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Climate Change 2016
October 27-29, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 9(Suppl) J Earth Sci Clim Change
ISSN: 2157-7617 JESCC, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
October 24-26, 2016 Valencia, Spain
World Conference onClimate Change
Impacts of climate change on meningitis epidemics in the Western African Sahel: Enhanced threats
or part of the solution?
Abdelkrim Ben Mohamed, Aminath Kelani and Eric Adehossi Omar
Universite Abdou Moumouni, Niger
According to WHO, potentially 400 million people are exposed to bacteria Neisseria meningitidis within the meningitis
"belt" of West Africa, resulting in 25000 to 250000 victims every year. The meningitis epidemics in this area occur almost
exclusively during the local dry season thus suggesting a strong link between climate, environment and meningitis. A number
of authors clearly established that under ongoing climate variability, the starting of meningitis epidemics coincide with the
occurrence of large dust events within the area, and cease with the arrival of monsoon rains, synonym of the local humid
season. However, it is still not clear what could be the underlying physical mechanisms in both cases, and if climatic factors can
be used to predict these epidemics. On the other hand, and according to IPCC AR4, the Sahel is one of the four regions in the
World where precipitation decreased during the last century, so detection and attribution of climate change in this area might
be another way to look for explanation of links between meningitis epidemics and climate and environment in the Sahel, as far
as the starting mechanism is concerned. Furthermore, geo-engineering being among the solutions to some aspects of climate
change, it might also be part of the solution to modulate future meningitis epidemics in the Sahel. The aim of this paper is to
address these issues as well as some feasibility aspects.
Biography
Abdelkrim Ben Mohamed has completed Doctorat de 3eme Cycle degree in Nuclear Physics and Doctor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science, respectively in
1975 from University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), and 1988 from University of Niamey (Niger). He was Director of the Institute of Radio-isotopes (Université
Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD),
visiting Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (Columbia University N.Y.), and is currently Senior Advisor at the Office of the
President of Niger for Water and Environment issues. He published in peer review journals such as Physical Review C, Journal of Applied Meteorology, Journal of
Climate and Applied Meteorology, Climate Change, Regional Environemental Change, among others.
Abdelkrim Ben Mohamed et al., J Earth Sci Clim Change 2016, 7:9(Suppl)