Climate Variability Impacts, Diseases and Human Health: The Case of Morogoro Municipalities, Tanzania

Abstract

This study assesses the impacts of climate variability in water quality and its subsequent effects to human health through diseases in Morogoro Municipality. It assessed the standard/quality of drinking water and how it is affected by the impacts of climate variability in the study area. Primary data were obtained through interview and questionnaire covering two hospitals namely Nunge and Saint Thomas Hospital, whereby each hospital provided 75 respondents through questionnaires to make the total of 150 respondents in the study area. These primary data were supported by secondary data which were collected from TMA and MORUWASA.  Quantitative data were edited, coded and analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS version 16 and Microsoft Excel Sheet. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis, summarized and presented in the text. The analyzed data were presented into tables and graphs. The findings of the results show that the climate of Morogoro municipal is varying, then quality of drinking water is not good and people are much affected by water borne diseases. However, climate change and its variability has played both direct and indirect role for water deterioration, though there are other factors which bring to synergetic effects to climate change, like population density, human activities and economic factor which make human health more vulnerable to climate change impacts.