Last year, following COP28 in Dubai, Save the Children wrote about the stark and deadly gap in climate finance, particularly for adaption, loss and damage. One year on, COP is hosted in Baku, we are asking – have things really changed?  If not, what can we do to bring the change needed for children? 

COP28 hosted the first ever ‘Health Day’, and since then we have been making slow progress towards recognising the scale of the challenge that faces the health community and the growing barriers to achieving Universal Health Coverage. At the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA), World Health Organization (WHO) member states finalised a resolution on climate change and health, which mandates WHO to step-up its work to tackle the health impacts of climate change.  

As members of the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), over 85 countries have committed to build climate resilient and sustainable health systems and promote the integration of climate change and health nexus into respective national, regional, and global plans. And the WHO Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems provides guidance on how the health sector can systematically and effectively address the challenges presented by climate change, while simultaneously reducing its own contribution to climate change. It aims to help design transformative health systems that can provide safe and quality care in a changing climate.  

The ongoing effort to develop and implement the WHO Global Plan of Action on Climate Change and Health, will set out a renewed strategy for tackling the health impacts of climate change globally. A strong WHO is critical in providing the leadership required to prevent and address the impact of the climate crisis on people’s health and wellbeing. The WHO has recently opened a vital new Investment Round which will give them the agility to respond to crises faster and more effectively, and it is critical that donor governments commit to stabilising and securing the WHO’s financial base. 

But the WHO cannot do it alone.  

COP29 is an opportunity for the rest of the global health community to come together, to plan, align, and to take actions to scale. Just as the impacts of climate change range widely across human health and development, so too does the range of actors who can support communities in mitigating and adapting to the health and nutritional impacts of climate change – and in doing so, save and improve lives for all.  

Governments, the private sector including foundations and philanthropies, development banks, civil society, everyday citizens, all have a critical role to play. COP29 is a chance to maintain the momentum gained from COP26 to COP28 and the continuity as we head to COP30 in Brazil which is expected to be another key moment for health and wellbeing. 

Vaccines are one of global public health and humanity’s greatest achievements. A clear, evidence informed approach, in which the world has been undeniably made safer, eradicating diseases such as smallpox which once ravaged hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Despite such successes, one of the most pervasive challenges for global public health actors is reaching the most vulnerable populations, for whom this progress symbolises an unfulfilled promise. More than 14.5 million zero-dose children, those who have not received a single vaccine dose, are at much greater risk due to the climate crisis, missing the crucial protection that could save their lives from climate sensitive infectious diseases.  

Climate change poses new challenges for these children, and for those trying to reach them. They are often the hardest hit by climate driven disasters, and many, including girls, displaced and Indigenous children, or those with disabilities, already face significant inequities and barriers to accessing healthcare. To make this worse, extreme weather events like floods, tropical cyclones, wildfires and droughts can damage health infrastructure and disrupt supportive services, making it even more difficult to deliver essential vaccines and medicines to those in need. Many of these events trigger temporary and potentially long-term displacement, further exacerbating access to vaccines especially for those on the move. Climate-related disasters can disrupt supply chains, leading to shortages of essential health commodities.  

Further still, climate-induced resource scarcity contributes to the complex interplay of socio-economic and political factors that lead to conflict, displacing children and potentially increasing the risk and exposure to gender-based violence, putting them further beyond the reach of health services including immunization. Just as it becomes harder to reach these children, the need becomes greater. Climate change is intensifying and changing the spread of vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria, dengue) and water-borne disease (e.g. cholera), increasing the need for vaccines and medicines and the number of children affected.  

How can partnerships make a change? 

Donor and national governments have a collective responsibility to design and implement policies that prioritise health and nutrition in climate mitigation and adaptation plans and - crucially - allocate funding for climate resilient health infrastructure. This includes closing the funding gaps in adaptation and loss & damage. Yet, climate finance should not be used to plug the current shortfalls in health finance. Donors and national governments need to step up and invest in health and health systems strengthening in a predictable, sustainable and adequate manner. Health services, including immunisation, must be integrated into disaster response and recovery plans. 

Civil Society Organizations like Save the Children can continue to raise awareness about the importance of immunisation and the impacts of climate change on children’s health and nutrition, especially the rising burden of climate sensitive infectious diseases. We can advocate for integrating climate resilience into the immunisation programmes we support, mobilise communities and address entrenched barriers to vaccination to ensure children are brought to health facilities or can access vaccinations by other means of outreach. 

Private sector partners like GSK already lead on the development of new tools which will be required to adapt to climate change and changing diseases patterns and through this has introduced the world’s first malaria vaccine in endemic countries. It also collaborates with governments and NGOs to fund and implement health initiatives for example supplying Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance with more than 1.2 billion vaccine doses since 2010. And with 50% of GSK’s £1bn global Health R&D investment over ten years on climate-aggravated diseases such as malaria, NTDs and enteric diseases, there is a clear focus on tackling this issue from within the private sector, in collaboration with the right partners.    

Public-private partnerships can bring together the complementary skills and expertise of different actors to bridge capability gaps, promote knowledge sharing, and foster the development and adoption of new interventions and technologies at a system-wide scale. An example of this is our 12-year partnership between Save the Children and GSK, which is currently jointly implementing a 5-year programme focused on increasing vaccination rates amongst children and decreasing the numbers of zero dose children, supporting communities in Ethiopia and Nigeria – two countries at the frontline of the climate crisis.    

The partnership is also supporting the development of Green Climate Fund projects including the recently approved Malawi project, ‘Climate Resilient Health and Well-Being for Rural Communities’ (CHWBRC), alongside Anticipatory Action projects in Nepal and Nigeria. The partnership also supports Save the Children Emergency Health Unit (EHU) which is deployed to support healthcare needs in emergencies around the world.  

The upcoming COP29 will be key given the conclusion of negotiations of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, potential focus on Article 6 Implementation, the UAE – Belém work programme on indicators for climate adaptation, the Just Transition Work Programme the Mitigation Ambition and Implementation Work Programme and operationalizing the Global Stocktake agreed to at COP28. It is our chance to come together and agree to implement joint plans that prioritize immunization as a key primary health response for climate action, save lives and protect the future. WHO is leading a Special Report on Climate and Health for COP 29, which will propose priority actions for governments and policymakers, and 18 November 2024 ‘Health Day’ will highlight discussions on best practice strategies for adaptation and strengthening climate resilience of health systems (19 November 2024 ATACH day).  

COP29 brings the world together to talk about the future. The discussions we have, the connections we make, and the plans we agree will help to define the future and secure the lives of children.  We must call for increased political commitment and investment to tackle climate-sensitive global health threats that disproportionately affect children, and scale up of investments in climate and health from all sectors. So, let’s make it count, and ensure that words turn into actions, and every child has a chance of the future they deserve.