On April 18, Friends of the Global Fund, Japan (FGFJ) held its 38th Diet Task Force meeting, which featured a discussion with H.E. Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, the Minister of Health of Malawi. The meeting was attended by 12 Diet members and was joined by representatives from Malaria No More US and Malaria No More Japan, who had invited the Health Minister for their April 17 event, the “Pre-TICAD9 Summit on Climate Change and Health.” 

Minister Chiponda gave powerful remarks on the impact climate change has on health in Malawi, where efforts are still underway to recover and rebuild from the recent cyclone damages. She explained that infectious diseases are made worse by climate change, causing outbreaks of cholera and malaria, and described how Malawi was taking countermeasures to mitigate the effects on health services. She emphasized the need for local manufacturing of vaccines to cover African countries so they could be more readily available where the needs are. She also mentioned how Japan no longer had cases of malaria since 1962, and if that was possible in Japan, it should be the case elsewhere, too.