The flooded streets of Jakarta, Indonesia, May 2013,
Wereldbank (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Extreme weather, rising sea levels and environmental pollution are making HIV more difficult to contain in the Asia-Pacific region. “We know that climate change affects human health.”
The warning coincides with unprecedented heat waves on a planet that the United Nations (UN) says has already warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.
“The biggest victims of climate change are also the most susceptible to communicable diseases.”
“The biggest victims of climate change are also the most susceptible to communicable diseases,” said Kiyohiko Izumi. He works in the World Health Organization (WHO) regional office in the Western Pacific region and directs the team working on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases.
Izumi spoke at a meeting last week about the impact of climate change on the fight against HIV in the Asia-Pacific region. This event was organized by the WHO during the twelfthInternational AIDS Society Conference on HIV Sciencein Brisbane, Australia.
“Climate change and related disasters can affect all aspects of HIV, leading in particular to increased vulnerability to HIV and reduced ability to cope,” said Izumi.
Hotspot Philippines
While the number of HIV infections is falling in general, things are moving in the wrong direction in some countries. For example, the number of new HIV infections in the Philippines has more than tripled between 2001 and 2021.
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“It is striking that the Philippines is not only a hotspot for HIV and AIDS, but also for climate,” said Renzo Guinto, professor of global public health and director of the program for planetary and global health at St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine. in the Philippines. “We know that climate change affects human health in many different ways.”
In 2022, his team published a study on the links between climate change and HIV/AIDS. ‘Extreme weather conditions affect food security and lead to forced migration or displacement of population groups. They also disrupt health care,” says Guinto, a member of the expert panel of the Philippine Climate Commission.
‘These three factors – food, mobility and health care – can have a lot of indirect consequences, for example for people living with HIV/AIDS, which can ultimately have an impact on their overall health.’
‘There is as yet no evidence that HIV itself is a climate-sensitive infectious disease. But there are many other climate-sensitive infectious diseases such as malaria, Zika and chikungunya that can interact with HIV/AIDS,’ he adds.
Fungal infections
Rising temperatures and other climate impacts may also lead to an increase in some invasive fungal diseases. “Fungal infections and HIV fungal infections are a major cause of illness, hospitalization and death in people with advanced HIV disease,” said Nathan Ford, WHO research assistant.
“There is a need for an integrated approach to help us understand the effects of global warming on the distribution of intermediate host species, especially bats and birds, for fungi in humans,” said Ford.
He refers to the WHO guidelines for HIV-related fungal infections, including talaromycose, to go. “Talaromycosis is the leading cause of HIV-related deaths in China, Thailand and Vietnam, with cases increasing by as much as 73 percent during the rainy months in those countries and hospital admissions also strongly linked to humidity.”
While HIV research has focused primarily on prevention, treatment, social acceptance and vaccine development, experts emphasize the need for investment in research to explore the direct link between climate change and HIV.
Megasteden
Sindhu Ravishankar, vice president of the Fast-Track Cities Institute of the Association of Providers of AIDS Care in Washington DC, says the rapid urbanization expected for the Asia-Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa regions will create new megacities and shelter will provide to a large number of vulnerable populations.
This urbanization may lead to greater inequality, which will mainly affect low-income families. In addition, food insecurity linked to HIV can lead to drug use and poor mental health, Ravishankar said. Migration from the countryside to the city also contributes to other and larger sexual networks, resulting in an increase in transmission, she concludes.
This article was previously published by IPS partner SciDev.
2023-08-01 03:13:14
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