Can integrating climate into health programming improve health outcomes?
USAID’s new podcast “Between Two Baobab Trees” looks at the intersection between climate and health and highlights the interconnected nature of the two through stories, evidence, and lessons learned.
Climate change presents a significant threat to reducing the burden of malaria globally and in Sub-Saharan Africa, which, despite tremendous progress, continues to have a devastating impact on human health and livelihood throughout the world. Changes in temperature, precipitation and in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events will alter the nature of malaria and other water- and vector-borne diseases, placing more people at risk of exposure.
In Episode 3: Early Response and Warning Systems and Malaria, Dr. Michael Wimberly and PMI’s own Ashley Garley and Dr. Radina Soebiyanto break down the direct and indirect climate impacts on malaria, share how climate change affects mosquito populations, parasite development and changes in human behavior, and learn how early response and warning systems combine climate and malaria epidemiological data to inform decisions.
The episode includes how in Ethiopia increased temperatures are shifting malaria incidence to the highlands and to communities that have previously had very limited exposure to the disease. In response, PMI joined the USAID Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project, USAID/Ethiopia, and University of Oklahoma to support the scaling up of an existing malaria early warning system in Ethiopia: the Epidemic Prognosis Incorporating Disease and Environmental Monitoring for Integrated Assessment (EPIDEMIA) tool.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how PMI is integrating climate data and information into our work.