Indoor heat stress mitigation in low-income Kenyan homes with mosquito prevention intervention

With rapid urbanization and massive low-income housing construction, Kenya is under severe risks of indoor and outdoor overheating, which is commonly seen as an accelerator of transmission and geographical expansion of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria. This study uses computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation to investigate the indoor heat stress of a typical low-income house with and without mosquito prevention technology in Siaya county in western Kenya. The intention is to propose optimal and applicable heat mitigation solutions, including ceiling insulation, white roof coating, and cross-ventilation for low-income housing with the consideration of mosquito prevention. Results show that houses with mosquito prevention interventions have the potential to reduce heat stress, provided the design of the houses is taken into consideration. The sustainable, resilient, and inexpensive design with retrofitting solutions can benefit policymakers in reducing heat-health burdens while reducing the incidence of vector-borne diseases in the low-income houses of Africa.