EL Nino represents a “significant” threat to global health, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, as the world braces for a cycle of the climate phenomenon predicted to be the most intense on record. Tied to warming surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, the natural weather pattern is linked to higher temperatures alongside periods of both extreme drought and widespread flooding, with its influence already being felt from central America to Indonesia. According to the World Health Organization, periods of heavy rain could create favourable conditions for both cholera and disease-carrying insects, notably mosquitos, which would then lead to an uptick in illnesses such as malaria, chikungunya and dengue fever.
“The most severe impacts will be experienced while climate shocks intersect with weak health systems, limited access to healthcare, food insecurity, displacement and humanitarian crisis,” warned Teresa Zakaria, the WHO’s Unit Head for Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Operations and Climate Change.
Branding El Nino “a significant public health threat” and a “risk multiplier”, Zakaria urged countries to act immediately to “mitigate these impacts and therefore avoid loss of lives and suffering”. “We have a window of opportunity to act now, before these risks become a crisis,” the doctor told reporters in Geneva.
AFP
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