The
Tanzanian Meteorological Agency (TMA) in collaboration with the
International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) with
support from WMO, NASA and HCF are hosting a training workshop and
stakeholder meeting on the “Use of Climate Information in Malaria
Stratification / Early Warning Systems / Impact Assessment for Malaria
Interventions” in Tanzania,from October 16-18, 2013 at the Blue Pearl Hotel.
In
Tanzania, malaria continues to be a major public health concern with over 10 to
12 million clinical cases reported a year. Despite large scale investments in
prevention and control, opportunities to improve disease stratification and
risk maps, early warning systems and impact assessments can still be further
aided by leveraging climate and environmental information and by strengthening
multi-sectoral partnerships to reduce the burden of this highly endemic
disease.
Activities
led by the Tanzanian Meteorological Agency (TMA) and the International Research
Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) have recently combined available ground
observations of rainfall and temperature with satellite and other proxies,
pioneering new open-access products and creating one of the highest resolution
and longest data records for Africa. In particular, outcomes of this work
include:
·
An
unprecedented thirty-year time series of ten-daily rainfall and temperature
data for every 10 km grid across the country;
·
An
online mapping service installed at TMA providing user-friendly tools for
visualization, querying, and accessing information
·
Increased
technical capacity at TMA.
The
new data products combined with other environmental factors, which can be
readily monitored using remote-sensing products available through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), can help deliver
and support innovations in malaria prevention and control.
The workshop will showcase TMA’s recently launched
high resolution products and will demonstrate examples of how they can be used
in combination with NASA products for disease stratification, improved early
warning systems and impact assessments.
Monica Mutoni
TMA- PRO
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