Climate change aided malaria expansion into highland east Africa and towards the Cape in 100 years: Study

Malaria-causing anopheles mosquitoes expanded their range on the African continent, reaching higher elevations and moving southwards from the equator, aided by climate change in the last century, a new study has claimed.

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“If confirmed, the rapid expansion of Anopheles ranges — on average, over 500 km southward and 700 metres uphill during the period of observation — would rank among the more consequential climate change impacts on African biodiversity that have been observed to date,” the study said.

The researchers’ findings challenge a long-standing assumption in historical epidemiology that mosquito ranges are mostly stationary over decades or centuries.

According to the researchers, malaria will spread into highland east Africa (the Great Rift) and expand at its southern limits (south of the Congo, towards the Cape), but transmission will likely decrease as west and central Africa become prohibitively warm.

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