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Shuaibu Mohammed, a lecturer in Shehu Idris College of Health Science and Technology, Makarfi, Kaduna State, says Nigeria records about 70,000 cases of sleeping sickness every year.
Mohammed said this on Thursday in Kaduna at the First Annual Conference on Climate Change jointly organised by African Climate Reporters and Womenhood Foundation of Nigeria.
He said: “There are around 70,000 cases of sleeping sickness in Nigeria every year and an estimated 60 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of the infection.
“The focus of my paper is on the life cycle of trypanosome, the migration pattern of the Fulani and it suggests the possible environmental, public health and economic consequences of the parasitic boundary shifts.”
Mohammed said that one of the consequences of climate change is the shifting of boundaries for many components and processes within the system.
Mohammed said: “Climate change is a natural phenomenon that is characterised by global warming, rising sea level and other extreme environmental events.
“Climate is essential to ecosystem services and stability. One of the consequences of climate change is the shifting of boundaries for many components and processes within the system.”
Mohammed said that some of these components were pathogens and infectious diseases.
He explained: “Vector-borne diseases are particularly sensitive to warming because temperature changes can alter vector development rates, shift their geographical distribution and alter transmission dynamics.
“Vector-borne diseases affecting humans and animals were recently identified as one of the 12 infectious diseases likely to spread, owing to climate change.
“ln Northern Nigeria, climate change impacts are mainly flood, drought and rural urban migration.”
Mohammed said that desertification in the far North; the expansion of the Savannah in the Middle Belt area and the contraction of the Rain Forest down south might expand availability of pasture and distribution of tsetse fly.
He noted that the Fulani were the custodians of over 90 per cent Nigeria’s cattle, stressing that the cattle were the major sources of meat and dairy products in the country.
He said: “The distribution of Fulani in Nigeria is determined not only by pasture and water but also by presence or absence of cattle parasites such as trypanosome, sleeping sickness, or African Trypanosomiasis, which has been identified as an infectious disease very likely to be affected by climate change.”
Mohammed said that sleeping sickness, caused by a parasite carried by tsetse flies, which infected the nervous system and, if untreated, could be fatal.
According to him, the proposed strategy of mitigation and adaptation requires the collaboration of all stakeholders for sustainability.
Dr. Yusuf Nadabo, the Head of Department of Anatomy, Kaduna State University, who spoke on: “The Importance of Science Journalism,” urged Nigerian journalists to show more interest, commitment and zeal toward science news and reporting, just like their colleagues in advanced countries.
Nadabo said this would boost the promotion of science research.
According to him, science research, discovery and presentation without proper publicity will be of little benefit to the public.
Nadabo said that a good science and climate reporter must, however, devote valuable time to reading extensively so as to acquire knowledge.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that climate reporters from French-speaking neighbouring countries also attended the conference, which has “Climate Change and Parasitic Shift: Strategy for the Fulani of Northern Nigeria” as its theme.
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