The new fund targets the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, delivering urgent support on adaptation and strengthening health systems to safeguard millions from the intensifying impacts of climate change.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) – in partnership with the Gates Foundation and Sanofi, through its philanthropic organization Foundation S- has launched a US$50 million Climate and Health Catalytic Fund. This initiative aims to help countries and vulnerable communities tackle the health impacts of climate change while building low-carbon, climate-resilient health systems.
In response to growing calls for action from countries, the Global Fund and its partners have united to deliver rapidly accessible funding. Backed by a US$40 million match agreement from the Gates Foundation and US$10 million from Sanofi through Foundation S, this $50 million fund serves as a foundational investment for climate and health. It lays the groundwork for a broader initiative aimed at scaling efforts to meet the urgent and increasing requests from countries, which are highlighting the need for additional funding to address these pressing challenges.
Climate change is one of the greatest health challenges of our time. It destabilizes health systems, deepens inequities and erodes the social, environmental and economic foundations critical to good health. For the most vulnerable people – those already grappling with conflict, disease, and poverty – climate change is not a distant threat but a present crisis, often pushing them beyond their limits.
The growing intensity of extreme weather events has disrupted rainy seasons and prolonged droughts. Women and children, the most vulnerable populations, are disproportionately affected, bearing the heaviest burden of these crises. Without swift and targeted action, these groups face dire and potentially tragic consequences.
“Malawi has felt the direct and serious impacts of climate change on health and the most vulnerable are feeling the brunt of this, despite having made almost no contribution to the problem,” said Hon Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, the Minister of Health for Malawi. “This fund is an important step towards ensuring that the health of those most at risk is safeguarded. By focusing on building resilient health systems, we will be able to respond more effectively to climate-related health emergencies, respond to the changing landscape of disease, and continue to provide the essential services that are improving people’s health.”
This fund will leverage the agile and innovative nature of philanthropic capital and deliver a focused stream of finance to high-risk countries to intensify their climate and health response.
“The impacts of climate change on our society pose a significant threat to the health and health care resilience of some of our most vulnerable communities,” said Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi. “We are pleased to join the Climate and Health Catalytic Fund with a US$10 million contribution from Sanofi’s Foundation S – The Sanofi Collective, to help support and protect those populations most at risk. With less than 5% of climate adaptation funding allocated to health today – much of it inaccessible to the countries that need it most – collaborations like this are urgently needed to truly make a difference.”
The Climate and Health Catalytic Fund will enable vulnerable countries to better address the health effects of climate change. It will support ministries of health, communities and other country stakeholders to design and implement country-owned and locally led solutions to protect health from the escalating impacts of climate change, as well as develop robust proposals to increase future financing. It will also foster resilient health systems and promote the adoption of low-carbon, sustainable health care technologies.
“There are profound inequities in climate health risks, adaptive capacity and access to financing,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Already 71% of the Global Fund’s investments, including over 80% of our malaria funding, is being deployed in the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries, highlighting the reality that infectious diseases and climate change are hitting the same poorest and most marginalized communities the hardest. Moreover, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events exacerbates the threat from infectious diseases. We commend the Gates Foundation and Foundation S – The Sanofi Collective, for their leadership in creating this pioneering catalytic fund to help countries adapt to the urgent and growing challenges resulting from climate change’s impact on health, both by strengthening the resilience of their health systems and in responding to specific crises.”
“The Global Fund is uniquely positioned to address the health impacts of climate change by building on its established efforts to assist vulnerable countries in combating infectious diseases and strengthening health systems,” said Bience Gawanas, Vice-Chair of the Global Fund Board. “With a proven partnership model founded on country ownership, community involvement, local implementation, innovation and support from technical partners and global expertise, the Global Fund can effectively leverage its approach to meet these challenges.”
