including social determinants of health, potential exposure, compromised immune systems, and access to preventative information and resources. (Clean Air Partnership, 2011).
Social determinants of health: The social determinants of health influence the health of populations. They include income and social status; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions; social environments; physical environments; personal health practices and coping skills; healthy child development; gender; and culture (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016); the social conditions and broader forces (e.g. politics and economics) that interact to influence risks to health and well-being and affect how vulnerable or resilient people ar to disease or injury (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Social Justice: is “the fair distribution of resources and responsibilities among the members of a population, with a focus on the relative position of one social group in relationship to others in society as well as on the root causes of disparities and what can be done to eliminate them” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2009, p. 2).
Solastalgia: Feelings of distress and isolation because of the gradual loss of one’s home environment, which can include climate change-related displacement (Albrecht, 2011).
Surveillance: A systematic and ongoing observation and collection of data on disease occurrence to describe phenomena and detect changes in frequency or distribution (Stanhope, Lancaster, Jakubec, & Pike-MacDonald, 2017)
Sustainable Development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”(Brundtland, 1987, n.p.).
T
Tertiary prevention: The prevention of disease progression and attendant suffering after it has become clinically obvious and a diagnosis has been established. This activity includes the rehabilitation of disabling conditions (Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008).
Traditional Knowledge: “refers to those Indigenous systems of knowledge, as well as cultural practices and methodologies related to the production of knowledge based on traditional belief systems, relationships to the environment, and community practices. It is the accumulated and living knowledge possessing a depth and breadth of information built upon the historic experiences of Peoples living on the land and adapts to social, economic, environmental, spiritual and political change. Its value in understanding species, ecosystems, sustainable management, conservation and use is unparalleled. It comprises of a deep understanding of complex interrelationships between individual environment components, the dynamics of local ecosystems and the peoples that live in them” (Chiefs of Ontario, n.d., n.p.).
Transmission: The passing of a pathogen causing communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to another individual or group, regardless of whether the host was previously infected.
Trauma: “[B]oth the experience of, and a response to, an overwhelmingly negative event or series of events, such as interpersonal violence, personal loss, war or natural disaster. In the context of violence, trauma can be acute (resulting from a single event) or complex (resulting from repeated experiences of interpersonal and/or systemic violence)” (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2018).
Trauma informed care: “[S]eeks to create safety for clients/patients by understanding the effects of trauma, and its close links to health and behaviour. Unlike trauma-specific care, it is not about eliciting or treating people’s trauma histories but about creating safe spaces that limit the potential for further harm for all people” (Varcoe, et al., 2016).
Two-eyed seeing: “To see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing, and to see from the other eye with the strengths of Western ways of knowing, and to use both of these eyes together” (Bartlett, Marshall & Marshall, 2012).
U
Upstream Approach: “looks beyond the individual to take a macroscopic, big-picture population focus. It also includes a primary prevention perspective” (Stanhope et al., 2017, p. 14).
V
Vector: An organism, typically a biting insect or tick, that transmits a disease or parasite from an animal, plant, or human to another animal, plant, or human.
Vector: A vector is an organism, often a bloodsucking insect, that can spread infectious agents from animal to human or between humans (WHO, 2020).
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs): VBDs are transmitted among their human or animal hosts by arthropods, usually insects. A broader definition of VBDs recognizes that other animals can serve as the infectious disease vector by harboring pathogens that cause disease only in susceptible populations (Hierlihy, 2017).
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs): “human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors” (WHO, 2020, n.p.);
Vector-borne disease surveillance: Monitoring VBDs by collecting information and samples to determine the distribution, density, and species of vector. Surveillance data is used in decision-making about public education and VBD reduction activities. Surveillance plays a critical role in the detection, prevention, and clinical management of mosquito-borne diseases (North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, 2017).
Vulnerability: The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. Vulnerability encompasses a variety of concepts and elements, including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt. (IPCC, 2014)
W
Ways of knowing: Ways in which we acquire knowledge about the world around us and figure out our relationship with it (Theory of Knowledge, n.d.; Cull et al., 2018).
West Nile Virus: A bite from an infected mosquito can cause infection with West Nile virus. Infected mosquitoes can spread the virus to humans and other animals (Government of Canada, 2015).