The climate strategy has linked the rising burden of vector-borne diseases, food insecurity, and mental health challenges to climate disasters.
Kenya has unveiled an ambitious climate and health strategy geared towards strengthening climate–resilient health systems. The Kenya Climate Change and Health Strategy (2024-2029) integrates climate action into health and development planning.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, speaking at the launch of the strategy on October 22, 2025, at the Pan-African Conference on Environment, Climate Change and Health, hailed the strategy’s timeliness, given the recent impacts of climate change.
“In Kenya and across Africa, the devastating floods, droughts and disease outbreaks of recent years have revealed that there is truth that climate and health are two sides of the same coin,” he said, “The rising burden of vector-borne diseases, food insecurity, and mental health challenges remind all of us that protecting the environment is protecting life.”
Duale said that the strategy, which was launched together with the Kenya Household Air Pollution Prevention Strategy (2024–2029), is aimed at strengthening climate-resilient health systems and safeguarding vulnerable communities. Development of the strategy was supported by the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
It highlights seven priority areas critical to its implementation, including healthy energy transition and air quality; sustainable and healthy food systems; water, sanitation and healthcare waste management; health risks and impact assessments; education and awareness; healthcare resilience and disease surveillance; and health research and policy development.
It recommends implementation of interventions in phases ranging from short-term (2024-2026), mid-term (2026-2030) and long-term (2030-2063). In the short-term implementation of healthy energy transition and air quality, for instance, the strategy seeks to “encourage faster adoption of clean energy sources, including household clean cooking.”
Traditional fuels pose significant health risks, particularly for young children who are vulnerable to respiratory infections from smoke exposure
A 2024 Analysis of Cooking Fuels and Cooking Energy Demand in Rural Households study found that approximately 92 per cent of rural households in Kenya still rely on traditional biomass, notably charcoal and firewood, as their primary cooking fuel.
According to the study, traditional fuels pose significant health risks, particularly for young children who are vulnerable to respiratory infections from smoke exposure.
Experts have warned about the health risks linked to climate events such as droughts and floods. Murang’a County Director of Environment and Natural Resources, Julius Mwangi, told Willow Health that human activities like deforestation have worsened climate change.
He explained that the upper zone of the county faces landslides during rainy seasons, causing displacement, loss of food and livestock, and malnutrition.
Meanwhile, the middle and lower zones, which serve as an animal corridor between the Maasai and Kikuyu lands, are prone to animal diseases like anthrax. Mwangi noted, “If the animals die from anthrax and then it rains, the bacteria are exposed and leave humans in that area vulnerable to infection.”
He added, “Floods come with waterborne diseases, and drought comes with other infectious diseases.”
Murang’a County’s Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 is part of the Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) program that aims to build climate resilience at the local level and strengthen the capacity of both county and national governments to manage climate risks in Kenya.
Aside from the adoption of clean energy sources, the Kenya Climate Change and Health Strategy further seeks to reduce air pollution in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines and standards.
On addressing sustainable and climate-resilient healthy food, the strategy seeks to put health measures in place to ensure the safety and quality of food across the value chain. Some of the proposed activities include revision or development of new public health plans, strategies and guidelines or standards aligned to sustainable and climate-resilient, healthy food systems.
Green Bonds and Carbon Markets represent attractive avenues for investment in climate change and health endeavours
The main priority of the strategy, however, is the implementation of a low-carbon and climate-smart health system. It seeks to achieve this through activities like the creation of awareness to promote clean energy projects such as solar and wind power, and the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions in health facilities.
In addition to revision and development of policies, it also mentions infrastructural developments in line with climate adaptation and resilience. For instance, in the priority area on adaptive and resilient healthcare and health facilities and spaces, the strategy seeks to “tackle major risks to health and changing environments by building, creating and enhancing safe and healthy living and working environments.”
The strategy further details a raft of performance indicators and metrics “vital for assessing the efficiency and influence of climate change and health systems.” These include metrics on climate-related mortality and morbidity, heat-related, and those on air quality, water and sanitation.
For instance, the metrics on climate-related mortality and morbidity will include the number of heat-related deaths, hospital admissions for injuries, water-borne, and respiratory conditions during extreme weather events, among others.
This marks a new development in climate and health, not only in Kenya, but in Africa as a whole. This is because, while phenomena like heatwaves happen in Africa, data on the same is not recorded. A 2023 study stated the “lack of reliable and consistent climate datasets and standard detection metrics in Africa can easily downplay not only the existence of episodes of extreme heat, but also the concomitant human health impacts.”
The study titled Heatwaves-Driven Human Morbidity and Mortality over Selected Counties in Kenya showed that heatwave events ranging from normal to very extreme have a negative impact on human respiratory health, including a heightened risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) prevalence and deaths.
Kenya’s climate strategy also addresses the issue of funding, listing government, grants, donor support, and public-private partnerships as the main sources of funding for its activities.
“Capital markets featuring financial instruments such as Green Bonds and Carbon Markets, represent attractive avenues for investment in climate change and health endeavours,” the strategy states.
The strategy is ambitious and, if implemented, will go a long way in not only addressing health issues brought forth by climate change but also contributing immense datasets to the climate-health nexus.
