Presentation short abstract

This study investigates the social-political and ecological factors that shape the adaptive, absorptive and transformational strategies of interconnected community health systems to climate hazards, and pastoralists' strategies to enhance the resilience of their health and nutrition.

Presentation long abstract

Shocks and stressors related to climate change and variability pose significant risks to pastoral systems globally, and a wealth of research documents the resilience strategies pastoralists employ in response. The flexibility provided by mechanisms such as mobility and diversification has enabled pastoralists to adapt to ecological uncertainty and sustain livelihoods across generations, but climate change and other ecological, socioeconomic and political transformations have contributed to the erosion of the effectiveness of these strategies. However, a notable knowledge gap exists regarding the health and nutrition outcomes of pastoralist resilience strategies. Moreover, the adaptive, absorptive and transformational strategies that communities themselves employ to enhance health and nutrition are under-researched and often excluded from health system resilience frameworks. This is significant as public health is among the pastoral systems that are most sensitive to climate change and variability. Using a participatory action research (PAR) approach in Marsabit and Turkana counties of Kenya, this study examines the social-political and ecological factors that influence the resilience of interconnected community health systems to climate hazards and the strategies that pastoralist communities adopt to strengthen their health and nutrition resilience.