Climate change and malaria in Nairobi
Malaria is the most common disease in Africa's largest slum, Kibera, in Nairobi, say health workers, but at a cool altitude of about 1,700m, the capital city has long been considered a non-malarial zone.
The incidence of malaria in Nairobi and the resurgence of ‘highland malaria' in several African countries have become controversial issues in debates about health and climate change.
The third assessment report, published in 2001, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, paid special attention to highland malaria. The report states that due to the life-cycle of the mosquito and its role as host of the malaria parasite, "at low temperatures, a small increase in temperature can greatly increase the risk of malaria transmission" and "future climate change may increase transmission in some highland regions, such as in East Africa".
However, the IPCC report continues, "there are insufficient historical data on malaria distribution and activity to determine the role of warming, if any, in the recent resurgence of malaria in the highlands of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia".
See the full article at Irin News
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73501
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