$9bn boost for nations worst-hit by climate change

More than 70 per cent of the Global Fund’s funding, equivalent to more than $9bn, will be spent over the next three years on countries that have been the most impacted by climate change.

This is according to a statement released by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday morning. The main aim of the funding will be to support health programmes in these affected countries.

“The fight against deadly infectious diseases must go hand in hand with addressing climate change,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund.

“The climate crisis is having a severe impact on low- and middle-income countries that suffer from high disease burdens and weak health systems, putting communities – who have contributed the least to global carbon emissions – at great risk.”

The Global Fund says it will also invest over $2.9bn over the next three years in the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries to help “strengthen health systems to be more climate-resilient and better prepared for pandemic threats”.

The renewed focus on climate change for the Global Funds comes amid a backdrop where it already $5bn every year on trying to defeat HIV, TB and malaria across the world. Every year, the Global 59 million lives are saved through the Global Fund partnership. In 2022, the organisation also helped put 24.5 million people on antiretroviral therapy for HIV, as well as treating 6.7 million people with TB. It further distributed 220 million mosquito nets in that year.

Broader collaboration for climate action

At COP28 in Dubai, the Global Fund has also inked other key partnerships to help drive its agenda forward.

Among this is an agreement to work more closely with the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund that targets accelerating climate action initiatives in developing countries. It has 243 projects on the go, with an estimated $13.5bn having been invested in 129 countries across the globe.

According to a statement released on December 3, estimates indicate that only 0.5% of multilateral climate funding is allocated to projects that explicitly address human health, and just 5% of climate adaptation funding is committed to health projects.

“In partnership with the COP28 presidency, the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Health Organization, the Global Fund and the Green Climate Fund have developed and published the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions, establishing, for the first time, a shared vision for financing climate and health solutions, which can adapt health systems to protect people from climate risks to health and build resilient, environmentally sustainable health systems,” according to a statement released by the Global Fund.

COP28 is also the first of the UN climate summits to have a dedicated ‘Health Day’, placing a greater focus than ever before on climate change’s impact on human health.

Also read: COP28: UAE financial sector commits to mobilising Dhs1tn in sustainable finance