Lagos, Nigeria — When a small number of locally transmitted malaria cases were found in the United States last year, it was a reminder that climate change is reviving or migrating the threat of some diseases. But across the African continent, malaria has never disappeared, killing or sickening millions of people.
Take Funmilayo Kotun, a 66-year-old resident of Makoko, an informal neighborhood in the city of Lagos, Nigeria. Its dirty water ponds provide favorable conditions for the reproduction of mosquitoes that spread malaria. Kotun cannot afford insecticide-treated mosquito nets that cost between $7 and $21 each, let alone anti-malaria medications or treatments.
For World Malaria Day on Thursday, here’s what you need to know about the situation in Africa:
The malaria parasite is primarily transmitted to people through infected mosquitoes and can cause symptoms such as fever, headaches and chills. It mainly affects children under 5 years of age and pregnant women. Vaccination efforts are still in the early stages: Cameroon this year became the first country to routinely give children a new malaria vaccine, which is only 30% effective and does not stop transmission. A second vaccine was recently approved.
Cases of resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides are increasing, while funding from governments and donors for innovation is slowing.
Living conditions play a role: overcrowded neighborhoods, stagnant water, poor sanitation, and lack of access to treatment and prevention materials are all problems in many areas. And an invasive mosquito species previously seen primarily in India and the Persian Gulf is a new concern.
Globally, malaria cases are increasing. Infections increased from 233 million in 2019 to 249 million in 85 countries in 2022. Malaria deaths increased from 576,000 in 2019 to 608,000 in 2022, according to the World Health Organization.
Of the 12 countries that bear about 70% of the global malaria burden, 11 are in Africa and the other is India. Children under 5 years of age accounted for 80% of the 580,000 malaria deaths recorded in Africa in 2022.
The fight against malaria saw some progress in areas such as rapid diagnostic tests, vaccines and new mosquito nets aimed at countering insecticide resistance, but the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift in focus and funding delayed efforts.
A study published in Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease last year said COVID-19-induced lockdowns caused disruptions in 30% of rural community health service points across Africa. Malaria cases began to skyrocket again, breaking a downward trend between 2000 and 2019.
That downward trend could soon return, according to the WHO.
Africa is “on the cutting edge of climate change” and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events is wreaking havoc on efforts to combat malaria in low- and middle-income regions, said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. Tuberculosis and Malaria, they warned in December.
In 2023, the WHO World Malaria Report included for the first time a chapter on the link between malaria and climate change, highlighting its importance as a potential risk multiplier. Scientists are concerned that people living in areas that were once inhospitable to mosquitoes, including the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and the mountains of eastern Ethiopia, could be exposed.
In Zimbabwe, which has recorded some of its hottest days in decades, periods of malaria transmission have extended in some districts, “and this change has been attributed to climate change,” said Dr. Precious Andifasi, a technical official. of the WHO for malaria in Zimbabwe.
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Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe.
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