New results from the 2026 Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll show Kenya and Uganda posting the continent's largest year-over-year gains in disaster resilience. Kenya's score on the poll's Resilience Index climbed eight points, while Uganda's rose six points compared with the previous round of surveying. The findings arrive as hundreds of disaster-risk specialists prepare to convene in Mombasa, Kenya, later this month to discuss early-action strategies across Eastern Africa.
What the Poll Measures and What It Found
The World Risk Poll, drawing on more than 143,000 interviews conducted across 140 countries and territories, tracks how prepared households say they are for floods, droughts, disease outbreaks and other hazards, along with whether they received warnings and could act on them. Globally, the report finds that roughly four in five people affected by a disaster now receive some form of advance warning. That is a notable improvement in reach. Yet more than a third of people who got a warning still say they could not act on it in time, pointing to a persistent gap between information and the practical ability to evacuate, shelter, or secure property and livelihoods.
The poll identifies broader internet access, stronger household-level preparedness and greater financial resilience as factors generally associated with improved scores across African countries. It is important to note the report does not isolate a single cause for Kenya's and Uganda's specific gains, so any explanation of what drove those two countries' improvement should be treated as reasonable inference rather than a confirmed finding.
Policy Moves Reported in Kenya
Kenya has enacted the National Disaster Risk Management Act, 2026, and activated a National Contingency Plan, according to the reporting underlying this story. The government has also set up a National Crisis Communication Centre tasked with issuing early warnings and public updates, and it has designated 18 counties as high-risk zones requiring closer monitoring. Taken together, these steps describe a shift toward a more centralized, legally grounded disaster-management structure, though independent assessment of how effectively these mechanisms function on the ground is not included in the poll data itself.
Community-Level Programs in Uganda
In Uganda, disaster-risk programs have reportedly delivered early warning information to more than 1.6 million families, with upward of 400,000 households benefiting from anticipatory measures taken before disasters struck. This suggests an emphasis on community outreach and pre-positioned assistance rather than purely top-down infrastructure, though the poll does not detail which specific agencies or programs ran these efforts.
Where the Conversation Goes Next
These findings are expected to feed into the Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action, scheduled for October 28 to 30 in Mombasa, where more than 400 disaster and risk experts from roughly 40 countries will discuss how to close the gap between receiving a warning and being able to act on it. For residents and policymakers in the region, the practical challenge highlighted by the poll is less about whether warnings reach people and more about whether households have the resources, timing and support to respond once a warning arrives.