12/05/2026
Today, on International Nurses Day, we honour the nurses, midwives, and frontline healthcare workers who continue to provide care under increasingly difficult conditions caused by climate change.
At CeSHHAR Zimbabwe, we are proud to contribute to growing evidence on how climate change is affecting healthcare workers in rural Zimbabwe through our recent study: “Coping with Extreme Heat in Primary Maternity Care: An Ethnography of Frontline Health Workers in Rural Zimbabwe.”
Conducted in Mt Darwin under the HIGH Horizons programme, the study highlights how nurses and midwives are delivering maternal and new-born care in facilities exposed to extreme indoor heat, poor ventilation, water insecurity, limited cooling infrastructure, and chronic resource constraints.
The research reveals that heat is not just an environmental issue — it is increasingly shaping healthcare delivery, workforce wellbeing, and patient care in vulnerable settings. Despite these challenges, frontline healthcare workers continue to adapt, improvise, and serve their communities with resilience and compassion.
As climate change intensifies, protecting healthcare workers must become central to building climate-resilient health systems.
This International Nurses Day, we celebrate the dedication, strength, and humanity of nurses everywhere — especially those working in under-resourced communities on the frontline of both healthcare and climate change. 💙
Read the full article HERE:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266732152600020X?via%3Dihub
