BMJ  2005;330:733 (26 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7493.733-b

Letter

Deficiencies in disaster funding

Malaria epidemics are predicted in tsunami regions from El Niño conditions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Walker et al describe the deficiencies in disaster funding.¹ The association between the El Niño southern oscillation and health has been documented extensively, and it is now possible to predict these events with increasing accuracy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded in late 2004 that El Niño conditions have developed and are expected to last through early 2005.² Expected impacts included drier than average conditions over Indonesia and northern Australia until February 2005,² followed by a period of raised temperatures.

An association between El Niño and malaria epidemics has been predicted for Papua New Guinea and West Papua, Indonesia.^{3 4} Historical records indicate that highland malaria epidemics in Papua follow periods of drought, evident during 1997-8 when a widespread epidemic affected many highland villages, some with extremely high death rates owing to lack of immunity and complete absence of treatment.^{3 5} Highland epidemics often exhibited two peaks: one towards . . . [Full text of this article]

Annemarie.terVeen@lshtm.ac.uk, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Disease Control and Vector Biology Unit, London WC1E 7HT

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Disease Control and Vector Biology Unit, London WC1E 7HT

Medical Department, MSF-Belgium, rue Dupre 94, B1090 Brussels, Belgium

MSF-Belgium-Indonesia, Jln Kemang Utara No 32, Jakarta 12730, Indonesia

Health Section, Unicef, PO Box 8318/JKSMP, Jakarta 12083

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Relevant Article

Smoke and mirrors: deficiencies in disaster funding

Peter Walker, Ben Wisner, Jennifer Leaning, and Larry Minear
BMJ 2005 330: 247-250. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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