Ellyanne Wanjiku Chlystun

“In the past, we knew that during the winter there would be no rain,” says Celina. “But nowadays it has become… normal.”

Most of Celina’s neighborhood in Boane District, Mozambique, was under water. The area had already been impacted by flooding, but the situation intensified with the arrival of Cyclone Freddy, the longest lasting tropical cyclone in recorded history.

After sheltering at a school for 10 days, Celina and her children returned home, where they found all of their belongings covered in mud and ruined by water. The family’s crops had been destroyed.

People then started to get seriously ill, including Celina’s two young daughters.

“We didn’t have mosquito nets. We were just fleeing from water in our houses,” she said. “I didn’t want to believe the truth. But when I arrived at the hospital, that is when I saw that it was malaria.”

For Celina, hearing the news that both of her daughters had malaria was terrifying. Just six months before the cyclone hit, her 35-year-old husband Maxaieie came home late from work, sick with a fever.

“That is when I realized that I’m alone now. I’m the father and the mother of my kids” she says.

After both of Celina’s daughters were tested for malaria and rapidly put on treatment, they both made full recoveries.

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©The Global Fund/Tommy Trenchard/Rooftop

Suzy is Miskito, an Indigenous community from Central America.

Suzy she has seen thousands of patients, either testing or treating them for malaria, since she became a community health volunteer two decades ago.

“Every week there are 25 people, almost 30. I love my people. They come to my house, and I look after them at night, in the morning, at whatever time,” she says. “I look after everyone, regardless of where they come from.”

“I take blood samples do rapid diagnostic tests and I diagnose. I then give them tablets straight away,” she says.

In 2020 COVID-19 hit, and later that same year Tropical Storm Eta ripped through the country followed by Hurricane Iota only two weeks later. The deadly storms closed health units, including facilities providing malaria services. Surveillance and tracing of malaria cases had to be scaled back, and less people were visiting clinics for testing and treatment due to fear of contracting COVID-19.

In 2020, rather than recording a decrease in cases as Honduras had done nearly every year for the last two decades, the number of malaria cases recorded increased.

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©The Global Fund/Tomas Ayuso/Panos

Odinaka Kingsley Obeta is the West Africa Lead for ALMA's Youth Advisory Council.

"Growing up in Tudun Wada community in Jos, Nigeria was fun, except for the moments when the river around my school gets flooded and we have to wait hours before we can make it across. Today, the impact of climate change has not only stopped children from going to school but has also affected their access to healthcare amidst increased malaria prevelence in the community.

As we speak, these children - who are the leaders of tomorrow - are already been threatened by malaria as a result of increasing climate crises, the impact of the climate crises on health is severe and if we don't take action today, we'll have no tomorrow to wake up to!"