By Grace Awuor Otieno
Climate change is no longer only an environmental crisis. Across Africa, it is driving the spread of infectious diseases, worsening food insecurity, exposing millions to extreme heat and placing growing pressure on already overstretched health systems.
Yet despite the increasing health burden, less than five percent of climate finance from multilateral climate finance institutions is directed towards protecting public health, raising concerns that countries are being left ill-prepared for the health impacts of a warming planet.
The consequences of this funding gap are already becoming evident. Climate change is increasing cases of vector-borne and waterborne diseases, worsening malnutrition and exposing vulnerable communities to extreme heat, leaving many health systems struggling to prepare for and respond to growing public health threats.
Against this backdrop, health advocates are calling for a shift in how climate finance is allocated, arguing that stronger investment in resilient health systems should be treated as a central pillar of climate action rather than an afterthought.
Speaking during a climate change and health workshop organised by the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA), Friday Phiri, Climate Change Advocacy Lead at Amref Health Africa, said health continues to receive a disproportionately small share of climate finance despite mounting evidence linking climate change to worsening health outcomes across Africa.
“Climate finance has traditionally prioritised infrastructure, renewable energy and agricultural adaptation, with comparatively little investment directed towards strengthening health systems,” Phiri said.
“While those investments remain important, protecting people’s health must receive equal attention because climate change ultimately affects human wellbeing.”
Health systems, he noted, are increasingly expected to respond to climate-driven emergencies while dealing with limited financial resources.
Hospitals and clinics are often damaged by floods, disease outbreaks place additional strain on healthcare workers, and prolonged droughts contribute to malnutrition and heightened vulnerability among children, pregnant women and other at-risk populations. These pressures often disrupt routine healthcare services, forcing health facilities to divert limited personnel and resources towards emergency response while delaying essential services such as maternal care, childhood immunisation and treatment for chronic illnesses.
“Rather than treating health as a sector that responds after disasters occur, governments and financing institutions should recognise healthcare as a form of climate adaptation that helps communities withstand future shocks,” Phiri said.
He noted that investments in climate-resilient health infrastructure, disease surveillance, early warning systems and community health programmes can significantly reduce both the human and economic costs of climate-related emergencies.
“Financing decisions made today will determine whether countries can build health systems capable of withstanding future climate shocks,” Phiri said, noting that investing in resilient hospitals, climate-informed disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and community health programmes, is not only about responding to disasters but preventing avoidable loss of life and reducing long-term economic costs.
For countries such as Kenya, where floods, droughts and disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent, the stakes are particularly high. Climate-related emergencies can overwhelm health facilities, interrupt routine medical services and divert already limited resources toward emergency response. Without sustained investment in preparedness, experts warn that health systems will continue to struggle to keep pace with increasingly complex climate risks.
As governments prepare future climate strategies and negotiate access to international climate finance, health advocates are calling for a fundamental shift in priorities. They argue that climate finance should not be measured solely by the number of renewable energy projects financed or emissions reduced, but also by its ability to protect people from the growing health consequences of climate change.
