Climate Variability, Gendered Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, and Health Inequalities in Western Kenya

Abstract

Climate variability is increasingly reshaping socio-ecological systems, livelihoods, and public health outcomes across Sub-Saharan Africa. In Western Kenya, shifts in rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and ecological degradation are closely associated with rising health inequalities, including malnutrition, waterborne diseases, and other climate-sensitive illnesses. While Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) is widely recognized as a key resource for climate adaptation, its gendered dynamics and implications for public health remain insufficiently integrated within climate-health policy frameworks. This study examines how gendered power relations influence the production, transmission, and application of IEK, and how these dynamics shape environmental processes and health outcomes. The analysis is based on a systematic qualitative synthesis of 45 peer-reviewed studies, policy documents, and regional case analyses published between 2015 and 2025, identified through structured database searches and analyzed using thematic content synthesis. The findings show that women play a central role in soil management, water conservation, and crop diversification practices that enhance environmental resilience, food security, and disease prevention. However, structural constraints, including unequal land tenure systems, limited access to resources, and exclusion from decision-making processes, restrict the translation of this knowledge into equitable health outcomes. The study further demonstrates that climate variability affects health primarily through environmentally mediated pathways and that IEK functions as a gendered adaptive system within these processes. The study concludes that integrating IEK into climate–health governance while addressing gender inequalities is essential for strengthening resilience and reducing health disparities.