Urban Health & Climate Link: WHO Calls for a New Model for African Cities
Bogota, Columbia/Kampala
As African cities swell in size, climate pressures and public-health crises are increasingly intertwined — from deadly heatwaves and flooding to air pollution and disease outbreaks.
Now, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging governments to treat urban planning as a public-health intervention.
Released after World Cities Day 2025, the WHO’s new guide, “Taking a Strategic Approach to Urban Health,” argues that cities in Africa must redesign how they plan housing, transport, water, waste and climate adaptation — because all these directly affect community well-being.
Health and climate are one equation
According to WHO regional data, environmental factors already account for nearly 25 % of deaths in African cities. Flood-related outbreaks, vector-borne diseases and chronic respiratory illness are on the rise as temperatures climb.
Dr Sylvia Kwame, WHO urban-health adviser for Africa, notes:
“Every street, drain and bus route is part of the health system. When infrastructure fails, hospitals fill up.”
What the guide recommends
Integrated planning: link housing and transport to clean-air zones and green corridors.
Health in climate policy: include heat-stress metrics in adaptation plans.
Inclusive governance: ensure informal-settlement residents have a voice in city-level health and climate decisions.
Data and monitoring: track the intersection of pollution, temperature and disease in real time.
Examples from the field
Freetown, Sierra Leone has mapped informal settlements for flood-health hotspots.
Lusaka, Zambia is piloting green-roof clinics that cut indoor heat by 5–8 °C.
Kigali, Rwanda has integrated air-quality data into traffic management.
These examples show how health resilience can be built into everyday planning — not treated as a crisis afterthought.
💡 Why it matters
African cities are urbanising faster than institutions can adapt. By 2050, over 1.3 billion Africans will live in urban areas, often in dense settlements vulnerable to floods, heat and pollution.
WHO warns that if urban health continues to be siloed from climate planning, the cost — both human and economic — will be immense.
“The healthiest city is the one that plans for the next flood before it happens,” says Dr Kwame. “Climate resilience = public health resilience.”
📊 Key Insights
25 % of urban deaths linked to environmental causes
Urban population in Africa projected: 1.3 billion by 2050
WHO’s framework aligns health, housing, transport & climate planning
Pilot projects already in Sierra Leone, Zambia, Rwanda
