By Asemana
Africa-Press – Cape verde. Cape Verde’s Health Minister today called for international “solidarity” for the country to face the risk of a resurgence of diseases, two days after scientists announced that 2023 was the hottest year on record.“Cape Verde is one of the small island states most affected by climate change”, said Filomena Gonçalves, in an interview with Lusa.
“We already have signs, such as dengue fever. There is a greater spread and one of the causes of its appearance, with such force, has to do with the fact that there is an increase in temperature caused by climate change,” he added.
The disease resurfaced in the country at the beginning of November and the situation “is under control”, he said, noting that it is confined to “one or two daily cases” on the island of Fogo, south of the archipelago, he said.
The vigilance and action of the health authorities should eradicate the outbreak soon, the minister estimated, noting that solidarity will be necessary for future challenges.
“The important thing is that we continue to fight to raise awareness of environmental protection and, in the international arena, to raise awareness of the biggest polluters, especially in the sense of solidarity”, pointed out the Minister of Health.
Filomena Gonçalves said she believes that “climate issues and health challenges have to do with the principle of solidarity at a global level. Covid is clear proof of this.”
“The world will only be contributing to less and less effects of climate change by acting together”, he concluded.
The year 2023 was the hottest on record, with the temperature in the world approaching the warming limit of 1.5oC compared to the pre-industrial era, the European Copernicus program announced on Tuesday.
According to the data, 2023 had a global average temperature of 14.98oC, 0.17oC more than in 2016, which held the title of hottest year since records date back to 1850.
Filomena Martins Pereira, deputy director of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT) in Lisbon, a specialist in tropical diseases, told Lusa in December that infections such as malaria, zika, dengue and chikungunya will increase and spread. across the world as temperatures rise due to climate change.
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