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How does Climate Change Affect Infectious Diseases?

Home News How does Climate Change Affect Infectious Diseases?

News10/08/2019drasa_admin

All across the African continent, there’s an increasing frequency of infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola, Lassa fever, yellow fever, monkeypox, cholera, bird flu, and meningitis. How does climate change play a role? We spent two days this week answering that question.

How does Climate Change Affect Infectious Diseases? GET Consortium's 5th Conference

From August 7th – 9th, the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Africa Consortium hosted their 5th Annual Conference on Emerging Infectious Disease and Biosecurity in Abuja. We attended the first 2 days of the 3 day event and our Managing Director Mrs. Niniola Williams presented on the second day.

DRASA's Managing Director Mrs. Niniola Williams presenting at the GET Consortium conference

DRASA’s Managing Director Mrs. Niniola Williams presenting at the GET Consortium conference

This year’s theme was Climate Change and Conflict: Implications for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity in Africa and speakers from all over the continent and other parts of the world converged to discuss and debate the impact of our changing climate on public health.

What aspects of climate change affect our health and the spread of infectious diseases? So many! But some of the most notable are:

  • Changes in temperature and precipitation disturb the habitat, mating patterns, and migration of disease-carrying vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks
  • Extreme precipitation and flooding lead to increased waterborne diseases such as cholera
  • Increased drought increases the risk of foodborne illnesses
  • Higher ambient temperatures increases the replication of foodborne pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli
  • Rapid degradation of our environment in the form of deforestation means loss of habitat for animal species which leads to increased mixing with other animals as well as the human population
  • Accumulation of toxins in our water tables and the atmosphere and shrinking natural resources (e.g. variable water supply and distribution which leads to competition and cross-border conflicts for water as seen with the issues around Lake Chad)
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, CEO of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, CEO of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

The bottom line is: Africa’s booming population, rapidly expanding megacities like Lagos, and ecosystem pressures are creating the perfect opportunities for climate change to further increase the risk of infectious diseases and biosecurity threats for the continent.

As Professor Akin Abayomi (Principal Investigator of GET) said on the first day of the conference, “Africa is a hotbed of infectious diseases.” And as a hotbed, we need to ensure African countries are prepared for the increased threats we will continue to face as a result of climate change.

Professor Akin Abayomi, Principal Investigator of GET Consortium

Professor Akin Abayomi, Principal Investigator of GET Consortium

Tim Reeves from the University of Melbourne noted, “Climate change will bring an added degree of difficulty to the already onerous task of biosecurity.” It’s clear we have a lot of work to do so we must keep collaborating to drive the solutions we need.

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About Us

DRASA Health Trust is a public health organization working with government, local and international partners, community leaders, students, and health workers to promote adequate sanitation and hygiene, reduce and prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and strengthen Nigeria’s health security and emergency preparedness.

DRASA was established in memory of the late Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh who identified and contained Nigeria's first Ebola patient, preventing a major outbreak, but lost her life in the process.

Recent Posts

  • Receiving the Inaugural Africa CDC – DRASA Continental Award for Emergency Health Workers in Africa 15/12/2022
  • Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together: Celebrating World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 26/11/2022
  • Global Handwashing Day 2022: Educating 1566 Students, 84 Teachers, and 60 Traders 17/10/2022
  • 2022 National Honors List: Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh Receives Officer of The Order of Niger Award 12/10/2022
  • Walking The Talk On Medication Safety: Collaborating With Federal Ministry of Health, Others, To Celebrate World Patient Safety Day 21/09/2022

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