Working with communities in East Africa to manage diarrhoeal disease and dengue risk in a changing climate
World Health Organization (WHO)
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Abstract: A Red Cross/Red Crescent pilot project implemented in Indonesia,Kenya,the United Republic of Tanzania and Viet Nam incorporated climate information and considerations in health operations. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation,the project was the first of its kind in the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement. In 2010 in East Africa,diarrhoeal diseases were estimated to have caused nearly 9% of all deaths of children under five years of age,or some 90 000 in total,according to the US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Climate change is predicted to increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases by 23% in equatorial Africa by the end of the century,based on model projections for temperature and precipitation. The project selected two diseases with contrasting climateâ??health interactions: diarrhoeal disease in Kenya and and the United Republic of Tanzania and dengue fever in Indonesia and Viet Nam. It aimed to integrate climate information in traditional health interventions to improve the response to each disease.