7 April, 2008

Murtala Mohamed Kamara

Climate Change Affects Sierra Leone: Dr. Kpaka Kalu WHO Representative

Speaking at a news conference on April 3rd, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative, Dr. Kpaka Kalu, announced that the 7th of April would be commemorated as World Health Day and would be commemorated with the theme: Protecting Health from Climate Change. Dr. Kalu said climate change is a serious global issue that is claiming many lives every year. He said that the atmosphere is getting warmer every minute.

Dr. Kalu further said that global warming causes severe drought and other kinds of disasters in Asia and other parts of the world. “We are now experiencing a change in rainfall, and rising temperature has lead us to the increase in mosquitoes,” Dr. Kpaka said.

Dr. Kalu revealed that climate change is also responsible for diarrhea killing 1.9 million people and malaria killing 1 million people yearly.

He told the news conference that the young and the aged are the ones more vulnerable to climate change. He said that Africa is particularly at risk. Dr. Kalu also said that the other groups that are more at risk are; low-income countries, communities with a water shortage, coastal areas, communities that are poorly educated, and communities without proper health facilities. He emphasized that climate change is a reality and Sierra Leone must prepare for it.

The key messages for this year’s World Health Day are:

1.         Health is one of the areas most affected by climate change.

2.         The health impact of climate change will hit the poor hardest.

3.         Traditional public health tools are important components of an effective response to climate change.

4.         Cross sector, interdisciplinary partnerships are necessary to meet this global health threat.

5.         Actions must begin now to protect health by applying both adaptation and mitigation.

Investigations carried out by Sierra Express, have found out that Sierra Leone’s meteorological department cannot boast of any modern equipment to detect early warning systems if a disaster is to take place. The workers of that department have appealed to the government and the International community to help with modern equipment. It can be recalled that during the war rebels destroyed valuable equipment of that institution.

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