My Project
Climate change poses significant risks to human health, particularly in low-income countries such as Nepal, where climate-sensitive diseases and extreme weather events can strain already vulnerable health systems. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns may increase vector-borne diseases transmission, while natural disasters such as floods and landslides can damage roads and bridges, disrupt healthcare services, and limit access to essential and emergency care. Integrating routinely collected health data with Earth observation and climate reanalysis data offers opportunities to strengthen disease prediction and healthcare preparedness; however, limited digital infrastructure and analytical capacity constrain their effective use. This postdoctoral project aims to address these challenges by leveraging Open Climate Service (OCS) and the Climate and Health Analytical Platform (CHAP) within the DHIS2 ecosystem to develop and evaluate spatiotemporal dengue forecasting models, foresee future dengue incidence under alternative climate scenarios, and model healthcare accessibility under normal and flood-disrupted conditions. Using an action research approach, the project will co-develop and evaluate digital tools and analytical methods in collaboration with government agencies, implementation partners, and other stakeholders. The findings will support evidence-informed dengue prevention and control, improve health service planning, and contribute to building a more climate-resilient health system in Nepal.
Publications
1.Acharya, B.K.; Khanal, L.; Karki, S.; Dhimal, M. Mean Elevation of Inhabited Areas Reveals That Coarse District-Level Analyses Overestimate the Altitudinal Shift of Dengue in Nepal. Acta Trop. 2026, 283, 108313, DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2026.108313
2.Dhimal, M.L.; Acharya, B.K.; Sharma, K.P.; Subedi, M.; Pantha, R.; Dhimal, M.; Sandvik, B.; Braa, J. Building a Digital Climate-Health Data Infrastructure in Nepal: Developing an Early Warning System for Dengue. In Reorienting the Digital: Ethics, Ontology, and Sustainable Futures; Thapa, D., Pandey, P., Eds.; IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology; Springer Nature Switzerland: Cham, 2027; Vol. 784, pp. 278–297 ISBN 978-3-032-30981-5.,
3.Acharya, B.K.; Vegvari, C.; Lillywhite, J.; Lillywhite, H.J.; Kloos, D.; Sharma, N.; Dhimal, M. Climate Change and Its Impact on Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Visceral Leishmaniasis Transmission Risk in Nepal. BMC Infect. Dis. 2025, 25, 1303, DOI: 10.1186/s12879-025-11757-x
4.Acharya BK, Khanal L, Sharma S, Joshi P,Dhimal M, Spatiotemporal dynamics and associated drivers of COVID-19 incidence in Nepal, Tropical Medicine and Health, DOI: 10.1186/s41182-025-00741-5
5.Acharya BK, Khanal L, Dhimal M. Increased thermal suitability elevates the risk of dengue transmission across the mid hills of Nepal. Harapan H, editor. PLOS One. 2025 Apr 24;20(4):e0322031.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322031
6.Sharma S, Acharya BK, Wu Q. Spatial Variations and Determinants of Anemia among Under-five Children in Nepal, DHS (2006–2016). Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 16;19(14):8664.
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19148664
7.Acharya B, Chen W, Ruan Z, Pant G, Yang Y, Shah L, et al. Mapping Environmental Suitability of Scrub Typhus in Nepal Using MaxEnt and Random Forest Models. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 2;16(23):4845. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16234845
8.Acharya, B.;Chen, W.; Ruan, Z.; Pant, G.; Yang, Y.; Shah, L.; Cao, C.; Xu, Z.; Dhimal, M.; Lin, H. Mapping Environmental Suitability of Scrub Typhus in Nepal Using MaxEnt and Random Forest Models. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health 2019, 16, 4845.
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16234845
9.Acharya, B.K.; Cao, C.; Lakes, T.; Chen, W.; Naeem, S.; Pandit, S. Modeling the spatially varying risk factors of dengue fever in Jhapa district, Nepal, using the semi-parametric geographically weighted regression model. Int. J. Biometeorol.2018, 62, 1973–1986.
DOI: 10.1007/s00484-018-1601-8
10.Acharya B.K., Cao C, Xu M, Khanal L, Naeem S, Pandit S, Temporal Variations and Associated Remotely Sensed Environmental Variables of Dengue Fever in Chitwan District, Nepal, Int J Geo-Inf. 2018;7: doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7070275
DOI:10.3390/ijgi7070275
11.Acharya, B. K; Cao, C.; Xu, M.; Khanal, L.; Naeem, S.; Pandit, S. Present and Future of Dengue Fever in Nepal: Mapping Climatic Suitability by Ecological Niche Model. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health2018, 15, 187.
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15020187
12.Acharya, B.K.; Cao, C.; Xu, M.; Chen, W.; Pandit, S. Spatiotemporal Distribution and Geospatial Diffusion Patterns of 2013 Dengue Outbreak in Jhapa District, Nepal. Asia Pac. J. Public Health2018,
DOI: 10.1177/1010539518769809
13.Acharya, B.K.; Cao, C.; Lakes, T.; Chen, W.; Naeem, S. Spatiotemporal analysis of dengue fever in Nepal from 2010 to 2014. BMC Public Health2016, 16. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3432-z
Published
Sep. 8, 2026 11:49 AM
- Last modified
Oct. 12, 2026 9:07 AM
