Abstract
BackgroundOver the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged and frequent. We aimed to map hotspot countries and identified key strategic actions for health consequences.MethodsWe reviewed scientific literature and WHO EMR documentation on trends and patterns of the drought health consequences from 1990 through 2019. Extensive communication was also carried out with EMR WHO country offices to retrieve information on ongoing initiatives to face health consequences due to drought. An index score was developed to categorize countries according vulnerability factors towards drought.ResultsA series of complex health consequences are due to drought in EMR, including malnutrition, vector-borne diseases, and water-borne diseases. The index score indicated how Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia are “hotspots” due to poor population health status and access to basic sanitation as well as other elements such as food insecurity, displacement and conflicts/political instability. WHO country offices effort is towards enhancing access to water and sanitation and essential healthcare services including immunization and psychological support, strengthening disease surveillance and response, and risk communication.ConclusionsDrought-related health effects in the WHO EMR represent a public health emergency. Strengthening mitigation activities and additional tailored efforts are urgently needed to overcome context-specific gaps and weaknesses, with specific focus on financing, accountability and enhanced data availability.
Highlights
In the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), with around three quarters of its surface consisting of desert, drought, defined as a prolonged dry period in natural climate cycle, is a common phenomenon [1]
Even if Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 target is 100% of people have access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, we have considered 3 levels of access: countries were coded as “0” if more than 90% of the population had access to basic sanitation, “1” if this proportion was between 50 and 90%, and “2” if otherwise [14]
Somalia is highly endemic for cholera and regular large outbreaks both after flooding and during droughts are observed [20]
Summary
In the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), with around three quarters of its surface consisting of desert, drought, defined as a prolonged dry period in natural climate cycle, is a common phenomenon [1]. Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the EMR have gradually become more widespread, prolonged and frequent [2]. The Horn of Africa has been affected by prolonged drought in 2016 and 2017 and has been identified as an important vulnerability area along with the southwestern Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) [3]. The nutrition-related morbidity and mortality are the best recognized health impact of drought [5]. Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged and frequent. We aimed to map hotspot countries and identified key strategic actions for health consequences
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