There are shepherds on the open range in the US who may see other people only once every few weeks. It’s difficult for medical professionals to serve them, much less for public health researchers to study them. As extreme heat gets more common, how could it be affecting herders’ health?
In Kenya, where there are solid social networks and cellphone networks to reach herders, we’re studying the real-time and long-term impacts of heat on herders’ health. Our team members ride on motorcycles and deploy wearable tech to make sure people’s experiences are captured.
As we report in The Conversation, we’re seeing a relationship between heat and drought exposure and symptoms of heat-related illness and mental health impacts. More than a year after a huge drought in 2020-23, herders still remembered those health impacts and how difficult it was to do normal things outside.
We need to know more about how heat exposure may translate into chronic health effects for herders – both in Kenya and in the US, where herders are less studied. Our work is ongoing, but continuous funding will be key – something hard to come by in 2026, but necessary to understand how work environments affect health as extreme heat keeps coming.