Increasing recent cholera cases in Haiti and Syria sets off the alarms about the impact that climate change has on its incidencesays Philippe Barboza, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) team studying this disease.
Climate change derived from global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions is a “new key factor” to take into account, experts agree.
“Cholera thrives on poverty and conflict, but now it is being fueled by climate change”, says Tedros Adhanom, director general of the WHO, who adds that “extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones and droughts further reduce access to safe drinking water and create the ideal environment for the spread of cholera”.
While the other factors that usually explain cholera cases remain stable, something that “has changed drastically” in recent years is the impact of climate change, insists Barboza, in relation to the severe droughts or monsoons that have affected many countries.
“This really drives the outbreak further than what you normally see during its presence, and the concern is that it is going to continue to escalate for years to come.”
Hence, greater investment in water and sanitation is required to prevent cases, which also leaves a positive impact on the environment by treating discharges from residential and industrial areas.
An example of how adverse weather events affect the health infrastructure of countries occurs in Pakistan, where floods have caused more than 1,500 deaths. “Although the waters have stopped rising, the dangers do nothing but grow,” emphasizes Adhanom.
Near to 10% of Pakistan’s health facilities were damaged, “leaving millions of people without access to health care”it adds, while stocks of essential medicines and medical supplies “are limited or have been washed away, and damaged roads and bridges impede access to services and supplies.”
“These are the communities that suffer the injustice of the climate crisis or the mixture of the two conflicts of the climate crisis and water and food insecurity,” laments Barboza.
In the first nine months of this year alone, 27 countries have reported outbreaks of this disease.
The current resurgence shows an increase in mortality, whose average rate so far this year is “almost three times higher than that of the last five years.”
In Syria, in the last six weeks, more than 10,000 suspected cases of cholera have been registered, while in Haiti, after more than three years without the disease, 16 deaths and 32 people confirmed with the disease have already been reported, but it is likely make the real number larger.
The Haitian Ministry of Health alone, for example, reports 184 hospitalizations of probable cases with this infection.
The WHO director says this outbreak is “a particular setback” in Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, which was just preparing to be certified “cholera free” later this year.
“After years of declining cases around the world, in the last year we have seen an uptick in cholera outbreaks across the globe,” says Adhanom. It is a “deadly” disease, but it can be prevented with vaccines and access to clean water and sanitation.
Although cholera is “easily treatable” with oral rehydration or antibiotics for the most severe cases, “the reality is that many people do not have access to these simple interventions,” laments Adhanom.
Cholera represents a common bacterial disease in places where the lack of cleanliness and a drainage system plus the malnutrition of its population favor its regrowth.
The last country that adds to the recent impact of cholera is Malawi, in Africa, where 117 deaths have already been registered and the sum of 4,200 cases in the last two months. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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