By Kini Nsom
A 30-year-old woman was restless as she gnashed her teeth in malarial pain at Njinikom Hospital, some 60 kilometres from the Northwest Provincial capital, When The Post arrived at the hospital on January 19, more than half of the patients in the general ward were suffering from malaria, which the Northwest Provincial Delegate of Public Health, Dr. Victor Ndiforchu Afanwi, qualified as the greatest killer.
Despite mitigating efforts by health authorities, statistics from the Northwest Malaria Control Unit indicate that the disease kills and kills effectively.Dr. Odile Tchekountouo, the Coordinator of the Northwest Malaria Control Unit, said the disease claimed 111 lives in 2007. It also rendered hundreds of thousands of people sick. Much of their household revenue was spent for the treatment of the disease.
According to Dr. Ndiforchu, extreme climate situations like prolonged rainfall leading to floods and standing water breed the mosquitoes that cause malaria. But climate change expert, Dr. Gabriel Tchatat, told The Post that the malaria vector (Anopheles mosquito) does not survive in cold climate.
According to him, global warming has rendered many areas in Cameroon hotter, thereby making it possible for mosquitoes to survive and transmit malaria.Going by studies he conducted, temperatures in the Adamawa area will rise to as much as 32 degrees centigrade by 2075 if nothing is done to mitigate global warming.
He recommended the planting of economic trees and also tree species that would help to protect the ecosystem. Avoiding every action that emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is the most effective way of avoiding global warming.
Going by him, global warming fuels malaria and anybody fighting to eliminate the disease should not undermine the climate change factor.Authorities of the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria, CCAM, say global warming is one of the vectors of the disease that remains a socio-economic and health jinx in Cameroon.
According to statistics from the National Malaria Control Programme, malaria remains the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality in Cameroon. It is also the cause of absences of people from work and pupils and students from schools. Many families in the country lose as much as 50 percent of their household revenue to the treatment of malaria.
The negative impact of such a situation on the national economy cannot
be undermined. In tandem with such developments, the Minister of the
Economy Planning and Regional Development holds that the wealth of
every nation is measured on the health of its citizens.
Poor Health Vector
Experts have described climate change as the cause of many diseases.
According to the Northwest Public Health boss, lower and less humid
temperatures marked the prolonged dry season that hit the province last
year, causing an increase in respiratory tract infections.
During such extreme climate conditions, he said, the wind blows with
microorganisms. Dr. Ndiforchu said the outbreak of meningitis is common
during such situations because of the harshness of the climate.
"Government has stemmed the tide of the disease by making sure that it no longer becomes an epidemic. People have been sensitised to vaccinate themselves against the disease during harsh weather," he stated.
Besides, the Delegate said the harsh climate last year led to shortage
of water in towns and villages. Because water sources dried off, people
were fetching water in areas that were not clean. This caused many
people to suffer from diarrhea and other gastro-intestinal diseases.
Such harsh conditions equally affect animals. Because of lack of water,
many animals die causing that problem of lack of protein in the
province.
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