The heat is on, so are diseases

Chairman Dr Mzukisi Grootboom said that with five provinces already declared disaster areas, doctors expected increases in malaria, dysentery, cholera and dengue. Picture: Itumeleng English

Chairman Dr Mzukisi Grootboom said that with five provinces already declared disaster areas, doctors expected increases in malaria, dysentery, cholera and dengue. Picture: Itumeleng English

Published Nov 25, 2015

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Pretoria - Health officials are gearing up for a possible wave of diseases borne of the extreme weather conditions experienced since the turn of the season.

The South African Medical Association (Sama) on Tuesday warned of a surge in vector-borne and water-related diseases which would result from the fast-rising temperature and rainfall or humidity patterns.

Chairperson Dr Mzukisi Grootboom said that with five provinces already declared disaster areas, doctors expected increases in malaria, dysentery, cholera and dengue. “There will also be compromised drinking water, loss in production and food security, and an increase in extreme weather events,” he said.

He said the country faced a desperate climate change emergency situation with heatwaves above 40degC already common and persistent.

He spoke days after weather experts gave a grim outlook on the heat conditions brought about by the El Nino phenomenon.

El Nino, they said, was associated with drought conditions defined as less than long-term average rainfall.

The experts warned of more drought and dry conditions as a result of El Nino, saying the phenomenon's presence last year was what was taking the country through the hottest and most extreme weather conditions ever experienced.

Scientists from the South African Weather Service, CSIR, universities and other organisations last week said this was the hottest season in the 150-year history of weather measurement.

However, it was yet to rise above the 38degC recorded in South Africa last year on a day on which the country was the hottest in the world. The drought has affected many parts of the country, leaving many without adequate water resources. The North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Free State have been declared disaster areas by an inter-ministerial task team looking into drought and water shortage interventions.

Finances are among the interventions made, and the national Health Department confirmed that it had activated resources to counter the consequences of the climate change.

Departmental spokesman Popo Maja said: “Our health promotion teams are on the ground, concientising people about the dangers of the situation.”

Health departments in those provinces were on the lookout for consequential diseases, he said, adding that they welcomed any other organisation which wanted to work with the government in mitigating the effects.

Sama pledged to work in collaboration with the national departments of Health and Environmental Affairs in fighting the floods, droughts and heatwaves which were expected.

“We have set up a climate change task team, a draft position on climate change and health, and we are printing climate change posters,” said Grootboom.

“Human health is a priority sector in responding to climate change and we commend the government for identifying it as such.” His organisation was up for the challenge, he said, and would partner in government efforts and contribute its knowledge, authority and influence in local mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Urgent, practical measures were called for, given that the World Health Organisation and the Climate and Health Council were drawing increasing attention to the catastrophic impact of climactic shifts on human health. “The role of health care professionals cannot be over emphasised.” He said the tragic reality was how the greatest burden of any disaster fell on health systems of developing countries, among them those in sub-Saharan Africa, and poorer segments of the society.

He said water was fast becoming a scarce resource and the next world war could be about water.

Pretoria News

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