RESUMO
Worldwide, landslides incur catastrophic and significant economic and human losses. Previous studies have characterized the patterns in landslides' fatalities, from all kinds of triggering causes, at a continental or global scale, but they were based on data from periods of <10â¯years. The research herein presented hypothesizes that climate change associated with extreme rainfall and population distribution is contributing to a higher number of deadly landslides worldwide. This study maps and identified deadly landslides in 128 countries and it encompasses their role, for a 20â¯years' period from January/1995 to December/2014, considered representative for establishing a relationship between landslides and their meteorological triggers. A database of georeferenced landslides, their date, and casualties' information, duly validated, was implemented. A hot spot analysis for the daily record of landslide locations was performed, as well as a percentile-based approach to evaluate the trend of extreme rainfall events for each occurrence. The relationship between casualty, population distribution, and rainfall was also evaluated. For 20â¯years, 3876 landslides caused a total of 163,658 deaths and 11,689 injuries globally. They occurred most frequently between June and December in the Northern Hemisphere, and between December and February in the Southern Hemisphere. A significant global rise in the number of deadly landslides and hotspots across the studied period was observed. Analysis of daily rainfall confirmed that more than half of the events were in areas exposed to the risk of extreme rainfall. The relationships established between extreme rainfall, population distribution, seasonality, and landslides provide a useful basis for efforts to model the adverse impacts of extreme rainfall due to climate change and human activities and thus contribute towards a more resilient society.
RESUMO
Background: Namibia is one of the countries among the eight that are targeting malaria elimination in southern Africa. However, the country has encountered malaria epidemics in recent years. The objective of this study was to investigate malaria epidemics and to contribute to strengthening malaria surveillance and control in an effort to move Namibia toward eliminating malaria. Method: Malaria epidemiology data for 2014-2015 were collected from the weekly surveillance system. All consenting household members within a 100-m radius of index households were screened in 2016 using a Carestart malaria HRP2/pLDH combined rapid diagnostic test after epidemics. All houses within this radius were sprayed in 2016 with the pyrethroid deltamethrin and K-Othrine WG 250. Anopheles mosquito-positive breeding sites were identified and treated with the organophosphate larvicide temephos. Insecticide susceptibility and bioassay tests were conducted. Results: During the epidemic response period in 2016, 56 parasitologically confirmed Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases in the Zambezi region were detected from active screening. The majority of those cases (83%) were asymptomatic infections. In the Kavango region, the malaria epidemic persisted, with 228 P. falciparum malaria cases recorded, but only 97 were investigated. In Namibia, malaria vector susceptibility was detected to 4% dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Indoor residual spraying was conducted in 377 (90%) of the targeted households along with community awareness through health education of 1499 people and distribution of more than 2000 information, education and communication materials. The P. falciparum malaria cases in the Zambezi decreased from 122 in week 9 to 97 after week 15. Conclusions: Malaria epidemics along with the persistence of asymptomatic reservoir infections pose a serious challenge in Namibia's elimination effort. The country needs to ensure sustainable interventions to target asymptomatic reservoir infections and prevent epidemics in order to successfully achieve its goal of eliminating malaria.