Climate-related health emergencies are a growing concern in Africa, with more than half of public health events in the region over the last twenty years being linked to climate issues, according to a recent analysis by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The analysis highlights that climate change is expected to expand malaria high-risk zones in Africa, as indicated by a report from the Netherlands-based Global Centre on Adaptation. “Despite a decrease in malaria deaths from 840,000 in 2000 to 602,000 in 2020, the disease remains a significant health challenge in Africa,” the WHO report read in part.

“Of the 2,121 public health events recorded in Africa between 2001 and 2021, 56% were found to be related to climate factors,” according to the report. “The region has experienced a 25% increase in climate-related emergencies between 2011 and 2021 compared to the previous decade.”

In a bid to tackle the looming threat of climate-linked diseases like malaria across Africa, a seasoned Remote Sensing, Artificial Intelligence, and Environmental Health Expert, Oladimeji Mudele, has called for the establishment of more weather stations and data infrastructure across the continent.

Mudele who doubles as a researcher, made this disclosure in an interview where he shed light on the critical nexus between climate change and public health, emphasizing the urgent need for proactive measures.

Moreover, the researcher’s advocacy stems from the glaring gap in meteorological data infrastructure across regions plagued by infectious diseases, such as malaria-stricken areas in Africa. “The absence or sparsity of weather stations and data systems severely hampers our ability to investigate how climate influences disease spread and how we can mitigate these effects,” he lamented.

Reflecting on his motivation for pioneering systems that amalgamate satellite imagery with geospatial data for early disease warning, Mudele stressed the pivotal role of satellite technology in addressing global health challenges. “It’s an interdisciplinary study area that combines my engineering and computer science background with my passion for positively impacting global public health systems,” he said.

Notably, one of Mudele’s groundbreaking contributions lies in the development of Pylandtemp, a Python library that simplifies the extraction and measurement of land surface temperature worldwide using satellite data. This innovative framework makes it easy for climate scientists and environmental health practitioners to computer global land surface temperature.

Furthermore, Mudele’s frameworks for predicting dengue vector risks in urban areas and his doctoral research funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions underscore the significance of satellite imagery in advancing public health interventions.