Determinants of Climate Action Integration in Health Sector Policy Making in Kenya

The increasing threat of climate change poses significant challenges to global health, with Kenya being particularly vulnerable to its impacts. As temperatures rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, the country faces a growing burden of climate-related health challenges such as vector-borne diseases, malnutrition, and waterborne illnesses. In response to this threat, Kenya has taken steps to integrate climate action into its health policies, recognizing the urgent need to address the nexus between climate change and health. Despite these efforts, climate action has not been fully integrated into the health sector policies, necessitating this study to establish the barriers thereof. The study used a mixed methods approach and integrated key informant interviews and surveys to collect data, which was then analyzed using various inferential statistics. Statistical techniques such as t-tests, chi-square tests, and regression analyzes were used to identify significant patterns and relationships within the quantitative data. In addition, thematic analysis was used to interpret the qualitative data from the interviews and highlight key themes and insights related to integrating climate action in the health sector. The mixed-methods design followed an explanatory sequential approach, first collecting quantitative data from surveys to provide a comprehensive overview of climate action integration, followed by qualitative interviews to explore these findings in more depth. The target audience consisted of health sector stakeholders, including policymakers, practitioners and climate health experts. Participants were selected through purposive sampling to ensure relevant expertise and perspectives, supplemented by snowball sampling to further broaden the participant base. This comprehensive methodology enabled a detailed examination of the motivations, contexts, progress and barriers impacting the integration of climate action. While existing policy frameworks demonstrate a commitment to addressing climate-related health issues, challenges such as institutional silos, resource disparities, conflicting priorities, and complex stakeholder dynamics emerged as significant barriers to effective integration. Despite these challenges, opportunities exist to enhance integration through targeted actions focused on increasing awareness, improving data availability, strengthening governance structures, and garnering political support at all levels of government.