By Restuta James , The Guardian
COMMUNITIES in various regions are reporting increased cases of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, diarrhoeal outbreaks, crop failures and food insecurity, experts say.
Research conducted from January 2024 to May 2025 led by Aloyce Urassa of the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), together with Marceline Finda, Fredros Okumu and Katharina Kreppel outlined these risks in findings recently published in the journal ‘Health Policy and Planning,’ linked with Oxford University in Britain.
The study shows that gaps in funding, cross-sectoral coordination and policy implementation leave numerous communities increasingly vulnerable to health and livelihood impacts of climate change.
The study, titled “Climate-related health threats in Tanzania: a multilevel analysis of key policies, strategies, and community response,” found that climate-related hazards are already affecting public health and rural livelihoods.
Despite developing a broad framework of national policies and strategies for addressing climate-sensitive health threats, translating those commitments into effective interventions at community level remains a major challenge, it said.
Study findings report that national stakeholders identified fragmented financing, weak communication between sectors and inadequate integration of climate and health data as key barriers to turning policies into practical measures that protect vulnerable populations.
The researchers assessed the situation at community level by surveying 388 adults and conducting eight focus group discussions across four district councils in the Kilombero Valley in Morogoro Region, an area where many households depend heavily on agriculture.
The study found that 97 per cent of respondents had experienced at least one major climate-related hazard during the previous three years, with drought was the most commonly reported hazard, affecting 65.2 per cent of respondents.
It was followed by delayed rainfall at 54.4 per cent, extreme heat being reported by 47.7 per cent, while 31.2 per cent experienced flooding and 30.9 per cent cited unpredictable rainfall, the study noted.
The findings demonstrate that climate variability affects health directly, through extreme weather events and indirectly by undermining access to water, reducing agricultural production and weakening household incomes.
Despite the widespread exposure to climate hazards, 77 per cent of community members recognised that climate change was occurring, relying mostly on personal observations and informal community networks.
Official weather forecasts and other formal information systems were lowly noticeable when assessing environmental risks, it said, pointing to an urgent need to strengthen the link between climate change policies and interventions at the local level.
They recommended greater climate shifts communication to ensure communities receive information they can understand and act upon, along with wider adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices to reduce the impact of changing weather patterns on food production and household expectations.
Investment in climate-resilient health facilities capable of maintaining essential services during climate-related emergencies and strengthening functional early-warning systems were also recommended.
Building a resilient health system requires coordinated domestic financing, routine analysis of climate and health data, meaningful community engagement and stronger implementation of policies at local level.
Such measures would help protect communities from the growing health consequences of climate change while safeguarding development gains, the report affirmed.
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