As Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Kampala face recurring cholera outbreaks, governments are shifting strategies by integrating climate adaptation into urban health planning.
In October, the East African Community (EAC) launched a $1.2 billion initiative co-financed by the World Bank, targeting clean water, sanitation, and drainage systems in flood-prone urban areas.
The investment follows devastating floods in Nairobi earlier this year, which displaced 15,000 residents and exposed 200,000 to waterborne diseases.
“Health security is now climate security,” said Tanzanian Minister of Health Dr. Dorothy Gwajima. “This is why East Africa is betting on infrastructure, not just emergency response.”
The private sector is entering the space too. Ugandan startup WaterSafe raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital to deploy IoT-enabled purification systems across schools and clinics.
With Africa losing 3% of GDP annually to poor sanitation, analysts argue that health-linked climate investments could become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the decade.
