Dear subscriber,
We review the content for the past year with the three biggest stories in climate-health. The first counters long regulatory wait for clinical trials approval for faster vaccine manufacturing during pandemics. The second is a one of a kind investment by the Africa CDC in pharmaceutical companies to improve local manufacturing. The third is the launch of the the first coordinated climate-health fund at COP 30.
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
When the next pandemic hits, induced by climate change or otherwise, Africa should no longer have to wait 1.5 years for vaccine trials to clear paperwork. A new partnership between The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO-led clinical trials institution in October will enable regulators to make multi-country approvals in as little as 15 days.
African researchers and manufacturers currently face long regulatory waits that slow vaccine development. The standard approval timeline for multi-country clinical trials is between six and 18 months.
According to the Africa CDC, climate change is making future pandemics more likely due to the increasing frequency, geographic spread, vulnerability and severity of infectious diseases.
Our take: Africa’s dependence on imported pharmaceutical products undermines access to essential medicines, making local health systems vulnerable in times of crisis…Read more (2 min)
In September, the Africa CDC started rolling out $3.2 billion in financing to boost African pharmaceutical and vaccine production. The plan is designed to tackle the continent’s heavy reliance on imports, which is currently at 99%. The new funding will support local manufacturers who can meet international quality standards.
Afreximbank has pledged $2 billion in financing, while Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) will provide $1.2 billion in grants to support the project. To qualify, companies must secure World Health Organization pre-qualification.
Local pharmaceutical manufacturing strengthens climate health by securing medicine supplies during climate-driven disruptions, cutting import emissions, and building resilient health systems to address rising heat, disease and food insecurity risks.
Our take: Local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa is a climate resilience strategy…Read more (2 min)
In November, more than 35 leading global health philanthropies launched the Climate and Health Funders Coalition and committed an initial $300 million for climate-health. The Coalition’s inaugural funding effort, announced at COP30 in Brazil, supports climate-health and the implementation of the Belém Health Action Plan.
This is the first time that a coalition of global health philanthropies is investing this amount directly in climate-health and the first formation of a joint fund for climate-health. The partners include the Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Wellcome and more.
The partners will agree on annual contributions, but the focus for the first $300 million will be to accelerate solutions, innovations, policies and research on extreme heat, air pollution and climate-sensitive infectious diseases in Africa and other continents.
Our take: The fund’s early priorities like air pollution and infectious diseases align with the most urgent climate-linked health burdens in Africa…Read more (2 min)
____________________