Climate change doesn’t change the virus or make it more infectious or deadly. It changes the infrastructure and systems – such as roads, clinics and patient records – that hold HIV in check. Here’s how the two connect, and how to report it.
On 12 April 2022, Mfundo Shezi woke when the skies cracked open and unleashed a merciless deluge over KwaZulu-Natal. The 32-year-old, who usually sleeps in a park in Umbilo in Durban, immediately fled for shelter, abandoning all he owned.
Shezi didn’t have much, but by the time he returned the next morning, he found that the flood had taken all of his possessions. That included his ID and his monthly supply of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV, which he had been taking faithfully since he started treatment in 2021.
“On that day, I missed a dose for the first time,” he told Bhekisisa. Without taking his HIV medications consistently, he knew he’d get sick.
He panicked. He tried to get to the local clinic but wasn’t able to get there. So Shezi walked to the government hospital. It was open, but without his ID book – or a transfer letter from his regular clinic, which would allow him to get his medication – they couldn’t help.
Experts say a changing climate will probably bring on more bouts of severe weather like this flood, which killed more than 450 people. But the flood itself would not somehow…