• Africa CDC is operationalising a $482.5 million, five-year climate-health framework (2025–2029) to shift Africa from emergency response to climate-resilient health planning.
• The strategy comes as Africa faces a $7–$15 billion annual climate-health financing gap, while external health aid continues to decline sharply.
• Funding is concentrated on emergency response (25%) and national health system strengthening (21%), reflecting a focus on preparedness and long-term resilience.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), an autonomous health agency of the African Union, is advancing its Climate Change and Health Strategic Framework (2025–2029) to provide structure and predictability for climate-health investments across the continent. Rather than issuing broad policy commitments, the framework provides a costed, coordinated roadmap that allows governments, partners and investors to plan around clearly defined priorities in an increasingly climate-exposed health landscape.

The economic risks the framework seeks to address are significant. Climate change is projected to cause $12.5 trillion in global economic losses by 2050, with Africa among the regions most exposed. Between 2001 and 2021, more than half of public health emergencies recorded on the continent were climate-related, amplifying healthcare costs in countries already constrained by weak infrastructure and limited insurance coverage. By embedding climate resilience into health systems, the framework aims to reduce the long-term fiscal shocks caused by recurring outbreaks and disasters.

This push comes at a critical juncture in financing. African countries face an estimated $7–$15 billion annual gap to build climate-resilient health systems, even as official development assistance for health is projected to fall by up to 70% between 2021 and 2025. In response, Africa CDC is encouraging a shift toward domestic resource mobilisation, including renewed commitment to the Abuja Declaration, which calls for allocating 15% of national budgets to health.

The framework’s $482.5 million budget prioritises preparedness and system-building. Key allocations include $121.5 million for public health emergency and disaster response and $100 million for national health systems strengthening, targeting climate-smart infrastructure, medical supply chains, waste management and the stockpiling of essential countermeasures such as vaccines and diagnostics.

To guide investment decisions, Africa CDC has narrowed its focus to five climate-sensitive health risks with the highest public health and economic impact: vector-borne diseases, heatwaves, food insecurity, waterborne diseases and airborne illnesses. The economic burden is already evident; Nigeria alone spends an estimated $2.4 billion annually on malaria treatment, costs expected to rise as climate conditions expand mosquito habitats across the region.

A central pillar of the framework is Innovative Financing, which seeks to align health priorities with climate finance instruments. Proposed mechanisms include climate-health bonds, solidarity levies and structured public-private partnerships, designed to attract private capital while maintaining public oversight. The goal is to move health financing away from unpredictable emergency funding toward longer-term, investable programmes.

Predictability is further reinforced through a continent-wide governance architecture involving a Steering Committee, Technical Working Groups and Regional Coordination Centres. These structures aim to improve accountability, reduce fragmentation and align donor and domestic spending. An African Health Financing Scorecard will be used to track progress and results across member states.

By standardising priorities and financing approaches, the African Union is positioning climate-health resilience as a planning and investment issue rather than just a humanitarian concern. Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya has described the framework as a shift toward self-reliance, signalling a future in which African countries invest more consistently in protecting their populations and economies from climate-driven health shocks.

Cynthia Ebot Takang