MONROVIA, LIBERIA: A stark warning from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) projects that cholera cases in Liberia could surge by at least 10% by the century’s end. This forecast, however, is not a distant inevitability but a preventable outcome, contingent on the urgency of our climate and public health actions today. The announcement, made during the 2025 National People’s Summit on Climate Justice, frames a growing crisis where environmental degradation directly threatens child survival.
UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection, Hellen Nyangoya, presented a clear causal chain: climate change is not a standalone environmental issue but a powerful multiplier of health risks for Liberia’s most vulnerable—its children. The primary threat she highlighted is the rise of waterborne diseases, with cholera being a prime example. This ancient scourge finds new vigor in a warming world.
The Climate-Cholera Nexus: A Deeper Explanation
Madam Nyangoya’s warning is rooted in well-established science. Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, thrives in warm, brackish water and spreads rapidly when sanitation fails. Climate change fuels this cycle in three critical ways:
- Intensified Rainfall & Flooding: More frequent and severe storms overwhelm Liberia’s often inadequate drainage and sanitation systems. Floodwaters mix raw sewage with drinking water sources, creating a perfect vector for disease transmission.
- Rising Temperatures: Warmer ambient temperatures allow cholera bacteria to survive longer and reproduce more quickly in the environment, expanding both the geographic range and seasonal window for outbreaks.
- Sea-Level Rise & Saltwater Intrusion: For coastal communities, rising seas can contaminate freshwater aquifers with saltwater, forcing populations to use less safe surface water, which is more susceptible to contamination.
The burden, as Nyangoya stressed, will fall disproportionately on children in flood-prone and low-income communities. These climate shocks create a devastating syndemic—a synergy of epidemics—disrupting access to clean water, sanitation, healthcare, and education simultaneously. A child weakened by diarrheal disease is more likely to miss school and fall behind, perpetuating cycles of poverty and vulnerability.
The Data Behind the Warning: Liberia’s Climate Landscape Analysis for Children (CLAC)
Citing Liberia’s own CLAC study, Nyangoya provided crucial context: at least 10% of the population, with children at the forefront, already faces heightened exposure to climate-related health risks. This includes not only cholera but also respiratory illnesses from air pollution and vector-borne diseases like malaria, whose mosquito carriers benefit from expanded breeding grounds due to stagnant floodwaters. This data transforms climate change from an abstract concept into a measurable, full-scale crisis of children’s rights, directly threatening their rights to health, education, and ultimately, survival as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
From Commitment to Tangible Action: A Roadmap for Resilience
While acknowledging Liberia’s progress—such as developing climate evidence tools, the Climate Rationale for WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), and signing the Declaration on Children, Youth, and Climate Action—Nyangoya was clear: commitments must now materialize into concrete, funded programs. She outlined a critical, actionable roadmap:
- Invest in Climate-Resilient WASH Systems: Moving beyond traditional infrastructure to build water points, toilets, and drainage that can withstand floods and droughts.
- Strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR): Integrating child-centered early warning systems and community preparedness plans, especially in schools.
- Ensure Child-Sensitive Climate Financing: Directing international climate funds to projects that explicitly assess and address children’s unique vulnerabilities and needs.
- Implement General Comment No. 26: This landmark UN guidance explicitly states that states have legal obligations to protect children from environmental harm, providing a powerful framework for accountability and action.
In conclusion, the call from Monrovia is not merely a statistic about disease projection. It is a urgent plea for collective action to re-engineer the foundations of public health for a new climate reality. The goal, as stated by Nyangoya, is definitive: to build a climate-resilient Liberia where every child can access clean water, safe sanitation, quality education, and a healthy environment. Achieving this requires treating the 10% cholera projection not as a forecast, but as a deadline for prevention.