My reflections as a science communicator and storyteller on a campaign shaped by women’s voices in climate and health.

When we began planning CASCADE’s International Women’s Day campaign, I wasn’t sure what we’d find—or even how to frame it. CASCADE doesn’t have a direct gender focus. Our work centers on inclusivity more broadly—bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and communities to better understand the intersecting and complex challenges of climate and health in African cities. But as we shaped the campaign, we became just as focused on how we tell these stories, not just which ones we tell.

Too often, narratives about women in climate or urban health depict them as helpless victims or passive recipients of aid. We didn’t want to contribute to this narrative. As Africans, we know too well the “danger of a single story,” as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reminds us—especially regarding African communities in the context of global health.

We developed a general set of questions and narrowed the campaign to four female fellows. We included those whose research focuses directly on women in climate-affected urban settings where possible. The responses shaped the campaign in what and how it was said. While we did some editing to create a cohesive and accessible narrative, we were careful to keep the core of each message intact. The honesty, nuance, and strength in each fellow’s voice became the backbone of the campaign.

I didn’t grow up around floods. I grew up in a desert—Namibia’s coastline is a 2,000 km stretch of sand meeting sea. While my home country faces droughts and occasional flooding, the towns I lived in were spared. I’ve heard of the emotional and mental health impacts of climate disasters—but I hadn’t truly internalised them. It’s difficult to, when there are so many stories about climate change and health, but they rarely feel personal. As the World Health Organization reminds us, “health is the human face of climate change.” And the honest, vulnerable reflections from the fellows brought this home for me.

Shalati’s story, in particular, stayed with me. Her research cuts through the abstract by grounding climate and health in lived, daily experience. She’s asking important questions: what does it mean to live with the impacts of climate change when your voice is rarely included in the response? Whose experiences are visible, and whose are left out?

Shalati, a Master’s student at the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG), is trying to understand some of these questions. Her research focuses on understanding and documenting the lived experiences of women in Khayelitsha, where they bear the brunt of flooding but are rarely included in intervention planning.

“My passion for climate and health research stems from my initial exposure to studies highlighting how climate-related risks, particularly flooding, disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. The limited in-depth understanding of how women in urban informal communities experience these health risks motivated me to explore this intersection further. Through my research, I aim to document their lived experiences to inform more toiled, gender-responsive intervention.”

Dr. Lilian Namuma S. Kong’ani, a postdoctoral fellow from CSAG, UCT, is interested in “contributing solutions toward tackling these challenges by looking into the intersection of climate and health to foster sustainable and resilient futures.” She does this through focusing on the “governance of climate and health in African cities, revolving around actors/institutions, legal frameworks, capacities, and decision-making processes in addressing environmental sustainability and public health challenges. With persistent challenges in integrating vulnerable populations in decision-making spaces, my work aims to develop an inclusive governance framework to help address such gaps and strengthen climate and health resilience in African cities.”

Lilian recalls growing up in the 90s, a time when dogs chased antelopes and nature became wild and untamed in her village. It was a time of abundance. What does it look like now? Poor governance has worsened air pollution, flooding, and other extreme events, further impacting vulnerable populations.

“My work directly and indirectly explores women’s lived experiences in rapidly urbanizing African cities in the face of climate change. Although women often contend with structural disparities including restricted access to resources and gender roles marginalizing their voices in climate decision-making processes, they play central roles in climate actions.”

Moving from governance to the impacts of cholera in Harare, we look to Linia Gopo, PhD student at Chinhoyi University. Lina’s research focuses on the water and climate crisis in agrarian areas, particularly the spread of diseases such as cholera in informal settlements, which is further exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure. Women and children in these areas are most affected. She hopes to see an enhanced preparedness of women, especially when there is a likelihood of cholera outbreaks, through sharing insights in the community of a weather-based cholera forecasting model.

“The women are the ones who struggle to get clean water during droughts and when a child gets sick, they may blame themselves and cause emotional stress.”

From flooding to air pollution, we shift our focus to Kampala, Uganda, where Clara Wekesa, a postdoctoral fellow at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University, examines the environmental impacts on chronic illness—particularly liver disease. Her research explores how exposure to ambient air pollution may be contributing to a growing number of fibrotic liver disease cases with no known cause.

“There remains a significant proportion of patients with fibrotic liver disease whose cause is largely unknown. With the increasing concern on climate change, and air quality being a key component, we targeted to explore the effect of ambient particulate matter on the progression of existing liver disease.”

By drawing attention to these less visible but deeply impactful health risks, Clara’s work broadens our understanding of the consequences of climate change, especially in rapidly urbanising African cities like Kampala.

Across their work, each fellow highlights a critical shift needed: responses to climate and health challenges must be grounded in the lived experiences of those most affected. This includes improving early warning systems and preparedness for disease outbreaks, especially in informal settlements. It means rethinking governance structures to ensure women are central—not peripheral—to decisions. It requires stronger connections between researchers, policymakers, and communities, as well as a deeper understanding of how gendered exposures, such as air pollution, influence health outcomes. To move forward, climate and health responses in African cities must be inclusive by design, not by exception.

And finally, as communications professionals—especially those of us working in Africa—we are responsible for telling stories with dignity, but more importantly, for listening.

Authored by Alacia Armstrong, CASCADE Communications lead.