Climate change worsening HIV control in Asia Pacific

28/07/2023 0 Comments read Climate Change, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Brisbane, 28.07.2023 (SciDev.Net): Climate change-driven extreme weather events, sea level rise, changes in temperature, and air and water pollution are impacting control of HIV in the Asia Pacific region, a science gathering heard.

The warning comes amid unprecedented heatwaves, as the UN warns the world has already warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

“Those most affected by climate change are also those most prone to communicable diseases,” said Kiyohiko Izumi, team leader for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Office. “Climate change and related disasters as upstream factors can affect all aspects of HIV, primarily leading to the increased vulnerability to HIV and decreasing coping ability,”

Izumi was speaking at a session on how climate change is impacting the control of HIV in the Asia Pacific region, organised by WHO during the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science, held in Brisbane, Australia, this week (23-26 July).

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Crisis resilience ‘critical’ to stem rising hunger

19/04/2023 0 Comments read Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.04.2023 (SciDev.Net): A shift towards permanent “crisis resilience” from short-term aid is crucial to mitigate increasingly frequent shocks to the global food system and tackle rising global hunger, say food policy researchers.

Disruption to food systems from multiple crises such as economic downturn, conflict, climate change-related weather events and the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused a surge in acute food insecurity in recent years.

The Global Report on Food Crisis: Mid-Year Update 2022 estimates that as many as 205 million people in 45 countries experienced crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse, nearly double the number in 2016. It says requests for humanitarian assistance reached a record high of US$41 billion.

“Crises, shocks, and volatility are no longer exceptions and may become the new normal,” says Johan Swinnen, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and managing director of the CGIAR Systems Transformation. “We should better predict and prepare, implement effective and accountable governance and institutions, and invest to build resilience against future crises.”

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Pacific Island Countries to develop Advanced Warning System for tuna migration

19/04/2023 0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.04.2023 (IPS): Climate change and warming ocean waters are causing tuna fisheries to migrate to international waters, away from a country’s jurisdiction, thereby putting the food and economic security of many Pacific Island countries and territories at risk. Now a Pacific Community (SPC) led regional initiative will help ensure that these countries are equipped to cope with climate change-induced tuna migration.

“All the climate change projections indicate that there will be a redistribution of tuna from the western and central Pacific to the more eastern and towards the polar regions, that is not Antarctica or the Arctic, but to regions outside of the equatorial zones where they primarily occur at the moment,” says SPC’s Principal Fisheries Scientist, Dr Simon Nicol.

“This has really important implications for the Pacific Island countries. Our projections suggest that about one-fifth or about USD 100 million of the income derived from the tuna industry directly is likely to be lost by 2050 by these countries,” Nicol tells IPS.

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