IPPNW MSSR-UoN members during the plastic cleanup drive.
Under the scorching Nairobi sun, medical students joined other 30 students from different campuses of the University of Nairobi (UoN), walking shoulder to shoulder through Ngong’ Road, Ralph Bunche, Valley Road, Kenyatta Avenue, Nyerere and Mamlaka streets, with one purpose: to clean the roads from plastics and create awareness about waste management and its health impacts.
Organized by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW-MSSR) UoN Chapter, the plastic clean-up drive transformed ordinary roads into unavoidable symbols of environmental responsibility and public health advocacy.
Armed with gloves, masks, and collection bags, the students removed heaps of plastic waste while engaging members of the public on reducing waste production, proper segregation, re-use and recycling. They also highlighted the growing health dangers linked to poor waste management, including respiratory illnesses, gastrointestinal infections and cancers.
For many participants, the experience was personal. From experiencing for the first time on the streets, the direct connection between pollution, climate change and human health to immediately interrupting the cycle, though temporarily, it was eye-opening. Others called it “a reminder that healing begins beyond hospital walls.” Preventive medicine is the name!
The week-long campaign also featured a social media takeover, documentary screening, group discussions and a public lecture on waste, climate and Public health, all successfully conducted with support from Waste Swift and Leinad Enterprises and the seasoned speaker from Planetary Health Alliance organisation.
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