The Effects of Climate Changes on the Distribution and Spread of Malaria in Sudan

Introduction:

Many diseases in Africa such as malaria are known to be sensitive to climate factors there is a positive correlation between malaria, cholera and meningitis, and climatic elements .This study was conducted in Sudan region to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of climate changes on malaria distribution and spread in the period 1997 – 2007.

Materials and Methods:

Data collected for three categories; climate’s factors records, vector distribution and malaria records to evaluate the effects of climate changes on malaria and mosquito spreading. The selected time frame for historical data is 1997-2007. Climatic change scenarios required for endemic zones are temperature, rainfall and precipitation and their data was collected from the Sudan Meteorological Authority. The malaria records were used by the assist of the Ministry Health National Centre for Health Information. We also search the United Nations humanitarian website data for Sudan.

Results and discussion:

Regular limits of malaria allocation indicate that malaria could develop for several months in most areas of Sudan due to climate variables, we found that the malaria cases related to temperature increasing was clearly recognized in the Northern State with 1.59% out of the state population, the most endemic state was Blue Nile with 2.45% in the Rich Wet Savannah, and the lowest state of malaria infections was Western Darfur with 0.06% cases, the total of malaria infections in northern Sudan is 15.19% of 29 million population, the prevalence of malaria in southern Sudan was 24.5% of 9.5 million population (including 2004 and 2005 returnees) of those examined were infected. Whilst in Khartoum State the mean number of cases increased to reach 60869 in the study period 5.5 million of population as the largest inhibited state.

Keywords: Climate changes/ Malaria/ Sudan/Temperature/ Rainfall