How Climate Change Amplifies Sexual and Reproductive Health Risks for Young Adolescents in Kenya

In recent years, the interwoven crises of climate change and resource insecurity have emerged as profound threats to global well-being. A groundbreaking new study published in BMJ Global Health has revealed an alarming dimension of this crisis: the escalating vulnerability of young adolescents in Kenya, particularly girls aged 10 to 14, to adverse sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. This research uncovers how environmental upheavals, such as droughts and floods, directly exacerbate vulnerabilities that imperil education, bodily autonomy, and future prospects for this often-overlooked population.

The study, led by Dr. Carmen Logie of the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations, utilized a multi-method qualitative approach across six climatically vulnerable regions in Kenya. These regions included both urban informal settlements and refugee settlements: Mathare, Kisumu, Isiolo, Naivasha, Kilifi, and Kalobeyei. The research team collaborated closely with Kenyan organizations, including the Centre for the Study of Adolescence and Elim Trust, to collect nuanced perspectives from 297 participants—178 young adolescents and 119 community elders—through focus groups, walk-along interviews, and participatory mapping workshops.

Crucially, the study situates climate change not merely as an ecological or economic issue but as a pressing public health emergency that intersects with entrenched social inequities. The disruptions wrought by extreme weather serially compound existing challenges faced by young adolescents, particularly girls, amplifying risks of school dropout, transactional sex, gender-based violence, and early pregnancy. These pathways illustrate the profound multidimensionality of climate impacts on human development during critical life stages.

Food insecurity emerges as a paramount driver, as droughts disrupt agricultural cycles and flood events decimate crops, undermining household food availability and stability. In environments where basic sustenance becomes precarious, families face impossible choices. The study documented heartbreaking accounts of adolescents, especially girls, compelled to leave school to seek income or transactional exchanges for food and essential hygiene products. These decisions are not isolated acts of individual desperation but reflect systemic failures aggravated by climate-induced resource scarcity.

Water and sanitation infrastructures suffer similarly under climate duress, with acute shortages of potable water triggering a cascade of health and safety consequences. The research highlights how young girls are particularly exposed to physical and sexual harassment while fetching water from distant or unsafe sources, challenging prevailing assumptions that water scarcity affects all community members uniformly. Lack of safe, accessible sanitation facilities also compounds menstruation-related absenteeism, as girls face both practical and psychosocial barriers to attending school during their periods.

The synergy of environmental shocks with socio-economic vulnerabilities generates direct and indirect pathways through which SRH risks intensify. Drought-induced food insecurity increases school dropout rates, which correlates with heightened street involvement and homelessness, contexts known to elevate exploitation risks. Floods disrupt basic services and displace families, fracturing social networks that ordinarily provide protection and support. In these unstable conditions, the transactional exchange of sex for food, water, or menstrual supplies—an especially harrowing survival strategy—becomes more common.

These findings transcend anecdotal evidence by methodically articulating the mechanisms linking climate events to adolescent health outcomes. By centering the voices of young adolescents alongside community elders, the study captures intergenerational perspectives on the evolving landscape of vulnerability. Emotional dimensions—such as the stigma and shame experienced by girls lacking clean clothing or menstrual products—highlight how material deprivation intersects with social norms to limit educational participation and deepen marginalization.

The authors emphasize the imperative for designing and implementing climate-informed, adolescent-centered, and gender-transformative interventions that holistically address the root causes of insecurity. Simply put, reactive humanitarian aid is insufficient; sustained policies must integrate environmental justice frameworks with adolescent health priorities to build resilience. Programs need to incorporate culturally sensitive approaches ensuring equitable access to education, safe sanitation, and protective services, while also fostering community dialogue to challenge harmful gender norms.

Addressing these intersecting crises requires bridging disciplinary silos between climate science, public health, social work, and community development. The study serves as a call to policymakers, NGOs, and healthcare systems to reorient their strategies around the lived realities of young adolescents in high-risk, low-resource settings. Working at the nexus of climate adaptation and SRH promotion could prevent a cascading epidemic of adverse health and social outcomes with lifelong ramifications.

Co-author Dr. Julia Kagunda, Director of Elim Trust, underscores the urgency of swift, coordinated action: “We must act quickly to develop programs that not only respond to climate impacts but transform underlying systems of inequality that undermine young people’s health and futures.” This vision resonates deeply with global Sustainable Development Goals, underscoring how climate resilience and gender equity are inextricably linked pillars in advancing adolescent well-being.

In conclusion, this pioneering study sheds new light on an emerging public health frontier—the intersection of climate change, resource insecurity, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Kenya. It presents a compelling body of evidence supporting urgent, innovative interventions that recognize young adolescents, particularly girls, as critical agents and victims within this complex matrix. The insights gathered from communities themselves provide a potent foundation for shaping more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable health policies in an era defined by environmental uncertainty.

By elevating these stories and analyses to the global stage, the research shifts public discourse towards intersectional understandings of climate change’s human dimensions, moving beyond abstraction to tangible human costs and potential solutions. As climate disruptions accelerate worldwide, this model of inquiry and intervention offers a vital roadmap for safeguarding the health and dignity of young generations on the frontlines of environmental injustice.

Subject of Research: The impact of climate change and resource insecurity on the sexual and reproductive health of young adolescents in Kenya.

Article Title: Climate change, resource insecurities and sexual and reproductive health among young adolescents in Kenya: a multi-method qualitative inquiry

News Publication Date: 4-May-2025

Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-016637

References: As detailed in the BMJ Global Health publication (DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-016637)

Keywords: Climate change, sexual and reproductive health, adolescents, Kenya, resource insecurity, gender-based violence, food insecurity, water scarcity, sanitation, education disruption, public health, environmental justice

Tags: climate change and sexual healthcommunity perspectives on climate changeenvironmental factors and health outcomesimpact of climate change on educationintersection of climate change and gender issuesKenya’s climate crisis and youthqualitative research on adolescent healthreproductive health risks in adolescentsresource insecurity and youth well-beingsocial justice in global healthSRH outcomes in climatically vulnerable regionsvulnerabilities of young girls in Kenya