A Review of the Changing Global Impact of Arthropod-Borne Virus Diseases and Recent Initiatives from the World Health Organization

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are RNA viruses that depend on transmission to humans and other vertebrates through the bites of infected mosquitoes, ticks, and sand flies. On March 31, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Arbovirus Initiative identified the need for risk mapping as a crucial source of evidence for arbovirus disease surveillance and provided updated recommendations to improve current management. On May 20, 2025, the 78th World Health Assembly of the WHO adopted the Pandemic Agreement to highlight the importance of pandemic preparedness. The arbovirus diseases dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever have been identified as an escalating global threat in urbanized areas, as indicated by new global risk maps for Aedes-borne arboviruses. On July 4, 2025, the WHO published its first global guidelines for managing infections by the four most significant arboviruses: dengue virus, chikungunya virus, Zika virus, and yellow fever virus. This article aims to review the changing global distribution of arbovirus transmission, the increased risk to human health from arbovirus diseases, and the potential for both epidemics and future pandemics, which have led to recent WHO recommendations and warrant the inclusion of arbovirus diseases as candidates for Disease X.