TITLE:
Local climate changes and the spread of malaria in Rwanda
AUTHORS:
Sascha M. Henninger
KEYWORDS:
Rwanda; Climate Change; Malaria; Vectors; Central Africa
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.4,
April
19,
2013
ABSTRACT: A population’s health makes it possible to draw conclusions about a country’s
general development level. In connection with local climatic changes, for example,
we can assess how well a society adjusts to the new conditions. To that effect,
it has been observed during the last few years that global climate change can also
affect human health in various ways. We can differentiate direct health impacts
(e.g. extreme weather events, natural catastrophes caused by the weather) from
indirect ones. However, the indirect consequences cause by far the greater damages
to health. They are being spread increasingly by vectors (mosquitoes, ticks, etc.). Especially when a vector-carried
infectious disease (e.g. malaria) migrates into areas where it is not endemic, considerable societal problems can result. The people living there would be immunologically
unprepared.