Statement From Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of the Health Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation, on World Health Assembly 2024

This week, on behalf of The Rockefeller Foundation, I am participating in the 77^th World Health Assembly (WHA77) to help advance the climate and health focused policies being considered by Member States. Among these are a crucial resolution on climate change and health and the WHO’s newly approved fourteenth Global Programme of Work (GPW14), both of which align with The Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment to support resilient health systems capable of withstanding climate-induced challenges.

WHA77 is a critical moment for the world to finally commit to the steps and the sustainable investments required to make health systems worldwide resilient enough for the climate crisis. The challenges we face are too great for any one sector or organization to solve alone. By working together in new ways and leveraging new technologies, we can break down barriers, improve health outcomes, and build a healthier, more sustainable future for all. The World Health Assembly is our chance to make these big bets and drive real change.

As has been made clear, climate change is the gravest threat to the health and well-being of billions of people. At The Rockefeller Foundation, we are determined to ensure healthcare is as accessible as it is equitable. For 111 years, the Foundation has sought to ensure everyone has access to the latest medical technologies, regardless of where they live. We have made many big bets to improve public health, developing innovative solutions, forging unlikely alliances, and fiercely measuring our progress.

Over the next five years, The Rockefeller Foundation is working to reimagine the future of health systems with an ambitious $100 million investment of catalytic funding to increase the quality and efficiency of climate-health finance and strengthen surveillance systems to address new and worsening health emergencies stemming from the climate crisis.

Today at the WHA, we hosted a climate-health financing event in alignment with the Guiding Principles on Financing Climate and Health Solutions launched at COP28. This event marked a significant step in driving meaningful change and shaping the future of climate and health initiatives. Along with our esteemed co-hosts from the World Health Organization, COP28 Presidency, Global Fund, Green Climate Fund, Foundation S, Clinton Global Initiative, and Amref, four Ministers of Health and two Ministers of Environment were in attendance, reinforcing the collaborative, cross-sector effort required to tackle these pressing issues.