Dengue-infected people are treated at the Mugda Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 7. The global number of dengue cases has already increased eight-fold in the past two decades, according to WHO. As the climate crisis worsens, mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever will likely continue to spread and have an ever greater impact on human health. Mahamud said the climate crisis and this year’s El Nino weather pattern – which brings warmer, wetter weather to parts of the world – are worsening the problem. Calling these outbreaks a “canary in the coalmine of the climate crisis,” Mahamud said “global solidarity” and support is needed to deal with the worsening epidemic.

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Persons: Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Tedros, “, ”, Mohammad Ponir Hossain, ” Tedros, ” Kabirul Bashar, Raman Velayudhan, Abdi Mahamud, Mahamud, ” Mahamud Organizations: CNN, World Health Organization, WHO, Mugda Medical College, Hospital, Reuters, Dhaka –, ” WHO, “, South America Locations: Bangladesh, El Nino, Dhaka, Nino, Peru, Florida, Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Africa, Chad