Climate Change Drives New Malaria Cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in its latest report on Thursday that malaria cases have increased over the past year, surpassing levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 249 million cases worldwide.

According to the report published by The New York Times, malaria remains the leading cause of death among children.

The increase in reported cases is concentrated in five countries: Pakistan, Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Papua New Guinea.

Daniel Ngamije, the Director of the WHO's Malaria Program, attributed the rise in infections to climate change, pointing out that it directly contributed to three of these countries' situations.

Malaria is caused by a parasite transmitted through mosquito bites and is a significant threat, particularly to African children, due to increasing resistance to treatment.

In 2021, malaria, an ancient disease dating back to antiquity, caused the deaths of 619,000 people worldwide, according to the latest figures from the WHO, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Around half of the world's population lives in malaria-endemic areas, with most infections and deaths occurring in Africa.

In July 2022, massive floods left one-third of Pakistan underwater, displacing 33 million people and quickly followed by mosquitoes. At the time, there were more than 3.1 million confirmed cases of malaria reported, compared to only 275,000 cases the previous year.

This isn't the first time that international organizations have warned about the impact of climate change on the spread of diseases.

In April, the United Nations called on governments to anticipate the consequences of the El Niño climate phenomenon, which has just begun and is particularly associated with global warming, in order to "save lives and livelihoods."

The impact of rising temperatures usually becomes more apparent a year after the phenomenon develops, so it is likely to be even more pronounced in 2024.

The WHO previously warned about the risks of increased water-related diseases, such as cholera, as well as mosquito-borne epidemics like malaria and dengue fever, in addition to infectious diseases like measles and meningitis, according to the acting director of public health and environment at the organization, Maria Neira, as reported by AFP.