Efforts to make vaccines available must be complemented by a global commitment to make them accessible to all during times of emergency.Credit: John Moore/Getty Images
Africa is witnessing a significant surge in climate-related health emergencies, which made up 56% of documented public health incidents on the continent over the last 20 years, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis. Many studies are predicting the numbers of climate-related health crises to rise.
A report by the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action plan for 2022-2032 estimates that the death rate from climate change to be 60% to 80% higher in Africa than in the next most vulnerable region, southeast Asia. Climate change will modify the transmission of diseases such as cholera, malaria, and meningitis, and zoonotic diseases such as Ebola and coronaviruses. This means there could be up to 70,000 additional deaths in Africa by 2030 due to largely the increased transmission of malaria and diarrhea.
With the figures anticipated to rise, Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa, emphasises the importance of a holistic approach to build resilient health systems capable of withstanding climate impact. Amref is the largest Africa-based health development organization that was founded in 1957 and operates in 35 countries in the region.
Gitahi explains to Nature Africa that the effects of climate change on health systems in Africa are multifaceted. Extreme heat waves, floods, and droughts cause disruptions in food, health, and water sanitation systems, which in turn are giving rise to malnutrition crises and the reemergence of infectious diseases.
Mitigate, survey, control
The rapid implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change is the first and most fundamental step to slow down the crisis.
Gitahi argues that beyond mitigation, African countries have to be one step ahead by using meteorological data to predict future health emergencies. Countries also need to implement disease surveillance at the community level and strengthen regional coordination for a quick, efficient coordinated response to threats, he adds.
In March 2023, Tanzania declared the first outbreak of the Marburg virus, which some experts suspected may be linked to climate change. There were eight confirmed and one suspected cases of the disease and six deaths. Authorities contained the virus quickly and its last confirmed case tested negative on April 19. Gitahi notes that one of the factors that enabled containing the Marburg outbreak was prompt disease surveillance by a community health worker who noted that a family in one village had endured unusual and unexplained bleeding deaths and alerted authorities. The need for vaccines
Even when effective disease surveillance is put in place, the ability to take preventive measures is hampered by the absence of vaccines and treatments for numerous emerging diseases. This is particularly alarming for several regions in Africa where research suggests that climate change is fostering favourable conditions for the emergence and transmission of viral diseases and mosquito-borne viruses. A paper by Erin Mordecai, assistant professor in biology at Stanford University, and colleagues, in The Lancet Planetary Health argues that warming temperatures will promote a more favourable environment for the transmission of dengue and other arboviruses, making them a potential emerging public health threat in sub-Saharan Africa.
Gitahi emphasises that a crucial element of future health security relies on the efforts invested in developing vaccine platforms and healthcare products ahead of potential threats.
“So whenever an emerging disease becomes an epidemic or pandemic threat, vaccines can be developed within the first 100 days,” he says.
This could be partly achieved through global partnerships, “for example in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, of which I am a board member, we're funding clinical trials for Lassa fever vaccines, not because it’s an epidemic, but because it has the potential to be so in the future,” Gitahi says.
He notes that efforts to make vaccines available must be complemented by a global commitment to make them accessible to all during times of emergency.
“We must have a pandemic treaty that makes us feel safer than we were before the treaty. If we have a pandemic treaty that does not, then it will have failed,” Gitahi says.
