Tag Archives: climate change

Trypanosomes, climate change and evolution; past and present

Africa, African Sleeping Sickness, , Disease, Environment, , Trypanosomes

By: Charles Ebikeme

“Trypanosomiasis has kept Africa green…”

The quote above comes from a book I can’t remember by an author whose name escapes me. In essence, it alludes to the inextricable relationship and balance that exists between all things on our planet, particularly the relationship between man and his environment. For a long time, we have known about the influence diseases can have on us, but we are only now beginning to realise its full extent.

The delicate relationship and inter-connected influence between human populations, climate, and the ecology of disease (vector-borne or otherwise) has unfolded over evolutionary time.

Photo credit: Britannica Encyclopedia

Genetically, some populations are predisposed to particular diseases. A study published in Science last year, showed  African-Americans have higher rates of kidney disease than European-Americans. The reason, as postulated by the researchers, was due to variants of a gene (APOL1), common in African chromosomes but absent from European chromosomes. The gene codes for a serum factor that lyses (or harms) trypanosomes. It seems the evolution of a critical survival factor in Africa now contributes to the high rates of kidney disease in African-Americans.

Changes in African climate in the last 5-6 million years are thought to have mediated important modifications in the African environment and in the animals that live there. As the rivers changed, and as plant and animal species adapted to a changing climate, disease was brought to areas where it wasn’t before. These phenomena have marked important milestones in the evolution of humans and their predecessors. Continue reading →

Climate change prompts debate among experts about spread of tropical diseases

NTDs, Public Health, , , , ,

This past Monday, an article was published in The Washington Post on the controversial correlation between climate change and tropical diseases. Concern was raised in 2000 by an article written by Harvard biologist Paul R. Epstein, which drew a lot of interest from the scientific community. The article sparked more than 4,000 studies on the changing climate and its effect on disease. Scientists and health professionals were also compelled by a map published in the Scientific American that predicted by 2020 a malaria outbreak could occur on the east coast of the United States and in Europe. This scenario of tropical disease presenting themselves may not be too far-fetched for the US. Last summer, dengue appeared in the Florida Keys, and in the past similar infectious diseases broke out in warmer areas of the States.

Tropical diseases thrive in warm weather. As our climate increasingly becomes warmer, organisms will reproduce at a faster rate, resulting in a greater number of disease-carrying insects. Other theories hypothesize  that climate change could actually reduce disease – some areas may become too hot for insects and vectors to survive, thereby reducing the outbreak of disease.

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

Adoption of the Luanda Declaration at the Second Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment

Africa, Global Health, NTDs, , , guinea, Human African trypanosomiasis:, , Second Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment, , water sanitation

By: Alanna Shaikh

On Friday November 26, the Second Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa came to a close. The 46 countries that attended adopted a declaration – the Luanda declaration – that lays out future health and environmental priorities. It looks like good news for the fight against NTDs.

The list of priorities, honestly, looks like pretty much everything that has to do with health and the environment: “…provision of safe drinking water; Provision of sanitation and hygiene services; Management of environmental and health risks related to climate change; Sustainable management of forests and wetland and Management of water, soil and air pollution as well as biodiversity conservation.

Other priorities are Vector Control and management of chemicals, particularly pesticides and wastes; Food safety and security, including the management of genetically-modified organisms in food productions; Children’s health and women’s environmental health; Health in the workplace and the Management of natural and human-induced disasters.”

Looking deeper, though, it is very interesting what made the list. We’ve done well, within the limitations of global financial support to NTDs, with the medical approach to eliminating the diseases. Mass drug administration, health care provider training, research into vaccines and better treatments. There has been an impressive amount of progress considering the small funding pool. (But no, that does not mean we can stop calling them neglected. NTD programs are good at making do, but wow they could do a lot more with some serious financial support.)

We’ve done less well on addressing the social and environmental determinants of the NTDs. It’s more complex in a lot of ways, and it’s been simpler to focus on medicine. However, we’re not going to treat our way out of the NTDs. We need to look at transmission and context. That’s where this declaration fits in. It reads like a set of WHO guidelines on battling neglected tropical diseases, and that is a very good thing.

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Climate Change and Morbidity Management for Lymphatic Filariasis

Global Health, flooding, , ,

By Jose de la Cruz, LEPRA Health in Action

Flooding as a result of climate change will have the most impact on disabled people

Climate change is a health and disability issue. It will affect the world’s poor and of those disabled people will be the most severely affected. People with Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) and other disabilities in developing countries will bear the impact of climate change.

Many factors associated with climate change will affect people with disabilities. These include: heat waves, drought and the resulting food insecurity, water scarcity, flooding and climate related disasters. All of these factors will have severe effects on the health of disabled people.

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