African Leaders Call For Finance To Turn Climate-Health Plans Into Action

African health leaders have called for a decisive shift  from climate-health assessments and plans to financed programmes that protect communities  and keep essential health services running during climate shocks. 

The call was made during “Building Africa’s Climate Buffer: Financing Climate-Resilient  Primary Health Care,” an investment roundtable convened by Amref Health Africa and Seed  Global Health on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. 

The meeting brought together representatives of African governments, Africa Centres for  Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), development finance institutions, climate  funds and philanthropic organisations. 

Participants agreed that climate change must be treated as a health crisis rather than a  separate environmental concern. Extreme heat, drought, flooding and changing disease  patterns are already increasing pressure on health systems, yet health continues to receive  only a small share of global climate-adaptation finance. The urgency is growing as climate related events are projected to cause millions of additional deaths and trillions of dollars in  economic losses by 2050. 

Opening the discussion, Dr Vanessa Kerry of Seed Global Health highlighted the widening  gap between the scale of the climate-health threat and the resources available to health  systems. She stressed that the burden will fall disproportionately on countries that have  contributed least to the climate crisis. 

Dr Githinji Gitahi of Amref Health Africa said Africa’s position must be grounded in  climate justice. Most African countries have very low per-capita emissions and should not be  expected to carry the same mitigation burden as the world’s largest emitters. He outlined  three priorities: demanding faster emissions reductions from high-emitting countries,  enabling African economies to expand through renewable energy, and investing immediately  in adaptation to protect communities from climate impacts they did not create. 

Dr Gitahi also highlighted that efforts to mobilise resources from the Green Climate Fund for  Tanzania and Zambia are ongoing and are being led jointly with the countries. He also noted  the establishment of a Climate Research and Policy Lab at Amref International University,  which will help strengthen the evidence, policies and investment cases needed to move  climate-resilient health programmes from design towards implementation. 

Countries set out practical investment priorities 

Country representatives showed that governments are already identifying and implementing  solutions, but need financing at greater scale and over longer periods.

Sierra Leone’s Minister Demby described the country’s investment in reliable energy and  emergency referral services. About 380 health facilities have been fully solarised, with a  national target of 2,000 facilities by 2030. Eighteen major hospitals, including Connaught  Hospital, are now supported by 1.2 megawatts of solar power. Sierra Leone has also deployed  140 ambulances and plans to double the fleet while adding water and tricycle ambulances.  The next priority is to strengthen the referral network through better communications,  staffing, GPS-enabled coordination and national oversight. 

Dr Simpungwe of Zambia outlined a three-stage process linking the country’s Climate and  Health Roadmap to a Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment and, ultimately, a National  Health Adaptation Plan. Zambia’s immediate priorities include climate-informed disease  surveillance and early-warning systems, climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene  services, and a health workforce equipped to anticipate and manage climate-related threats. 

Kenya’s Principal Secretary Muriuki identified three related priorities: solar-powered  primary health facilities with reliable water and sanitation; integrated early-warning and  epidemiological data systems; and investment in frontline health workers and community  health promoters. She noted that short-term and fragmented project funding remains a major  barrier. Kenya needs predictable and flexible financing that can reach all 47 county  governments and support locally determined priorities. 

Dr Masebo of Ethiopia drew attention to the connection between climate change and  emerging disease risks, including the country’s first reported Marburg outbreak, as well as  increased exposure to El Niño. Ethiopia’s drive to plant 80 billion trees by COP32 was  presented as part of a broader national response. With COP32 expected to take place in Addis  Ababa in 2027, Dr Masebo said the summit should be used to set an African climate-health  agenda, not simply to host another global conference. 

Financing must follow country priorities 

From a continental perspective, Dr Tajuddin of Africa CDC presented a costed climate and  health framework valued at approximately US$480 million. Developed with African Union  Member States, the framework promotes community-centred primary health care that is climate-resilient, prepared for epidemics and pandemics, and increasingly supported by  domestic resources. Efforts to mobilise resources from the Green Climate Fund for an initial  group of Member States are ongoing and are being led jointly with the countries concerned. 

Dr Tajuddin emphasised the need for stronger coordination so that partners support national  and regional priorities rather than duplicate activities. Recent outbreaks have demonstrated  that epidemics, climate pressures and weaknesses in health systems cannot be addressed  separately. 

Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate  Change, said the main challenge is no longer identifying climate-health risks. Many  countries have completed vulnerability assessments and developed Health National 

Adaptation Plans. The missing link is the capacity to convert those priorities into costed,  bankable and implementable programmes. 

He proposed a grant-based project-preparation facility to help health ministries build credible  investment pipelines. He also called for more public and concessional resources from  multilateral climate funds and development banks. Blended and catalytic finance could then  be used carefully to reduce risk and mobilise additional capital, while all financing should  remain aligned with country priorities and clear accountability arrangements. 

The discussion also highlighted a persistent institutional barrier: health ministries often lack  the capacity and access needed to present their priorities in the language and formats used by  finance ministries and investors. Participants called for technical support that enables health  leaders to develop strong business cases and secure a place in financing decisions. 

Representatives from the Rockefeller Foundation pointed to instruments such as first-loss  capital, guarantees, concessional finance and blended structures. They argued that effective  resilience financing should connect early-warning systems to agreed action plans and pre arranged funds, allowing countries to respond before a climate-related health threat becomes  a full emergency. 

The World Bank reported growing integration of climate considerations across its health  portfolio and highlighted co-financing, debt-for-health swaps and blended finance as  mechanisms that could support implementation. The Gates Foundation called for longer  philanthropic time horizons and greater investment in health workers, community health  systems, artificial intelligence and disease surveillance, particularly in fragile and  humanitarian settings. 

Participants also stressed that climate-health investment must account for gender. The  Valerian Fund warned that gender-neutral planning can obscure the different risks faced by  women and girls, while Grand Challenges Canada called for philanthropic organisations to  align their funding behind shared, country-led outcomes. 

A shared agenda ahead of COP32 

The roundtable closed with a focus on practical follow-through. Amref Health Africa and  Seed Global Health will prepare a summary of the discussion and its commitments.  Participants also proposed a climate and health project-preparation and financing platform to  help countries turn National Health Adaptation Plans into investment-ready programmes over  the next 12 months. 

Ethiopia proposed a continuity session during the Africa CDC meeting in November to  consolidate the climate-health agenda ahead of COP32. Participants further called for  development finance institutions, multilateral development banks and philanthropies to align 

their investments behind costed national plans and to report on progress at future global  meetings. 

The message from New York was clear: African countries have identified the risks and set  their priorities. The next test is whether financing partners will organise behind those  priorities and move resources to the primary health-care facilities, health workers and  communities already confronting the health effects of a changing climate.