Climate-Induced Health Emergencies and the Limits of Reactive Governance: Toward a Preventive Legal Framework in Africa

Abstract

Human-induced climate change represents the main global health problem, while sub-Saharan Africa experiences severe health risks from climate change despite its low greenhouse gas emissions. The research investigates how climate change creates health emergencies through various disease outbreaks, which include increasing cases of cholera and malaria and severe mental health conditions. The main issue with the research is that existing governance systems respond to emergencies rather than creating systems that prevent disasters. Their operation leads to fundamental system breakdowns, which create unequal access to public services. The study aims to assess existing legal systems and develop an African legal framework which will act as a system for stopping future threats. The research examines how African systems face policy-practice gaps through a doctrinal systematic analysis of national laws and peer-reviewed research materials. The results demonstrate that existing legal frameworks fail to provide sustainable solutions because institutional barriers and insufficient funding, together with ineffective enforcement procedures, create obstacles to achieving long-term sustainability. The study concludes that organizations need to establish a preventive framework which requires them to implement integrated monitoring systems, conduct compulsory health impact evaluations and create infrastructure that can withstand climate change to prevent their emergency management system from repeating cycles which violate human rights.