The health case for scaling quality adaptation finance and integrating agendas

This briefing from the Global Climate and Health Alliance argues for the scaling and integration of climate adaptation and health financing. It highlights a significant funding gap, the inefficiency of siloed governance, and the potential for cross-sectoral adaptation to protect public health and health systems.

• Climate change impacts multiple sectors, including housing, water, sanitation, and agriculture, which increases the burden of disease and injury on health systems and damages infrastructure. Approximately 3.6 billion people globally live in climate-vulnerable settings and face health risks such as malnutrition, heat stress, mental health impacts, and infectious diseases like cholera and malaria.
• There is a substantial and fragmented financing gap for climate adaptation and health. Developing countries require approximately US$310–365 billion annually for adaptation, while Africa specifically needs between $7–15 billion to strengthen climate-resilient health systems. Adaptation finance provided to developing countries fell to US$26 billion in 2023.
• Financing and governance for climate adaptation and health are currently siloed, which hinders progress. Fewer than half of the costed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) provide estimates for health adaptation. Furthermore, health strategies often lack resilience indicators, budget tagging, or adaptation costing.
• Integrated approaches to climate and health have been implemented in specific countries. Mozambique created a National Health Adaptation Plan to Climate Change using cross-ministerial coordination across agriculture, meteorology, and environment sectors. Bangladesh linked climate resilience to its network of more than 13,000 community clinics through its National Adaptation Programme of Action, which supported primary health care during recurrent flooding and Cyclone Amphan.
• The briefing recommends that multilateral institutions, development partners, and governments scale adaptation financing via grant-based public finance and expand fiscal space through fossil fuel subsidy reform, innovative financing, and debt relief. It also suggests integrating health system strengthening into NDCs, NAPs, and adaptation investment plans.

APA

Global Climate and Health Alliance (n.d.). The health case for scaling quality adaptation finance and integrating agendas. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Briefing-SB64-Financing-climate-resilient-health-systems_-1.pdf

Chicago

Global Climate and Health Alliance. The health case for scaling quality adaptation finance and integrating agendas. n.d. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Briefing-SB64-Financing-climate-resilient-health-systems_-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Climate and Health Alliance |title=The health case for scaling quality adaptation finance and integrating agendas |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Briefing-SB64-Financing-climate-resilient-health-systems_-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalclimateandhealthalliancendhealth, author = {{Global Climate and Health Alliance}}, title = {{The health case for scaling quality adaptation finance and integrating agendas}}, institution = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Briefing-SB64-Financing-climate-resilient-health-systems_-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }