News

In partnership with the Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association (KENJSA), AFIDEP will on 30 November 2021 convene journalists and media professionals to explore the role of the media in enhancing public understanding of health impacts of climate change in Kenya. The meeting will take place between 8.00 – 10.00am in Nairobi, Kenya.

There are abundant gaps in public awareness and understanding of the linkages between climate change and health. The breakfast meeting seeks to identify how media can best support Kenya’s response to climate change and its (media) role in triggering a national debate with the aim of positioning health in climate change action plans.

Experts presenting at the event include:

• Eliya Zulu, Executive Director – AFIDEP
• William Ogara, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology – University of Nairobi
• Sophie Angala, Senior Lecturer and Head of Applied Human Nutrition in the Department of Food Science Nutrition and Technology – University of Nairobi
• Peter Nyakwara, Director Technical Services – National Council for Population and Development (NCPD)
• Peter Odheng’o, Senior Policy Advisor on Climate Finance at the National Treasury; Director – Greening Kenya Initiative Trust; and National Programme Coordinator – Financing Locally-Led Climate Action Program
• Ochieng Ogodo, Regional Coordinator – SciDev.Net sub-Saharan Africa

Health has an increasingly high profile within the climate change arena, particularly as focus moves from political negotiations and environmental triggering, towards implementation of, and linkage with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Through the ‘Making a Case for Planetary Health in sub-Saharan Africa Project,’ AFIDEP is building the evidence base for policy packages that address the health impacts of climate change. The two-year project will be implemented in partnership with the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health (CCCPH) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

The Planetary Health project seeks to provide evidence for decision-makers in Kenya to action the climate agenda and inform policy packages around health priorities that align with climate change. This will be important in raising public awareness of health impacts of climate change and the implementation of appropriate measures for surveillance and monitoring of climate change-related diseases to enhance health early warning systems.