By Michelle Ndaga
Kenya has reaffirmed its continental leadership in integrating health priorities into global climate action during the World Health Summit 2025, which opened in Berlin on Monday.
Speaking at the summit’s opening session, Principal Secretary for Public Health and Professional Standards, Mary Muthoni, emphasized that “climate action without health is incomplete.” She said Kenya is embedding health considerations within national climate policy, planning, and financing with a strong focus on clean energy for health facilities, enhanced disease surveillance, and early-warning systems for climate-related health threats.
Muthoni highlighted Kenya’s continued leadership on the continent through the upcoming Pan-African Conference on Climate and Health 2025, which will convene African governments, experts, and partners to develop a unified roadmap toward 2030.
The goal, she said, is to ensure that health remains central to Africa’s engagement in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.
The Principal Secretary also called for predictable and inclusive climate-health financing, both domestically and globally, to support community-driven, evidence-based interventions that protect vulnerable populations from the impacts of climate change.
“Health is not a peripheral outcome of climate policy; it is the measure of its success,” she affirmed, reinforcing Kenya’s position as a regional leader in linking climate resilience to health system strengthening.
