Climate change is fueling disease outbreaks and climate-related health emergencies across the Horn of Africa, according to a new analysis released yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Disease outbreaks and public health emergencies have reached the highest level this century, deepening a health crisis in a region where 47 million people are already facing "acute hunger", the WHO said in a statement.

Most of the region is struggling with the worst drought in at least 40 years and is now anticipating the arrival of an unprecedented fifth rainy season, while several pockets in the region are already facing flooding, as well as being the scene of conflict.

"Climate change is having an impact on the health of Africans across the Horn of Africa," said the WHO director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, quoted by Lusa.

The analysis of the seven Horn of Africa countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda) recorded 39 disease outbreaks, floods and other serious public health events between January 1 and October 30, 2022.

This is already the highest recorded since 2000, and there are still two months left in the year.

Outbreaks of anthrax, measles, cholera, yellow fever, chikungunya - a virus transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue fever - meningitis and other infectious diseases account for more than 80% of reported acute public health events, and droughts, floods and other disasters account for 18%.

Millions of children under the age of 5 face acute malnutrition, which increases the risk not only of starvation, but also of serious health complications during disease outbreaks as a result of weak immunity levels.

"In the last four years, the number of people facing acute hunger in the Horn of Africa has more than doubled. We need to put an end to this exponential increase in poverty. Between malnutrition and death there is usually disease," said Moeti.

Drought is not the only extreme weather phenomenon plaguing the region. South Sudan is experiencing its fourth consecutive year of flooding, with 40% of the country's territory already under water.

Heavy rains and flash floods continue to affect tens of thousands of people in neighboring Sudan, where thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged in fifteen states.

Food insecurity, resulting from floods and drought, along with conflicts, the effects of the covid-19 pandemic and high food and fuel prices have forced people from their homes.

The region now has 4.5 million refugees and asylum seekers, as well as 12.7 million internally displaced people, according to the United Nations public health agency.

It is "critical" that world leaders reach an agreement to "halt the rise in temperature" at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which begins next Sunday in Egypt, Moeti stressed.

"As a continent, we are the least responsible for global warming, but we are among the first to suffer its tragic impact," she added.