Kenya adopting clean climate resilient health interventions
Categories: Climate change & health Vulnerability & Adaptation Assessments, Net zero health systems, GHG emissions assessments, Africa, Financing, Climate resilient health systems, Low carbon sustainable health systems
Publisher: Kenya
The Kenyan Ministry of Health has identified solarisation of off-grid health facilities as a key strategy for strengthening climate-resilient systems, particularly across arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs.)
This strategy is set to ensure places in the off-grid areas are supplied with reliable electricity in their health facilities, thus enabling efficient administration of healthcare systems.
In a presentation made at a climate change and health Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) science café, Rose Mokaya, Assistant Director Public Health, Ministry of Health, Kenya, said the intervention is aimed at ensuring health facilities have reliable electricity to support critical medical services.
“More than half of healthcare facilities in off-grid areas currently lack dependable electricity, hence the intervention was brought about to ensure reliable energy for healthcare services,” Mokaya said.
In response to this growing number, Kenya’s National Solarization of Public Hospitals body, led by the government through Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Health are working to equip medical facilities with rooftop solar panels and battery systems. This ensures steady power and cuts down the cost of buying diesel for generators.
Mokaya mentioned that the World Bank is a major global funder in supporting projects to solarize off-grid health facilities. It funds the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) to implement the infrastructure needed in the 14 underserved counties. The Ministry of Health is also implementing the Sustainable Clean Energy Transition-Use of non-burn technologies which involves microwaving and shredding waste rather than burning. These initiatives do not produce emissions, unlike burning, making them a cleaner alternative. These interventions form part of the Kenya Climate Change and Health Strategy (2024–2029) which seeks to strengthen the resilience of the health sector and protect vulnerable populations from climate-related health risks.
This strategy is a vital framework to place human health at the centre of climate action, protect vulnerable groups from climate-sensitive diseases, and build low-carbon, resilient health systems.