We had a bit of a scare the other night – it seemed that Philipp (my fiance) had caught malaria! He had a fever, shivering with aches and pains all through his body, in the middle of the night. It was pretty scary!
Phil and I in Honiara
Malaria is rife throughout the Solomon Islands, and the strains here include the most dangerous and deadly kind that can kill in under two days (particularly foreigners with no immunity!). A very large number of Solomon Islands children die from malaria each year, despite the disease being quite treatable if there is adequate access to health care.
There is a deep concern that with continued climate change, malaria will spread to the highlands in the Solomon Islands, where it has never been found before, affecting whole new communities that have particularly poor access to modern health facilities. Increased flooding under climate change could also drive malaria epidemics. There are programs here to attempt to erradicate malaria, starting with remote islands, but it is difficult to see how they will deal with the complications of climate change in this mission.
The next morning we took Philipp to the local clinic, where a rather jolly Solomon Islands doctor examined him and did a malaria test (a quick finger-prick blood test). It came back negative, so Philipp was sent home to rest and recover from whatever tropical bug he has. Today, he’s feeling much better (thank goodness!). We’re lucky to have access to anti-malarials, bed-netting, good information, accurate malaria testing and good doctors, but most of the local people are not so fortunate.
It is yet another reminder of how important it is for wealthy countries like Australia to halt climate change, and not make this problem even worse for a country that bears no responsibility for its creation!
