Use early warning systems to prevent disasters

A woman cuddles her baby in Wajir. Drought has impacted livelihoods in the region. [File, Standard[

Climate change and climate variability have negatively affected health and healthcare systems, particularly among vulnerable communities.

The changing weather patterns have resulted in an increase in reported cases of water and vector-borne diseases, including malaria and cholera. Additionally, cases of severe and moderate acute malnutrition have been reported.

In pastoralist settings, loss of livelihoods due to prolonged droughts has resulted in spillover cases such as reduced dietary sources and choices to uphold communities’ apt nutritional status.

Additionally, there have been increased cases of conflicts over scarce resources and poverty, with an alarming increase in mental health issues, which have a greater negative impact on people with pre-existing health conditions like HIV/Aids and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

Moreover, there has been an increase in cases of zoonotic diseases including, but not limited to Rift Valley Fever (RVF) and Q fever. This increase in disease burden continues to place pressure on healthcare systems, which is already strained by inadequate resources.

To address the effects of climate change on health, several interventions have been undertaken at different levels to ensure resilient health systems. Policies, regulations and programs have been implemented to address the effects of the changing and variable climate. These policies include the National Climate Change Framework Policy, Kenya Climate Change Action Plan, and county-level – climate-related policies.

To further enhance the resilience of communities and the health system, and in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, early warning information on the risks prior to a disaster is critical. The benefit of early warning of likely risks and hazards resulting from climate variability is to promptly trigger early action by communities, which ensures that they, together with existing community systems are optimally prepared and have the ability to quickly adapt in case of any eventualities.

Early actions may entail pre-positioning of supplies and services to cushion health systems from collapse, sensitization of communities on actions to take, prior shift of communities and assets to prevent loss of livelihoods and resource mobilization and allocations to prevent and/or manage any disaster that may occur. 

This early warning information should be contextualised and targeted to ensure it is understood, accepted and used. An example of early warning and early action is the vaccination of livestock against RVF prior to enhanced rainfall season. It is well known that RVF is transmitted by sand flies, whose population grow exponentially during the wet season, and are thus likely to spread the RVF.

Being a zoonotic disease, it also eventually affects humans in addition to leading to the loss of livestock. Another example of early warning and what it can do is to prepare communities in low-lying areas to move to higher grounds to prevent the effects of flood waters.

For health facilities, early warning information will enable the pre-positioning of relevant supplies and manpower and enhance community initiatives such as health talks and community dialogues to sensitize communities on the impending risks and actions they can take.

Early warning and early action stand as the best and most cost-effective approach to preventing disasters, and thus enhancing community and health system resilience. This coupled with Technical Assistance will ensure that health systems continue to be resilient to the negative effects of climate change. 

-Robert Matheka and Joyce Murerwa support implementation of climate and health programs at Amref Health Africa