Study finds warmer climate threatens spread of malaria in Ethiopia, media report
Pakistan’s The Nation, Climate News Network, VOA and Medical Xpress reported on a new study led by Bradfield Lyon, an associate research professor in climate analysis at the University of Maine. Lyon found increasing temperatures are fostering more favorable conditions for the transmission of malaria into the highlands of Ethiopia. Most Ethiopians live in the country’s highlands, and have long enjoyed natural protection against mosquitoes carrying the malaria-causing parasites, The Nation reported. But the study found the buffered area has been shrinking since 1981. The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, used a newly developed national temperature dataset for Ethiopia, made possible by NOAA’s Climate Program Office and Columbia University. “These new data allow us to examine the climate of the highlands in much more detail and confirm some of the anticipated changes of a warming Earth,” Lyon said.