The Journal of Climate Change and Health
We know that how people make a living affects their heat exposure and thus their health, both over the short term and the long term. When climate extremes strike, herders report putting their animals first, with their bodies on the line. Looking back retrospectively on the drought of 2020-23 – the worst in the Horn of Africa for 40 years – we examine whether those who took their animals away from the villages (the “go” group) suffered different health effects than those who stayed closer to home with their animals (the “stay” group). While “go” group individuals traveled an average of 7 days farther from home than normal in search of pasture, when thinking back on the drought in 2024, those in the “go” group didn’t report any more or fewer mental health or heat-related illness symptoms than those in the “stay” group. This fieldwork – a combination of in-depth interviews and survey – served as a launchpoint for research on the real-time health effects of heat exposure for pastoralists in Northern Kenya.