A new global initiative, Nexa, launched yesterday with a goal of mobilising more than $50 million in partner funding to scale climate-health innovations in low- and middle-income countries.
The first Nexa funding call opens today (22 June) for innovations in Africa and the Americas.
Nexa is a collaborative effort announced at London Climate Action Week, where Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), in partnership with the Government of Canada and the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation), launched a global initiative to support locally led innovations that address the growing health impacts of climate change.
Other collaborators on the initiative include the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Sanofi Foundation, the Fund for Innovation in Development and members of the Global Grand Challenges Network in Botswana, Brazil, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.
Nexa launches as climate-related health risks intensify across developing regions.
According to the initiative's partners, an estimated 3.6 billion people live in climate-vulnerable areas, placing growing pressure on health systems already struggling to cope with disease outbreaks, extreme weather events and resource constraints.
The programme is informed by a survey of 6,400 respondents across 107 low- and middle-income countries.
Across Africa, climate change is increasingly linked to outbreaks of malaria, cholera, dengue fever and other infectious diseases, while droughts and floods continue to disrupt healthcare delivery.
Previous donor-backed initiatives have funded digital disease surveillance systems, climate-informed health planning tools and mobile technologies that help frontline healthcare workers respond to emerging threats.
Nexa aims to accelerate similar innovations developed and led within affected communities.
Dr Tom Kariuki, CEO of the SFA Foundation, said: "Climate and health is one of the defining challenges of our time and it will require new models of partnership and investment.
"Those closest to these challenges are often closest to the solutions. Nexa demonstrates what is possible when African priorities, local innovation and global collaboration come together around a shared goal."
"Communities around the world are facing rapidly growing threats to their health and livelihoods while global climate commitments are weakening," said Dr Karlee Silver, CEO of GCC. "Nexa is about supporting bold, locally led innovation to transform how people stay healthy in the face of climate change."
Randeep Sarai, Canada's secretary of State for International Development, added: "The Government of Canada is proud to support Nexa. Investments in locally led climate and health innovations can create new pathways for vulnerable communities to overcome the health impacts of climate change and safeguard global health."
According to the initiative, it supports locally led innovations that help communities anticipate, adapt, and respond to climate-related health threats, with an initial focus on extreme heat, mosquito-borne infections, and poor air quality.
Nexa will provide catalytic funding for both early-stage and growth-stage climate and health innovations that strengthen health-system adaptation and resilience and have strong potential for impact and scale.
Proof-of-concept innovations will receive up to $200,000 over 18 to 24 months to support early-stage ideas. Proven solutions will receive approximately $250,000 to US$2 million in Transition to Scale funding, depending on the maturity of the innovation.
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