Davos, Switzerland
Reuters
Climate change is increasing malaria infections, the executive director of the world’s biggest health fund said in Davos on Monday.
Huge surges in malaria infections followed recent floods in Pakistan and cyclones in Mozambique in 2021, said Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“Whenever you have an extreme weather event it’s fairly common to have a surge of malaria,” he said at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.
Participants of the World Economic Forum 2023 are seen in a hall at Davos Congress Centre, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, on 16th January, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann
The increase in extreme weather events, and the resulting large pools of standing water that attract mosquitoes, are leaving poorer populations vulnerable.
He said climate change was also changing the geography of mosquitoes. The highlands of Africa, in Kenya and Ethiopia, are now succumbing to malaria because of a shift in the low temperatures that once made the area unsustainable for mosquitoes.
Sands runs the world’s largest global fund, which invests in fighting tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in some of the poorest nations in the world.
The fund, which set a target of raising $US18 billion, has so far raised $US15.7 billion, the largest amount of money ever raised in global health.
Part of the shortfall, he said, was a billion dollar hit from currency fluctuations that affected donations.
Looking ahead, climate change is just one of the factors that could hamper efforts to eradicate the diseases, Sands said.
The war in Ukraine has led to a worsening of AIDS and tuberculosis. In middle income countries such as India, Pakistan and Indonesia, tuberculosis cases amongst the poorest populations are also rising.
With fears of a global recession rising, Sands said those countries would come under increased pressure.
“I think the big concern from our perspective is what happens to health budgets in the 120 or so countries we are investing.”
And even within those health budgets, how much is being taken up by COVID?”
Meanwhile, actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba called on Monday for business and political leaders to provide more support to the world’s poorest countries in the form of investment rather than aid.
At the opening ceremony of the WEF annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, the Elbas were both honoured for their work on environmental conservation, food security and climate change.
British actor Idris Elba his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba, United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development Goodwill Ambassador, attend the Crystal Awards Ceremony 2023, ahead of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, on 16th January, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann
The couple, who are Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development, appealed to participants at the annual summit for fast financial support for people hit by food scarcity and climate change.
“The poor of this world are not just looking for aid and handouts, they’re looking for investment,” Idris Elba said.
“We understand the power and change that can come from this room…We can move with agility and speed and your speed is needed now,” the star of he star of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Beasts of No Nation added.
Sabrina Dhowre Elba highlighted food crises in Somalia, Haiti, Sudan and other countries, focusing on the plight of small-scale farmers without access to the resources they need and yet produce a third of the planet’s food.
“We are here at Davos to highlight the people and countries who are not making the headlines as much as my husband,” she said, looking at her partner.
