Climate change deepens health crisis in Africa, experts warn

Climate change is rapidly emerging as a major driver of disease in Africa, it has emerged.

Health experts are warning of rising cases of cardiovascular illnesses, chronic kidney disease, and poor maternal and newborn health outcomes.

In the past, chronic kidney disease had been associated with conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

However, health experts are observing a growing shift, with more young and otherwise healthy individuals, particularly those working in high-heat environments, developing kidney complications.

Speaking during the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2026, scientists said prolonged exposure to extreme heat is now a suspected contributor to kidney damage.

Dr Jack Kileba, a medical governance and excellence lead in Sub-Saharan Africa, said that, unlike in the past, the rate of individuals in need of dialysis and kidney transplant is on the rise because of climate change.

"We are witnessing so many patients on the continent who require dialysis and kidney transplant because of kidney failures," said Kileba.

Experts also warned that increased temperatures across the continent are contributing to adverse pregnancy complications.

This includes preterm births, stillbirths, low birth weight, congenital conditions in newborns, and maternal deaths.

"Pregnant women are losing their unborn babies, and giving birth to small babies, including those with low weights, because of climate shocks," said Kileba.

According to Kileba, for every single degree rise in temperature, Kenya and the continent document a preterm birth rise by four per cent, and in cases of heat waves, the evidence rises by 26 per cent.

According to the first-ever Africa's stillborn report, titled State of Africa's Stillbirths, a baby is stillborn on the continent every 30 seconds.