The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Foundation S—the philanthropic arm of Sanofi—has announced the launch of a $50 million fund dedicated to climate- and health-related issues.
Established with a $40 million matching agreement from Gates and $10 million from Sanofi, the Climate and Health Catalytic Fund aims to leverage philanthropic capital to help countries and vulnerable communities tackle the health impacts of climate change while building low-carbon, climate-resilient health systems. To that end, the new fund aims to leverage philanthropic capital to help deliver a focused stream of finance to high-risk countries and intensify their climate and health responses by supporting ministries of health, communities, and other country stakeholders to design and implement country-owned and locally led climate solutions.
“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 Malawi minister of health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda. “This fund is an important step toward 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.”
“There are profound inequities in climate health risks, adaptive capacity, and access to financing,” said Global Fund executive director Peter Sands. “Already, 71 percent of the Global Fund’s investments, including over 80 percent 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.”
(Photo credit: Getty Images/borgogniels)
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