As climate change drives up temperatures across Zimbabwe, people with chronic illnesses in rural areas face an invisible crisis.
While urban residents may find relief in fans, clinics, or cooling systems, villagers in places like Nyamandlovu are left exposed. Without solutions or medical guidance, the excessive heat is quietly worsening health outcomes for those already vulnerable.
The African Health Organisation (AHO) warned in 2023 that prolonged periods of high day and night temperatures create cumulative physiological stress on the human body, worsening major causes of death globally, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and renal conditions.
This reality is already being felt in Matabeleland.
An elderly villager from Deli, known as Ford, who suffers from a chronic illness, told CITE he has been struggling to sleep as his body overheats at night.
“The villagers can testify for me, I had challenges sleeping for some days. I felt like my body was still feeling the impact of the heat I had endured in the afternoon, but the sun had already set. I felt sick during that particular week, the heat is too much for us,” he said.
Another villager, Mashakwa Nyathi, who suffers from high blood pressure, said the excessive heat sometimes makes her feel like her “soul is leaving her body.”
“The heat is affecting us, it is too much, especially for me with hypertension. You feel like your soul is leaving your body, you try to sit in the shade or sleep, but where will you do that when it’s hot?” she said.
“I am even unable to do Intwasa farming. We are appealing for assistance as the elderly with chronic diseases so that we can maybe farm smart.”
Health practitioners say such experiences are consistent with what science has long warned.
Mehluli Ndlovu from Tsholotsho noted that although there is limited research locally, heat likely worsens existing conditions.
“This usually affects the elderly. Keeping hydrated may be a challenge for them because of water shortages coupled with limited access to food. They can be disproportionately affected,” Ndlovu said.
A local health expert, who preferred anonymity, said heat makes it harder to manage conditions like hypertension and heart disease.
She added that many elderly villagers are now unable to work their fields during heatwaves.
“When it’s extremely hot, for example, my mother has a heart condition. She can’t take too much fluid because of her medication – frusemide – which removes excess water. So she ends up dehydrated, sweating too much. The heart also works harder to cool the body, leaving her very tired and weak,” said the expert.
“When it’s cooler, it’s easier for them to work. But with these extreme temperatures, their blood pressure drops, some faint, and their conditions deteriorate. Some even lose appetite, they just look sick,” said the expert.
The health worker warned that some elderly people with chronic illnesses are at risk of strokes as their bodies fail to cope with rising heat.
“In rural areas, there are no fans or cooling systems. They struggle to perform daily tasks because the body must make an extra effort to stay cool,” she said.
The African Health Organisation (AHO) further cautioned that while global temperature rises affect everyone, certain groups, such as the elderly, infants, pregnant women, outdoor workers and the poor, are especially vulnerable to heat stress, exacerbated illnesses, and increased risk of death.
According to AHO, “Rapid rises in heat gain due to hotter-than-average conditions compromise the body’s ability to regulate temperature and can result in a cascade of illnesses, including heat cramps, exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia.”
The 2025 World Health Organisation (WHO) and Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report reinforced these warnings, revealing that annual temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024.
“Delays in taking climate change action are resulting in millions of avoidable deaths every year,” the report said.
According to the same report, 84 percent of heatwave days between 2020 and 2024 would not have occurred without climate change, while heat-related mortality has risen by 63 percent since the 1990s to an average of 546 000 deaths a year between 2012 and 2021.