How climate change is putting millions more at risk of malaria

By Alice Clifford via SWNS

Climate change is putting millions more people at risk of malaria as mosquitoes spread further south to find colder temperatures, reveals a new study.

Anopheles mosquito populations in sub-Saharan Africa have been moving south of the equator by 2.9 miles each year, moving up hill at an average of 21.3 feet annually.

The speed of their movement is much faster than other creatures.

In 2011, scientists estimated that earth-bound species were moving uphill at a rate of 3.6 feet per year and to more polar latitudes at 1 mile annually.

Lead author Dr. Colin Carlson, of Georgetown University Medical Center , said: “This is exactly what we would expect to see if climate change is helping these species reach colder parts of the continent.

“If mosquitoes are spreading into these areas for the first time, it might help explain some recent changes in malaria transmission that have otherwise been hard to trace back to climate.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there was an estimated 247 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2021, with the estimated number of deaths standing at 619,000.

The organization said: “The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.

“In 2021, the region was home to 95 percent of malaria cases and 96 percent of malaria deaths.

“Children under five accounted for about 80 percent of all malaria deaths in the Region.”

The team focused on the anopheles mosquito due to their ability to spread malaria and because of the unique historical dataset that has tracked their movements for the past 120 years.

While their research has focused on mosquitoes, the team believes that this pattern is happening among a variety of species.

Carlson said: “We tend to assume that these shifts are happening all around us, but the evidence base is fairly limited.

“If we’re reimagining bio-surveillance for life on a hotter planet, a big part of that is going to have to be keeping an eye on animal movement.”

He added: “We know so little about how climate change is affecting invertebrate biodiversity.

“Public health is giving us a rare window into how some insects might be thriving in a changing climate—even if it’s bad news for humans.”

The study was published in the journal Biology Letters.