NHS staff and other health organisations are to be warned to prepare for future outbreaks of malaria in the UK because of climate change.

Health minister Dawn Primarolo was due to launch a new Government initiative to prepare the country for new hazards brought about by global warming.

They include the malaria threat caused by mosquitoes entering the country in large numb and then breeding here, heatwaves which could kill as many as 10,000 people, and even disruption of water supplies.

France was hit by such a heatwave two years ago and Government agencies were caught completely unprepared. As a result, several thousand people died - mainly the elderly or people already in poor health.