Call for projects "Climate Action & Health Resilience Grants Program"
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to the resilience of health systems and is becoming widely recognized as the greatest threat to human health [WHO].
Climate Change is a public health emergency. According to the WHO, between 2030 and 2050 climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.
In many vulnerable countries, the harmful effects of climate is already severe: increased termperature, extreme weather events, changes in precipitation patterns, and shifts in duration and prevalence of climate-sensitive diseases (malaria, dengue, foodborne and water-borne diseases), are severely impacting already weak primary healthcare systems. These impacts compromise the accessibility, availability, provision and uptake of essential health services, especially for disadvantaged populations.
Amid the planetary crisis that is threatening the health and life of people everywhere, solutions that enhance the capacity of communities to prevent, protect and be resilient towards the inevitable effects of climate change will be the most effective and sustainable. It will require timely, context-specific, and crosscutting actions supported by targeted investments that leverage and improve existing individual and community initiatives to build resilience and adapt.
At Foundation S, we are committed to supporting locally-led climate adaptation programs that strengthen community health resilience and provide real-world evidence that can help advocate for global and national policy reform.
The challenge
The cost to vulnerable communities is a cost to us all
Areas with weak health care infrastructures – predominantly in developing countries – will be the least able to adapt without assistance and support. The direct damage costs to health (i.e. excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion/year by 2030. Yet, less than 2% of multilateral climate financing goes to health projects.
We are supporting adaptation projects to increase the health resilience of vulnerable populations, starting with Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most climate-impacted countries in the world.
Supporting locally led adaptation
and community responses to the health impacts of climate change in Low-and Middle-Income countries
As the impacts of climate change on health increase and become more evident in countries around the world, innovative solutions to support communities adapt are needed. The 2023 Climate Action & Health Resilience Grants Program aims to strengthen local adaptation by supporting community responses that improve health resilience to the impacts of climate change. Areas of focus include:
• Community-led responses that prepare for, protect, and address a community's risk to climate-sensitive diseases (vector-borne and water-borne diseases).
• Strengthen the resilience and adaptability of communities and community health ecosystems (through service delivery, the adaptation of provisions, accessibility of essential services, and the capacity building and training of health care professional and community health actors.
• The sustainable availability and accessibility to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in climate impacted areas/regions.
• Sustainable food security and the reduction of climate related malnutrition.
• Improve resilience to health risks associated with and caused by extreme heat or weather events.
• Strengthening local capacity: Foster synergies between local, regional, and/or national organizations to implement and drive impactful and sustainable initiatives that strengthen local capacity to adapt and build resilience to climate change.
Climate Action & Health Resilience Grants Program
The Program at a glance
• Duration of projects: from 1 to 3 years
• Geographical coverage: Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mozambique, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, Kenya, Comoros, Guinea, Senegal, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Benin, Uganda, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Rwanda, Ghana, Mali, Liberia, Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Niger.
• Deadline to apply: 15 April 2023
Climate impact on health: how can philanthropy act?
As demonstrated in the urgency of this year’s COP27 summit, the climate crisis is a worldwide concern, but little is known about its direct impact on our health. Carenews, a French publication, specialized in ESG and philanthropic topics, spoke with Foundation S, to better understand the urgency of this issue and the responses that philanthropy can provide.