Climate Change and Health

Introduction

UNHCR = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: A United Nations Body charged with control of malaria.
Its the umbrella body of UN on whose responsibility, eradication of malaria is being dedicated upon.
UNHCR coordinates and shares malaria control information to governments, UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations. UNHCR is a member of the Network for Malaria Control in Emergencies, coordinated by WHO and liaises with Roll Back Malaria and the Alliance for Malaria Prevention.
As part of the humanitarian community and within the protection mandate, UNHCR ensures that malaria control policies and programmes for IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) are coordinated and integrated within the humanitarian reform process.
In recent years, UNHCR has developed partnerships with the UN Foundation, resulting in collaboration on the Nothing but Nets campaign in 2008/9 as well as maintains close contact with the Novartis Foundation and the US Government’s President’s Malaria Initiative.

Malaria remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among refugees. A majority of refugees live areas in which malaria is endemic or occurs in seasonal epidemics. Many factors may promote susceptibility to malaria morbidity and mortality among refugees. Pregnant women and young children are particularly at risk of severe illness and death. Refugee camps are often sited on marginal lands that promote breeding sites for malaria vectors. Refugees may be malnourished, particularly in the phase immediately following flight. Travel may take refugees through or to areas of higher malaria endemicity than their place of origin. Control programmes may have broken down (associated with the conflict that caused population flight) or never been implemented.
Delivered within a human rights framework and in accordance with the objectives of Roll Back Malaria partners, the UNHCR Malaria prevention and control activities are directed by guiding principles of effective malaria control in complex emergency settings, which applies equally to refugee situations, as for other situations of displacement. These guiding principles, a combination of international humanitarian standards and evidence-based programming, are defined into programmatic activities in UNHCR’s Strategic Malaria Plan.
The Strategic Plan outlines the core components of effective malaria prevention and control against specific targets of achievement. The core components of effective malaria control programmes are:
• Participation of the affected population,
• Response prioritized to address life-saving needs,
• Targeting of those most at risk,
• Coordination,
• Information, Education and Communication to promote malaria awareness,
• Prevention and reduction of transmission through: