This is what emerged from a scoping review by the WHO Task Team on Climate Change, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and Malaria, in collaboration with Reaching the Last Mile (RLM), published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns are altering the spread of vector-borne diseases, with significant implications for human health.
22 MAY – The World Health Organization (WHO) Task Team on Climate Change, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and Malaria, in collaboration with Reaching the Last Mile (RLM), published a scoping review published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The analysis of 42,693 articles reveals that there is still insufficient understanding of the actual and potential impacts of human-induced changes in climate patterns on malaria and non-communicable diseases.
Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns are altering the spread of vector-borne diseases, with significant implications for human health and straining systems. As the geographic range of disease vectors such as mosquitoes expands, the risk of introducing – or reintroducing – these diseases into new and unprepared areas also increases. The findings of this review highlight that these changes in the prevalence, incidence, extent and intensity of malaria and a number of NTDs may be felt most acutely in those communities already disproportionately affected.
“The findings presented in this important review highlight the need for more comprehensive, collaborative and standardized modeling so that we can better understand and predict the effects of climate change on malaria and non-communicable diseases, both directly and indirectly,” he said. Ibrahima Socé Fall, Director of the WHO Global NTD Programme, who conducted the study -. This important and timely review reveals alarming trends and is a call for urgent action. Malaria transmission is likely to shift poleward and to higher altitudes, while the mosquito vector responsible for dengue and chikungunya transmission is expected to continue to expand its range. If we want to protect and build on the hard-won victories of the last twenty years, now is the time to mobilize.”
Despite this, the paper highlights that published research has too often focused on low disease burden countries with high access to quality healthcare (using the HAQI measurement). Given that the effects of climate change on malaria and non-communicable diseases will vary significantly by disease and location, exhibiting non-linear patterns and evolving over time, this focus presents what the Task Team calls a growing emergency for communities that have been historically disadvantaged in relation to these long-neglected diseases.
“The climate crisis has the potential to reverse decades of progress in global health and development,” he said Tala Al-Ramahi, Chief Strategy Officer of Reaching the Last Mile -. Greater investment in research is urgently needed to support the development of timely, evidence-based interventions and to enable us to anticipate and mitigate the worst consequences of climate change on human health.”
With only 34% of studies reviewed (174 studies) addressing mitigation strategies and 5% (24 studies) examining adaptation methods, this review further highlights the lack of evidence needed to protect the gains made against malaria and DTNs in recent decades. Our collective progress could unravel due to a failing climate.
“We have recently seen the consequences of extreme weather events on malaria, and they are predicted to become increasingly common. “The document provides a clear call for mitigation and evidence of responsive adaptation to climate change,” he said Daniel Ngamije Madandi, director of the WHO Global Malaria Program -. As the impact of climate change is likely to be borne disproportionately by the poorest people, who are also disproportionately affected by malaria and non-communicable diseases, a more equitable, comprehensive and sustainable response is needed.”
In order to assess the impact of climate change on malaria and non-communicable diseases, this cutting-edge scoping review analyzed peer-reviewed papers and gray literature published between January 2010 and October 2023, with researchers summarizing the identified data and analyzed the distribution of studies by country.
In total, 42,693 documents were retrieved, from which 1,543 full-text documents were examined. The researchers correlated the number of publications with national disease burden, healthcare access and quality index (HAQI), and climate vulnerability scores. Of the 511 articles that met the inclusion criteria, 185 covered malaria, 181 focused on dengue and chikungunya, and 53 reported findings on leishmaniasis. Other NTDs, however, were significantly underrepresented, having not been sufficiently studied.
May 22, 2024
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