Membership
The network has over 200 members spread across East, South and West Africa as well as from other parts of the world
Membership is free!
Membership mostly comprises of people working in the local and national government, research institutions, healthcare facilities, climate and meteorological agencies, international agencies, civil society organizations, NGOs and many others.
Why join the CHANCE Network?
Get opportunities for networking and collaboration with other climate and health stakeholders
Climate and health knowledge building and sharing
Access technical support for research and fundraising
Get information on climate and health activities and events in Africa
Access resources on climate and health
Disseminate your research and implementation to other stakeholders
Members spotlight
Dr. Didacus Namanya Bambaiha
Senior Health Geographer & Climate Change & Focal Person
Ministry of Health/Uganda National Health Research Organisation, Uganda
Namanya holds a PhD in Public Health, MSc. Public Health and BA Geography. He has over 20 years work experience with the Ministry of Health Uganda as Climate and Health Focal Person. In this role as Focal Person, Dr Namanya has engaged in development of all climate change policy and legal frameworks for Uganda e.g., The Initial National Communication to UNFCCC (2001), The Uganda National Adaptation Programmes of Action (2007), The Uganda National Climate Change Policy (2015), The Uganda Nationally Determined Contribution (2015), The Uganda Climate Change Long Term Strategy (2017), The Uganda Climate Change Act 2021, The Uganda Revised Nationally Determined Contributions (2022) and Uganda Health National Adaptation Plan (2024).
Dr Namanya has participated in international research projects on climate change and public health e.g.,
- Indigenous the Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change (IHACC), www.ihacc.ca
- Health, environmental change and adaptive capacity: mapping, examining and anticipating future risks of water-related vector-borne diseases in Eastern Africa (HEALTHY FUTURES),
- COVID-19 Observatories and
- Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON), https://ipon-research.net/
Ms Melvine Anyango Otieno
Founder, Planetary Health Eastern Africa Hub
Assistant Lecturer, The University of Eldoret, Kenya
Melvine A. Otieno is an Environmental Health scientist and the founder of Planetary Health Eastern Africa. As a climate change activist in Kenya, she has worked closely with KLUG- German Alliance Climate Change and Health in Climate Change and Health/Planetary Health Leadership online course-Transformational and transdisciplinary.
She served as a Next Generation Network Fellow (2020-2023) of the Planetary Health Alliance, working to inspire, activate and convene the next generation of planetary health campus ambassadors from around the world, as well as conduct outreach to facilitate local and international collaborations.She’s also an Associate team member of Women Leaders for Planetary Health.She is currently an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Eldoret (Kenya), School of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management where she coordinates SOPHEA project-Strengthening One and Planetary Health in Eastern Africa, funded by DAAD in partnership with the University of Wurzburg in Germany and Catholic University for Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS) in Tanzania https://www.med.uni-wuerzburg.de/planetaregesundheit/sophea-project/.
Melvine is also part of the PHONIC Project-Public Health Operations for climate action project which aims to develop a practical guide for policymakers to help prioritise public health measures that mitigate climate change while adapting to the impacts of climate change. The exemplary focus is in the area of political control (governance) in Germany and Kenya. The project is carried out in cooperation between the Planetary Health Eastern Africa Hub, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Centre for Planetary Health Policy It is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA). https://cphp-berlin.de/projekt-phonic/.
Mr Justus Ogando
Executive Director
Spectrum Africa Climate Health Initiative (www.spectrumafrica.org)
Kenya
Mr. Justus Ogando is the Executive Director of Spectrum Africa Climate Health Initiative (www.spectrumafrica.org ), an independent non-profit organisation catalysing progress across a range of Climate-impacted sectors through health-centric and nature-positive approaches that enhance or module interventions already operating at planetary scale.
One of the notable projects Mr. Justus is driving is the C-BEST (Cross-Border Excess Stocks Transfer), a circular economy initiative for Greening Health Supply Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa through Govt-to-Govt dialogue, engagement, communication and partnerships that so far resulted in 9 successful Cross-Border Excess Stock Transfers involving 11 countries across East, West and Southern Africa.
Leveraging insights from analytical rigor and active stock monitoring data across the region, C-BEST initiative was able to flag countries and advise partners and Govts (National Medical Stores, MOHs, PSM funders) with slow-product-uptake, over-procurement and overstocked health products at risk of expiry. This led to excess stocks transfers to countries that had critical need and averted potential emission of CO2 and UPOPs causing air pollution; Averted a loss of USD 1.5 Million worth of ARVs, TB, OI therapeutics and diagnostics at risk of expiry; Extended end-of-life usage for products and improved health span through Quality-Adjusted-Life-Years (QALYs) by availing >20,000 patient doses for HIV+ and TB treatment patients.
C-BEST aided a systematic understanding of trade-offs, options for optimisation and paths to scale for priming Africa’s public health supply chains towards efficiency, effective resource utilisation, and attainment of SDG 3, SDG 12, SDG 13 and SDG 17.
