According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the climate crisis presents a significant danger to efforts against malaria. Evidence suggests that severe weather events and increasing temperatures have resulted in a rise in cases.
Mosquitoes, the carriers of the disease, thrive in warm, damp and humid conditions, which are increasing with global heating.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, stated that the shifting climate presents a significant threat to the fight against malaria, especially in areas that are susceptible. He emphasized the need for sustainable and resilient efforts to combat malaria, along with immediate measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The WHO released their world malaria report on Thursday, which states that the climate crisis has led to an increase in malaria transmission in African highland regions that were previously unaffected. This is the first time the annual report has included a section specifically addressing the connection between the climate crisis and malaria.
Pakistan experienced a five-fold surge in the number of cases following devastating floods in the previous year – with reported cases rising from 500,000 in 2021 to 2.6 million in 2022. The stagnant water created a perfect environment for mosquitoes to breed.
According to Peter Sands, the head of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, climate change is a major factor in the changing landscape of malaria. While the impact is evident, the full extent and implications are not yet fully understood.
Sands also mentioned that the climate crisis poses other challenges such as displacement, damage to health services, and a rise in food insecurity and malnutrition, which could impede efforts to eradicate the disease.
“The discussion on the potential consequences in the world malaria report is, if anything, understated,” he stated. “We may very well be facing more significant ramifications, in part due to secondary and tertiary factors.”
Dr. Photini Sinnis, the vice director of the institute for malaria at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, stated that the current climate situation will have consequences, yet it is challenging to anticipate them.
The report stated that the amount of global malaria cases in 2022 is still considerably higher than pre-Covid-19 levels, despite a small decrease in numbers. In 2022, there were 249 million cases, while there were 233 million in 2019. The number of fatalities also increased from 576,000 in 2019 to 608,000 last year.
Roughly 12,000 lives are lost every week due to this disease, with pregnant women and young children being the most vulnerable. The majority of cases and fatalities occur in Africa.
The report emphasized additional challenges in eliminating malaria, such as the increasing resistance to insecticides and the spread of an invasive mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, from its original Asian and Arabian environments to Africa.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this particular species has been connected to the occurrence of malaria outbreaks and is able to thrive in urban environments. It is capable of enduring high temperatures and is also resistant to a variety of insecticides. The WHO warns that as this species spreads and urbanization continues to occur at a rapid pace, the risk of malaria could increase in African cities.
The report states that there is a growing concern about resistance to medicines, specifically artemisinin, which played a crucial role in decreasing the worldwide impact of malaria from 2000 to 2015.
However, there are indications of potential progress. Sinnis and Sands noted that there are various strategies and efforts currently in effect to combat resistance, including the provision of enhanced bed nets treated with insecticide and the creation of novel insecticides and drugs for malaria treatment.
In the beginning of this year, the WHO recommended the use of a malaria vaccine called R21/Matrix-M, which has been found to be very effective. Another vaccine, RTS,S, which was endorsed by the agency in 2021, was delivered to Cameroon last week. This is one of 12 African countries that will be receiving doses of the vaccine over the next two years.
According to the World Health Organization, the RTS,S vaccine has significantly decreased severe cases of malaria and also led to a 13% decrease in deaths among young children in areas where it was given, compared to areas where it was not implemented.
Sands stated that we possess a strong arsenal of resources, including vaccines. However, we are not utilizing them to their maximum potential. The global community is not investing enough to combat malaria, let alone one that is intensified by the effects of climate change.
Source: theguardian.com
