Climate change is shifting malaria activity in Africa
Climate change is altering the geographic distribution of malaria in Africa, with rising temperatures increasing transmission in high-elevation areas while potentially reducing it in parts of West Africa. Researchers emphasize that medical interventions and economic development remain more impactful than climate shifts in controlling the disease.
Why it matters
Understanding the intersection of climate change and disease transmission is critical for public health agencies to effectively allocate resources for malaria elimination.
Share Copied to clipboard Climate change is moving where the malaria hotbeds are in Africa, forcing new regions to contend with the mosquito-borne disease.
Both the malaria parasite and the life cycle of the mosquito vectors, which are cold-blooded, are highly responsive to temperatures, making the disease sensitive to climate change.
A recent study in Nature finds that rising temperatures have likely increased malaria in high-elevation East and southern Africa, where the weather is typically cooler. At the same time, climate change likely averted a comparable number of cases in West Africa, where temperatures are increasing to a point that it's hot enough to reduce transmission.
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