"Malaria is a climate sensitive disease and for this time of the year we have experienced uncommonly heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of southern Africa," said Joaquim Da Silva, WHO's Malaria Epidemics & Emergency Officer in the region.
La Niña is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, recorded every three to four years, which causes a ripple effect felt across the globe, making wet regions wetter and dry ones even drier.