Several countries in Asia are grappling with thousands of dengue cases this year, and one of the potential culprits is climate change.
Factors contributing to surges in dengue cases include increased vector density due to gradual increases in temperatures, erratic rainfall, and urbanization — all of which have links to climate change, said Neelika Malavige, head of the dengue global program and scientific affairs, India, at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, or DNDi.
But it’s not just dengue. Overall malaria transmission in Africa, which accounts for 96% of all malaria deaths globally, is “likely” to increase due to climate change, putting an additional 76 million people in southern and eastern Africa at risk of malaria by 2080, the latest U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states. And diseases, such as the human African trypanosomiasis, or HAT, known as sleeping sickness, could put an additional 46-77 million people at risk by 2090, according to one study.