People must understand: we in Malawi are paying for the climate crisis with our lives

Blantyre, Malawi, which was hit by Cyclone Freddy in March 2023: the devastation left 600 people dead in the country. From flooding to drought, extreme weather is devastating our communities. It is time for the world’s heaviest emitters to help mitigate the impacts of climatic breakdown on the countries most affected Millions of people in my country, Malawi , face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left government officials like me with a huge dilemma of how to act fast enough to save lives. In the past three years, we have gone from facing the worst flooding in recent times to the most severe drought in a decade. The impact has been devastating to communities across the country. When Cyclone Freddy hit us in March 2023 , it killed more than 600 people . The cyclone injured many more, tore families apart, destroyed livelihoods, and the long-term effects from diseases were even worse. A little over a year later, we were in the middle of a raging drought , which the president, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, declared a national disaster in March . Millions of people are facing acute food insecurity, leading to malnutrition and health issues that are putting lives at risk, not least for people on long-term treatment for conditions such as tuberculosis and HIV. Quick Guide A common condition Show The human toll of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is huge and rising. These illnesses end the lives of approximately 41 million of the 56 million people who die every year – and three quarters of them are in the developing world. NCDs are simply that; unlike, say, a virus, you can’t catch them. Instead, they are caused by a combination of genetic, […]

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