Rising temperatures are pushing malaria-carrying mosquitoes to higher altitudes, posing a lethal threat to pregnant women in previously unaffected regions.
Papua New Guinea's highlands are seeing an increase in malaria cases as mosquitoes move to higher elevations due to climate change.
Pregnant women in these regions are particularly vulnerable, with severe malaria increasing the risk of maternal and fetal complications.
The upward shift of malaria mosquitoes threatens to reverse global progress in malaria control.
Key quote:
"When malaria hits new populations that are naive, you tend to get these explosive epidemics that are severe because people don’t have any existing immunity."
— Sadie Ryan, associate professor of medical geography at the University of Florida.
Why this matters:
Climate change is expanding the range of malaria, endangering pregnant women in highland areas who lack immunity. This trend emphasizes a need for enhanced malaria control measures and healthcare access in vulnerable regions. Read more: Coronavirus, climate change, and the environment.
Rising temperatures, fluctuations in precipitation patterns and extreme weather events are all affecting the life cycles and habitats of mosquitoes that carry malaria.
Cases of malaria threaten to increase dramatically from climate change as rising temperatures push mosquitoes to new areas and lengthen transmission seasons.
For decades, the world seemed to be winning the war against mosquitoes and tamping down the deadly diseases they carried. But in the past few years, progress has not only stalled, it has reversed.
Seven people in the U.S. have contracted the disease from local mosquitoes—the nation’s first such cases in 20 years. As climate change plays out, researchers say, warmer and wetter weather could mean more mosquito-borne illnesses.
