Image: Mud houses like this one heat up considerably in the Kenyan midday heat; the metal roof can reach temperatures exceeding 55°C. If it is painted white, its temperature only rises to around 46°C, as the current study shows. Combined with cross-ventilation and suspending the ceiling with mats, this significantly reduces the house’s interior temperature. © Charité | Daniel Kwaro
Charité researchers investigate climate change adaptations in sub-Saharan Africa
Berlin, 22 January 2026
Climate change poses enormous challenges, particularly for people in the Global South. Two international studies led by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have investigated how populations in sub-Saharan Africa are coping with rising temperatures and the threat of infections, and what can be done to mitigate these effects. In the journals *The Lancet Planetary Health* and *Nature Medicine**, the researchers report that women in agriculture are suffering more from rising temperatures, while simple measures can improve domestic living conditions. The findings are also relevant for climate change adaptation in Germany.
Heat and drought pose a major problem for farmers, not only because their crops wither and their animals die of thirst. “Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, farmers spend many hours in the fields, putting themselves at great risk,” reports Dr. Martina Maggioni, senior lecturer and head of the Climate Change and Health unit at the Charité Center for Global Health. “We wanted to know how the women and men in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries, are coping with rising temperatures.”
Shifting Activity – Where Possible
An international research group led by Martina Maggioni, which also included scientists from Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Heidelberg University, provided 39 women and 39 men with wearable measuring devices. For over a year, the team recorded the ambient temperature and humidity, as well as the physical activity, body temperature, and pulse of the participants. “This allowed us to calculate how physically demanding the work was and how it affected their health,” explains Martina Maggioni.
It became clear that women, in particular, were not able to adapt their fieldwork activities very well to the rising heat. “The men shifted their work to the early morning or late evening hours, or even to the cooler months. We didn’t see this with the women, who often also take care of the household. They are therefore especially vulnerable to the rising temperatures.” Martina Maggioni hopes that the findings will now be used for early warning systems and to protect outdoor workers. However, these adaptations will reach their limits if temperatures continue to rise, and food security could be jeopardized.
Simple measures with a big impact
The second project, jointly led by Dr. Bernard Abong’o from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Martina Maggioni, focused on the situation at home: “Here in Kenya, the rural population mostly lives in mud houses and is extremely burdened by both the rising temperatures and mosquitoes that transmit malaria,” says Bernard Abong’o.
Simple, affordable measures are needed: It was found that, for example, white-painted roofs combined with the installation of mosquito nets on all open eaves, doors, and windows significantly improved living conditions after only a short time: Indoors, both the temperature and the number of mosquitoes dropped considerably. “Almost all households wanted to participate because the measures were inexpensive and effective,” reports Martina Maggioni. Now, they are to be extended to other parts of Kenya and even other countries in southern Africa.
Results also relevant for Germany
The results of the two studies are also relevant for Germany: Temperatures are rising here as well, and workers need protection both indoors and outdoors. “More and more air conditioning is not the solution: We need affordable and sustainable measures to adapt our cities and buildings to current environmental changes,” demands Martina Maggioni.
Prof. Beate Kampmann, Scientific Director of the Charité Center for Global Health, emphasizes that neither climate change nor health or illness knows national borders: “That’s why research on global health is so important: We can learn from people in the Global South today, because they are already confronted with what awaits us in the near future. In Germany, we are already very advanced in diagnostics and therapy. But there is still a great deal to be done in prevention.”
*Eggert E et al. Physical effort during labour and behavioural adaptations in response to heat stress among subsistence farmers in Burkina Faso: a gender-specific longitudinal observational study. Lancet Planet Health 2025 Dec 22. doi: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.101344
**Abong’o B et al. Housing modifications for heat adaptation, thermal comfort and malaria vector control in rural African settlements. Nat Med 2025 Jan 05. doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-04104-9
About the studies
The study on behavioural adaptations to high temperatures in Burkina Faso (published in The Lancet Planetary Health) was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of the research group FOR 2936. The work was led by PD Dr. Martina Maggioni, and the first and corresponding author is Edgar Eggert from the Institute of Physiology at Charité. Support was provided by Dr. Ali Sié, director of the Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna (CRSN) in Nouna, Burkina Faso, played a key role in the development of this work.
The study on passive cooling of houses in Kenya (published in Nature Medicine) was supported by the Wellcome Trust and SeaFreight Labs. It was led by Dr. Bernard Abong’o (Kenya Medical Research Institute, KEMRI), with Martina Maggioni and Dr. Eric Ochomo (KEMRI) as senior authors.