Flooding: The Greatest Climate Threat to Ghana

The greatest climate threat to health in Ghana is the intense flooding that results from the more severe weather conditions due to rising global temperatures. If high emissions continue, it is projected that from 2070-2100, 241,900 people will be affected by flooding in Ghana, but if emissions are decreased and flooding preventative measures are put into place, this number could be as few as 200 people (WHO). These statistics highlight the tremendous threat that climate change poses to Ghana and emphasize the importance of interventions to avert this crisis. Flooding has many implications for health beyond its obvious consequence of displacing people from their homes, which certainly has an effect on health and wellbeing. Flooding has already begun to disrupt agriculture in Ghana and could leave thousands of people without food and a source of income. This would dismantle the progress towards improved nutrition that has been made in Ghana in recent years. Additionally, flooding has the potential to cause an increased prevalence of infectious diseases that already impact Ghana. For instance, flooding patterns can alter the distribution of mosquitos, which are the vector for several diseases, including malaria. Flooding has the potential to lead to an increase in transmission of the deadly parasite, which is already a significant public health problem in Ghana. Presently, malaria thousands of children die annually due to malaria infection in Ghana, which has made it the number one cause of death in the nation (WHO). Dengue virus fever, also spread by mosquitoes, has the potential to be exacerbated by increased flooding in Ghana (WHO). Additionally, diarrheal diseases may increase due to contamination of water sources by flooding in Ghana (WHO). Global warming-produced flooding in Ghana will certainly have detrimental effects on the health of the nation in a variety of ways, therefore, interventions must be put into place.

The flooding in Ghana must be mitigated at several levels with coordinated efforts from those in Ghana and across the globe. First, global initiatives to stop the progression of global warming will be necessary to prevent further flooding in Ghana. It is obvious that the current situation will only become more dire if the planet continues to warm. However, stopping the global rise in temperatures will require coordinated action from many governments which is certainly a challenge. Another mitigation strategy would be to create more permanent systems to stop flooding in Ghana. Larger, more durable dikes could be built to better prevent flooding which would be much more effective than the current structures residents make out of mud. Another point of intervention is to implement greater measures to control the spread of infectious diseases in Ghana that are spread by mosquitoes and contaminated water. Better water storage and filtering infrastructure would help prevent the spread of diarrheal diseases by keeping the water sources safe from sewage contamination due to flooding. Mosquito prevention and malaria/dengue treatment strategies would help mitigate the spread of these vector-borne diseases. This could include pesticide use, greater use of mosquito nets, greater access to drugs to treat malaria, and the implementation of the first novel malaria vaccine recently recommended by the WHO. Overall, in order to stop flooding in Ghana and mitigate its effects, a coordinated effort on many levels will be required.