This story was produced by Grist and co-published with Africa Uncensored . It is part of the Grist series Vital Signs , exploring the ways climate change affects your health. This reporting initiative is made possible thanks to support from the Wellcome Trust.

Longorot Epuu’s 8-year-old niece, his namesake, was sick.

Epuu quickly recognized the signs of kala-azar, the “black fever,” while visiting his brother’s family in a neighboring village in Kenya’s vast, arid Turkana region in September of last year. The younger Longorot had a high fever and a swollen stomach, and she was very weak. Also known as visceral leishmaniasis, kala-azar is caused by female sandfly bites and predominantly impacts children under the age of 15. But Epuu didn’t know that when left untreated

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