HEALTHCARE 39 malaria parasites and the mosquitoes that transmit them are highly sensitive to climate variability, which has been repeatedly linked to epidemics.
Other epidemic-prone diseases, like cholera, dengue, and bacterial meningitis, are likewise highly sensitive to climate variability. All of these diseases have a huge potential for social disruption and make huge logistical demands on response teams.
Will the international humanitarian community be able to cope with a growing number of such events?
Climate also influences the emergence of new diseases. About 75 % of all new human diseases originate in domestic or wild animals.
Climate variables, including those that influence the availability of food and water, have a direct impact on wild animal populations, their concentrations, and their incursion into areas inhabited by humans.
Climate-related shifts in animal populations can allow an animal pathogen to jump the species barrier and infect humans, as in the case of Nipah virus in Malaysia, and Hanta virus in the US.
In this case, emergence of a severe new respiratory disease was linked to a long period of drought, followed by heavy rainfall, that affected populations of deer mice.
I am aware of speculation that climate change may influence the frequency of outbreaks of Ebola virus disease.
I must emphasize we have no evidence that this is the case. Wild animals, notably fruit bats and monkeys, are implicated in the start of most Ebola outbreaks.
But this is only a small part of the consequences that climate change has for human health.
Climate change is the defining issue of the 21st century. I seek your help in getting world leaders to push this issue to centre stage. The drive for sustainable development must go hand-in-hand with the drive to address climate change.
I wish you a most productive meeting. Thank you.