There is need to raise visibility of climate impact on health

Houses marooned following the swelling of Lake Baringo. [File, Standard]

There is a renewed emphasis on the profound impacts of climate change on health. COP29, held in November, underscored the critical health impacts of climate change, elevating the climate-health nexus on the global agenda and launching the Baku COP Presidencies Continuity Coalition for Climate and Health—co-led by the UK, Egypt, UAE, Azerbaijan, Brazil, and WHO—to prioritise health ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

During Health Day on November 18, Kenya demonstrated leadership through the Ministry of Health’s commitment to establish guidelines for an environmentally sustainable healthcare system, strengthening health professionals’ capacity to address climate-induced health challenges, and translating research into actionable policies.

While these commitments signal progress, global experts caution that they may fall short of addressing the intertwined crises of climate and health comprehensively. Experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) argue that COP29’s agreements fell short of the ambition required to fully tackle the intertwined crises of climate change and health.

Financial commitments were insufficient and ambiguous, with uncertainty about whether the funds would be grants or loans. This gap is particularly concerning for Kenya, where climate change disproportionately impacts dryland communities and urban poor populations, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and deepening inequalities.

To address these gaps, actionable strategies such as domestic resource mobilisation through reallocating national budgets to prioritise health and climate resilience and leveraging regional collaborations within frameworks like the East African Community are vital to pool resources and technical expertise, enabling cross-border initiatives that strengthen resilience.

Climate change is not a distant threat—it is already here. Rising temperatures, more frequent and severe droughts and floods, and rapidly degrading soil health, pose a significant threat to livelihoods, human wellbeing and ecological systems, particularly in the dryland regions.

In arid and semi-arid areas, vulnerable groups, particularly children under five, women of reproductive age, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and those with mental health issues are disproportionately affected, with climate change exacerbating existing inequalities. Health experts warn this climate crisis could pave the way for new diseases, potentially resulting in an estimated 24.5 million deaths by 2050.

Reports from the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change (2021) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment highlight the direct links between human-induced climate change and health (morbidity and mortality), although specific health impacts remain under quantified, primarily due to limited attribution studies and data gaps, thus inertia around climate action.

Addressing these challenges requires integrating health and nutrition considerations into climate action and prioritising vulnerable populations in policy discussions. The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), with financial support from the Wellcome, is working with a consortium of partners to enhance understanding of the linkages, increase the visibility of climate impacts on health, and catalyse appropriate policy and practice change at scale in East Africa through the “Visibilizing climate change impacts on nutrition and mental health among vulnerable populations in East African drylands” project.

This project focuses on raising awareness of climate change's health impacts through research, community engagement, and policy advocacy. Participatory research methods and community engagement will be used to document these lived experiences, ensuring that community voices inform our research and advocacy.

Spotlighting climate-related mental health issues is also at the heart of this study. The Kenya National Adolescent Mental Health Survey revealed that 44.3 per cent of adolescents are experiencing mental health issues, often tied to climate-related stressors. However, the linkage between these mental health challenges and climate change remains under-explored—an oversight we aim to address.

A critical methodology in this project is Attribution Science, where we analyse historical climate, ecological, and nutritional data to quantify how climate change impacts crop diversity and yields, consequently affecting nutritional status.

Additionally, we will estimate future food availability under various scenarios of agroecological climate adaptation compared to a baseline scenario of no change. The data, modeled on a synthetic population of Kenya, will estimate health impacts from changes in food availability.

The #Visibilize4ClimateAction project study aligns closely with Kenya’s National Climate Change Action Plans and the Paris Agreement. It aims to enhance bold climate solutions, including agroforestry, agroecological practices, and other community-driven mitigation and adaptation measures.

As COP30 in Belém approaches, Kenya has the opportunity to lead by example by translating its commitments into action.

Dr Karanja is Associate Research Scientist; Nutrition and Food Systems, APHRC.  Mr Mwalia is Policy Engagement and Communications officer, APHRC. Mr Mawia is Policy Engagement and Communications officer, APHRC