Lire en Francais Training to distribute nets in Ethiopia during COVID-19. The training was provided according to the newly developed ITN distribution supplementary guide in the context of COVID-19.Credit: GHSC-PSM
The combined effect of COVID-19 and climate change continues to thwart efforts to control malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a study published in Malaria Journal researchers found that COVID-19 containment measures may cause a spike in malaria deaths similar to the one seen six years ago during the West African Ebola epidemic.
The lead author, Ibrahima Diouf, from Senegal’s Laboratory of Physics of the Atmosphere and the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, told Nature Africa that the study suggests that malaria is expected to increase in the southern part of West Africa in the future and concurs with earlier findings from studies in West Africa that showed that epidemic fringe shifted southward for most malaria models.
Meanwhile, a study in Theoretical and Applied Climatology found that persisting heavy rainfall periods, which increase mosquito populations, can trigger malaria epidemics. The researchers warned that the southern area of West Africa is at the greatest risk.
In a Scientific Reports study, Ayansina Ayanlade from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, linked climate variability with malaria transmission in many West African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. “Rainfall is considered to be one of the significant factors influencing variability in malaria transmission because it provides a breeding site for mosquitoes,” said Ayanlade,
The latest WHO world malaria report reveals the region accounted for 96% of all deaths in 2020 with more than 75% of deaths occurring among children under five. The report shows that about 14 million more cases were recorded, compared to 2019, while there were 69,000 more deaths in 2020 with over 60% of the deaths linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic
Don Mathanga, the director of the University of Malawi’s Malaria Alert Centre, noted that climate change might lead to changes to vector species composition and behaviour rendering current interventions ineffective. He said pandemic restrictions had an impact on the delivery of interventions, especially in poorer communities.
The challenge
Eunice Owino, a medical entomologist at the University of Nairobi’s School of Biological Sciences, noted a re-emergence of the disease in areas where it had been eradicated.
“There has been a reduction in funding of malaria control programmes; prevention, diagnosis and treatment, from global international,” said Owino citing the 50% reduction from the biggest funder of the Kenyan malaria control programme – the Global Fund. Owino urged governments to invest in increasing access to tools such as mosquito nets and antimalarial drugs while increasing the number of local health workers to respond to cases in remote and rural communities for quick detection, diagnosis and treatment.
Noting the upsurge in malaria in many African countries in 2020/2021, due to both climate change and COVID-19, Mathanga told Nature Africa that “at the policy level, most resources for malaria control and elimination are not funded by African governments. This way we are not owning the fight. We wait for others to develop these vaccines, in countries where this disease is not a priority.”
