Tomorrow’s weather: dysentery, pneumonia and malaria
A number of diseases are likely to increase in frequency due to climate change, especially in the poorest nations.
Morten Andersen, COP15 Copenhagen, 21/05/2009 13:45
Disease levels in some areas of Zambia may increase as much as four-fold due to climate change, according to research under the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Some regions are expected to be hit by droughts, leading to increases in dysentery, while other regions are likely to be flooded, which will raise the levels of pneumonia and malaria.
The study, published in the latest issue of the IIED bulletin Tiempo, states that ”Zambia is currently saddled with a heavy burden of communicable climate-sensitive diseases (…) floods and droughts can increase disease levels in some affected areas by as much as 400 percent.”
The author of the study, George Kasali of Energy and Environmental Concerns for Zambia, comments:
”Almost all of these climate hazards will have a negative effect on health. Despite the increased frequency of these hazards in the last decade, Zambia has not yet developed any climate-informed policies for the health sector.”
The bulletin also carries studies from Benin and Bhutan, showing similar lack of preparedness.
”There is very little awareness of the potential impact of climate change on human health within health sectors in the Least Developed Countries. There have been very few assessments of how climate change will affect food security, access to water, flood risks and diseases such as malaria,” says Hannah Reid, a Senior Researcher at IIED.
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