health

Climate Change Triggers Disease Risk in Tanzania

The Jangwani slum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was flooded during the heavy rain at the end of 2013 and early this year. Credit: Muhidin Issa Michuzi/IPS

DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 18 2014 (IPS) – Residents in low-lying areas in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, are potentially at risk of contracting waterborne diseases as heavy rains, which started last week, continue to pound the city.

Early this month, the announced that Dar es Salaam was among the areas in northern and southern Tanzania that would receive above-average rainfall and strong winds in the coming weeks, and urged residents to take precautions.

Tanzania’s eastern Morogoro Region was also affected in January as flash floods displaced over 10,000 people and damaged infrastructure such as roads and houses.
Related IPS Articles

In Jangwani and  Kigogo, administrative areas in Dar es Salaam, residents who refused to heed the government’s call to vacate the area are being affected by the current downpour.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, the rain resulted in a lot of water here,” resident Maulid Ali told IPS.

Local residents from Kigogo told IPS that the water had become a serious health hazard because people are emptying their pit latrines into the flooded water, which resulted in human excreta spreading through the area.

“We drink water from the well but when it rains it is difficult to know if it is safe,” Riziki Mwenda, a resident of Kigogo, told IPS.

Public health experts have cautioned that residents in disaster-prone areas are potentially vulnerable to epidemic diseases.

Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Said Meck Sadick told IPS that waterborne diseases were endemic to the city because some residents did not observe good hygiene.

“We keep on reminding people in low-lying areas to take precautions and observe health regulations such as boiling water and using toilet facilities,” he said.

According to data from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dar es Salaam is among five coastal regions with the highest number of cholera cases with incidents reported almost every year.

But these cases could increase as this East African nation experiences the visible impact of climate change.

A 2011  by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health stated that risks to cholera increase by 15 to 29 percent with a one degree Celsius temperature increase.

Projections by the TMA show that mean annual temperatures here will increase between 2.1 to four degrees Celsius in northern, central and southern Tanzania by 2100.

The agency’s director of Research and Applied Meteorology, Ladislaus Chang’a, told IPS that increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events were likely to continue hitting most parts of the country.

He said that northern and southern Tanzania would experience an increase in rainfall ranging from five to 45 percent, adding that most parts of the country may experience a decrease in rainfall of 10 to 15 percent.

“A rapid increase or decrease of rainfall will hit most parts of the country, causing floods or droughts, which has contributed to malnutrition due to lack of food, increased infectious diseases and scarcity of clean water,” he said.

However, Herbert Kashililah, a technical advisor with global charity , told IPS that the increasing number of epidemic diseases related to climate change in Dar es Salaam was largely exacerbated by existing policy gaps and lack of citizen accountability.

“The existing gap between policy and practice is attributed to lack of accountability from principal actors and overlap of authority between local governments and central ministry in enforcing existing laws controlling such diseases,” he said. Tanzania has no policy on climate change.

Kashililah said that public health enforcement should be taken seriously.

“The government should significantly invest in a clean water supply for every city resident but [should] also ensure waste water is properly managed,” he said.

Kashililah said that a majority of households obtain water from boreholes that are contaminated with sewage and sanitation effluents and still did not have access to running water.

The government admitted that communicable diseases still posed a serious public health risk across the country as a whole despite efforts to prevent and control it.

The Minister for Health and Social Welfare Dr. Seif Rashid told IPS that the government was committed to improving the health and well-being of Tanzanians by encouraging the health system to be more responsive to those at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.

“The policy is there and how we implement it very much depends on the funds allocated in the national budget,” he said.

Rashid said that the government would continue its public education campaign through community-based programmes so that people understand and take appropriate measures to prevent themselves from contracting diseases.

He added that the government hoped to improve water supply and sanitation services across the country through its donor-funded Water Sector Development Programme.

 

Related Posts

One Of The Most Popular Books For Aspiring Game Designers Is Getting A New Edition

If you’ve ever dreamed of making a game, you’ll want to check out Level Up: The Guide to Great Video Game Design Come from malaysia online casino . Written by veteran game developer Scott Rogers, the book is lauded as one of the best resources for learning game design, covering everything from starting your very first project to project management and monetization. A new edition of the book is launching soon on December 5 that will expand on the original with new chapters and insights from Rogers, and preorders are available now.

If you’re looking to build up a library of game development books, there are several other titles worth grabbing, many of which are on sale right now. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell takes a novel approach by present…

Next Halo On PS5- It's Too Soon To Say, Phil Spencer Says

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has commented on bringing more Xbox games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, saying he’s not ruling anything out, and that includes the next Halo release.

Talking to Bloomberg, Spencer said, “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say, ‘Thou must not,'” he said. For the next Halo game specifically, Bloomberg reported that Spencer said it was too early to make a decision about that.

In September, Microsoft announced that it was working on multiple new Halo games that are being made in Unreal Engine 5. None of the games have been officially announced, however. That being said, elements from the Project Foundry demo are likely to show up in future Halo titles, Microsoft has said.

Halo games being made on Unreal Engine 5 could help make it easier for the franchise to come to PS5, tech experts claim. Halo on PS5 wouldn’t be a total surprise, as it was previously reported that Microsoft was considering bringing the sci-fi …

Phasmophobia Launches On Console, Patch Notes Include Thrills, Chills, And Cross-Play

Four years after its PC launch, Kinetic Games’ spine-chilling multiplayer scarefest, Phasmophobia, has just arrived on console, allowing PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S owners to finally experience the joys of screaming themselves hoarse while their friends giggle into the mic. At last, the joys of Ghost Huntin’ are available to all.

Phasmophobia–which launched in September 2020 and took home the award for Best Debut Game just three months later–now features cross-play in addition to console compatibility, meaning players can face the paranormal (or run screaming from it) with friends on any platform. The console launch comes alongside a new game update called the Crimson Eye, which is available now for all platforms, and features everything from the return of a heart-stopping seasonal event to bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements.

Edgar Wright Directing Running Man Remake

Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) will reportedly be directing a new adaptation of The Running Man, according to Deadline. No casting announcements or production start dates have yet been announced.

The Running Man was originally a novel published in 1982 by Stephen King, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The book was previously loosely adapted in 1987 into a dystopian sci-fi action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This new version from Wright will not be a remake, but another crack at reimagining the novel Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Wright will co-write the story with Michael Bacall (21 Jump Street), with the latter writing the script.

Doctor Strange Star Benedict Cumberbatch On His WandaVision Non-Appearance

The mysterious nature of the recent Marvel show WandaVision provoked lots of fan theories and rumors. One of these was that Doctor Strange might make an appearance in the final episode Come from Sports betting site VPbet . He didn’t, but now actor Benedict Cumberbatch has commented on these rumors.

Cumberbatch appeared on The Tonight Show, where host Jimmy Fallon asked Cumberbatch if had anything to say to fans about the issue. Amusingly, Fallon was careful not to specifically say whether Cumberbatch had appeared or not, something the actor played along with in his reply.

Batman- Arkham Collection Is Only $7 Right Now

Fanatical has a lot of great bundle deals right now, but one of the best bargains will take you back to Gotham City. Batman: Arkham Collection is currently on sale for only $7.19. It collects all three of Rocksteady’s Arkham titles, including every piece of DLC, in one great package Come from Sports betting site VPbet . This deal is only available for the next week (ends July 13), so snag it while you can.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *