By the Numbers
- 0%%
increase in heat-related mortality since the 1990s
- 0
hospitals face high risk of partial or total shutdown by the end of the century
- 0MillionMillion
more people experienced food insecurity in 2023 due to droughts and heatwaves than from 1981 to 2010
From forecasts to frontlines: Applying climate services for health
A community health worker checks a woman’s blood pressure during an outreach session, strengthening access to essential care.
As weather patterns become increasingly complex and unpredictable, climate services help health systems direct funding, supplies, and personnel where needed.
In practice, this means hospitals receive early warnings when a heatwave is approaching, giving staff time to prepare. It means mapping areas at risk for vector-borne diseases like dengue or malaria, so interventions can be targeted before outbreaks occur. And when hurricanes are in the forecast, data on hospital vulnerabilities, water systems, and supply chains are combined with weather intel to keep services on during crises.
For more than a decade, the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have worked collaboratively through the WHO-WMO Joint Programme on Climate and Health to build initiatives like these. Efforts are paying off. For example, in Senegal, the Ministry of Health and Social Action and the Meteorological Agency collaborate closely to share forecasted heat warnings across the health system on a routine basis.
To help accelerate progress, The Rockefeller Foundation and Wellcome are supporting the WHO-WMO Joint Programme to pilot health-meteorological units in seven countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, while also building collaboration and capacity between national meteorological agencies and ministries of health in at least 20 countries. Bolstered by dedicated fundraising and capacity building efforts, this work aims to transform the foundational landscape of climate services for health, rapidly accelerating the use of actionable climate insights to protect people, especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
But lasting change requires more than pilots. To meet the growing demand for climate services in the health sector, we need a more coordinated ecosystem of partners to help streamline them into national health strategies.
Bringing climate services to scale through the Belem Health Action Plan
Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President, Health Initiative, during a visit to discuss pandemic preparedness efforts at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya. (Photo Credit Evan Stulberger)
A key step in that direction is the launch of the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP), a comprehensive framework designed to guide countries in adapting their health systems to the realities of climate change.
Launched at COP30 by WHO and Brazil’s Ministry of Health, the BHAP offers countries a clear path for integrating climate and weather intelligence into health planning and operations.
The BHAP complements years of work led by the WHO-WMO Joint Programme, demonstrating how the integration of climate and weather information into health systems decision making is an integral part of climate and health action/financing. While the Joint Programme has helped demonstrate how climate services can work in practice, the BHAP provides a shared direction and set of priorities to help climate and health actors — including funders, implementers, countries, etc. — adopt, scale, and fund these approaches.
The plan outlines three key lines of action:
- Surveillance and monitoring to improve detection of and response to climate-related health risks;
- Evidence-based policy, strategy, and capacity building to support planning and investment in climate-informed health systems; and
- Innovation, production, and digital health to ensure healthcare delivery remains reliable and sustainable in a changing climate.
At its core, the BHAP affirms that timely, reliable, and accessible information is essential to protect populations and strengthen preparedness. This belief also underpins The Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment to supporting the expansion of climate services for health.
It is undeniable that we are facing a climate emergency, and that it affects people’s health. Brazil is bringing [a] plan forward now as a central element of the global climate agenda because health can provide solutions.
Mariângela SimãoSecretary for Health and Environmental SurveillanceMinistry of Health
