After reading and posting about #ExtremeWeather in #Mexico, I wondered about extreme weather in #Africa -- which doesn't get as much press in the Western Media.

Africa's #cholera crisis worse than ever

Voice of America
28 May 2024

"Extreme weather events have hit parts of Africa relentlessly in the last three years, with tropical #storms, #floods and drought causing crises of hunger and displacement. They leave another deadly threat behind them: some of the continent's worst outbreaks of cholera.

"In southern and East Africa, more than 6,000 people have died and nearly 350,000 cases have been reported since a series of cholera outbreaks began in late 2021.

"#Malawi and #Zambia have had their worst outbreaks on record. #Zimbabwe has had multiple waves. #Mozambique, #Kenya, #Ethiopia and #Somalia also have been badly affected.

"All have experienced floods or #drought - in some cases, both - and health authorities, scientists and aid agencies say the unprecedented surge of the water-borne bacterial infection in Africa is the newest example of how #ExtremeWeather is playing a role in driving disease outbreaks.

"'The outbreaks are getting much larger because the extreme climate events are getting much more common,' said Tulio de Oliveira, a South Africa-based scientist who studies diseases in the developing world.

"De Oliveira, who led a team that identified new coronavirus variants during the COVID-19 pandemic, said southern Africa's latest outbreaks can be traced to the #cyclones and floods that hit Malawi in late 2021 and early 2022, carrying the cholera bacteria to areas it doesn't normally reach."

Read more:
https://www.malaysiasun.com/news/274386790/africas-cholera-crisis-worse-than-ever

#ClimateCatastrophe #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange