Extreme Heat in Africa: A Crisis of Urban Inequality

  • Extreme heat in Africa is becoming a severe crisis of urban inequality, disproportionately affecting informal settlements.
  • A review of 21 studies from 2010–2024 found that poor housing, overcrowding, and weak infrastructure make heat impacts direct and severe on health.
  • Direct effects of heat include dehydration, heatstroke, respiratory problems, skin rashes, headaches, muscle cramps, and fatigue.
  • Indirect effects include depression, infectious diseases (malaria, cholera), cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and malnutrition in children.
  • These findings emerged from studies conducted in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ghana.
  • In Nairobi (Kenya), high temperatures have been linked to child mortality and deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
  • A ....




Do You Want to Read More?
Subscribe Now
To get access to detailed content
Buy October 2026 Issue

Already a Member? Login here

Take Annual Subscription and get the following Advantage
The annual members of the Civil Services Chronicle can read the monthly content of the magazine as well as the Chronicle magazine archives.
Readers can study all the material before the last six months of the Civil Services Chronicle monthly issue in the form of Chronicle magazine archives.
Be an Annual Subscriber

Related Content