Climate change and malaria control: the importance of mitigation and a call to action

Abstract

Malaria has remained an important target for global disease control efforts for decades. The streams of funds and, consequently, availability of effective interventions for the disease have resulted in considerable reduction in its burden, globally. Despite the relative success of such global efforts, malaria remains a significant threat in over a hundred countries, worldwide, leading to about one million deaths and hundreds of millions of hospital visits, annually. Many researchers and health commentators have argued that global warming, a consequence of climate change, could be linked – directly or indirectly – to the persistence as well as the re-emergence of malaria epidemics. Although the association between climate change and malaria spread is complex and remains a subject of controversy and debates, this paper argues that the spread and severity of malaria in several places and the increased incidences of the disease in some regions could indeed be associated with the effects and consequences of climate change. The paper maintains that the biology of the Plasmodium spp, the ecology of mosquitoes, and even the susceptibility of humans to malaria could all be affected directly/indirectly by extreme climatic events. Based on the growing body of evidence on this subject, this paper makes a call for all stakeholders to come to a consensus on the significance of climate change mitigation to malaria control, and offers some recommendations on the way forward.