Climate-Driven Flooding and the resultant Crisis in Mental and Reproductive Health Among East Africa’s Lake Naivasha Fishing Communities

Edna Waithaka1, Hillary Kibiwott2, Jecinta Kamau3, drbasinda4 1. Kenya Marine & Fisheries Research Institute 2. National Space Agency 3. Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development 4. Department of community medicine, school of public health, catholic universitynof health and allied sciences, Tanzania

Background Climate change is redrawing the map of vulnerability across Africa’s Great Lakes region. Along the shores of Lake Naivasha, rising waters threaten lives, livelihoods, infrastructure and community structure among others. Subsequently, this critically disrupts access to life-saving reproductive and mental health services for some of the regions most under served fishery communities. Floods destroy clinics, wash away transport routes, and isolate entire villages causing missed antenatal visits, interrupted HIV treatment, reduced contraceptive access, unsafe deliveries, and preventable maternal and child deaths. This study evaluated the scale of disruption and identified the pathways to resilience. The study used a mixed-methods approach, using flood mapping, household surveys, health facility assessments, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and participatory community co-design workshops to understand how climate-driven flooding disrupts reproductive health service utilization in the study areas. Advanced analytical models will identify the social, geographic, and health-system factors that worsen service interruption or strengthen community adaptation during climate shocks. The study generated a first of its kind flood vulnerability Atlas, alongside locally informed adaptation strategies and a stakeholder-validated Climate-Resilient Mental and Reproductive Health Service Delivery Framework designed to safeguard essential mental and reproductive health services during floods. At its heart, this research argued that reproductive and mental health cannot be separated from climate resilience. In communities living at the front-lines of environmental change, protecting access to mental and reproductive healthcare is not only a health priority, but it is also a matter of justice, dignity, and survival.