IFRC report lists re-emerging diseases in Africa

A report launched by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Kampala on Thursday says changing environments are leading to the re-emergence of older diseases and epidemics in Africa. The ‘World Disasters Report 1999’ says that alongside deadly haemorrhagic fevers, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and new viral and bacterial mutations, other diseases that had diminished so much that they were no longer considered public health problems - such as cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, meningitis and measles - are growing “faster than ever.” An IFRC statement received by IRIN attributed the trend to deteriorating public health infrastructure, increasing resistance of virus bacteria to antibiotics, unprecedented mass movement of people, human confrontation with natural disease reservoirs, and the consequences of conflict and poverty.

Environment was also a major factor, the report says. Scientists link global warming and other climatic changes with altering disease patterns and the emergence of some diseases in places they have never affected before. “They are spreading geographically or, as in the case of malaria, creeping up higher altitudes. African highland cities such as Nairobi and Harare which are at present largely malaria-free, are especially vulnerable,” the report says. “Epidemics are inevitable and in the 21st century will be ever more frequent,” it warns.