Dubai, 3 December 2023 – Climate change threatens to reverse many years of worldwide improvement progress and places the well being and livelihoods of future generations in jeopardy. Data signifies a speedy enhance in temperature, humidity and rainfall which negatively impacts well being, agriculture and weak populations together with girls. For instance, rising temperatures and rainfall from El Nino help progress of mosquitoes in new areas which beforehand didn’t help mosquito populations leading to unfold of ailments comparable to malaria and dengue fever. There is an pressing must spend money on artistic options that adapt and construct resilience to those current and future local weather associated challenges.

The Global Grand Challenges community of companions are happy to announce a joint funding name of roughly USD 12M. This funding is aimed to help innovators addressing the vital intersection of local weather change, well being, agriculture, and gender. The companions embody Grand Challenges Africa; Grand Challenges Rwanda; Grand Challenges Brazil; Grand Challenges Ethiopia; and Grand Challenges India in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, Foundation S-The Sanofi Collective S, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Pasteur Network. This funding follows a 2022 local weather and well being name for functions by Grand Challenges Canada and the South African Medical Research Council / Grand Challenges South Africa.

“Climate change is one of the greatest global health challenges of our time. To help solve it, we need science to understand and address the climate and health crisis, especially to support actions that benefit and protect the most affected people and communities. By bringing different funders together under the common umbrella of the Grand Challenges partnership, we can ensure that promising scientific solutions to climate change are supported and delivered to achieve impact at scale,” stated Alan Dangour, Director Climate and Health, Wellcome.

We search revolutionary initiatives using transdisciplinary approaches to higher adapt to, mitigate, or reverse the mixed, deleterious results of local weather change on well being, girls’s lives, and agriculture. Preference shall be given to improvements which might be formulated domestically or tailored from different contexts. We are particularly fascinated about domestically led, system-level improvements which might be scalable and sustainable and cross-cutting options on the intersection of a number of scientific and engineering disciplines. This request for proposals by Grand Challenges companions will present innovators with seed grants of as much as USD 200,000 every for a interval of 24 months to execute their visionary initiatives.

Announcing the request for proposals at present on behalf of all Grand Challenges companions at COP28 session on Climate-Health Solutions Showcase’ in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Science for Africa Foundation, dwelling of Grand Challenges Africa, CEO, Tom Kariuki stated: “the people whose health and wellbeing are being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are also the ones who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it—namely people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities. In low-income settings, rising heat, extreme weather events, changes in precipitation patterns, shifts in duration and prevalence of climate-sensitive diseases (malaria, dengue, many foodborne and water-borne diseases), and increased potential for the emergence of novel diseases damage already weak primary health care systems and community health structures. Together with our partners, we are committed to fostering collaborative efforts to catalyse innovations that will safeguard the well-being of our communities and pave the way for a more sustainable, resilient future.”

“Grand Challenges India is keen to attract proposals that build resilient systems to mitigate climate change impact on human health and agriculture. Solutions may include responsive adaptation mechanisms, accurate surveillance and monitoring systems, predictive models, early detection of vector-borne, waterborne diseases, and infectious pathogens of concern. Strengthening research capacities, developing smart healthcare, integrating crop-livestock system to enhance agroecosystem resilience, soil health and biodiversity are some of the focus areas. The call would encourage research and innovation utilizing transdisciplinary approaches to better adapt and mitigate or reverse the combined, deleterious effects of climate change impact on agriculture and health in India,” stated Shirshendu Mukherjee, Mission Director, Grand Challenges India.

“Foundation S is pleased to support this public-private effort to strengthen community resilience to the impacts of climate change on health. Outputs of this work will help facilitate the much-needed evidence and data required to support innovative approaches for climate adaptation at the local level,” stated Vanina Laurent-Ledru Director General, Foundation S.

 “Continuing to make progress against diseases like malaria means addressing climate, health and development in a complementary way,” stated Kedest Tesfagiorgis, Deputy Director of Global Partnerships & Grand Challenges on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “I’m excited to see the global network of Grand Challenges partners, including the seven partners from five continents supporting this call, contributing the diversity of expertise and perspective needed to foster cutting-edge, locally relevant innovation in communities around the world.”

 The funding represents a pivotal step in the direction of addressing local weather change contributing to a more healthy, extra resilient future. Proposals ought to handle the next vital areas:

• Climate & well being outcomes; together with gender associated influence
• Climate and vitamin
• Adaptation methods for agriculture and earnings improvement, with a deal with girls’s agriculture livelihoods.
• Knowledge administration and information integration of local weather and well being databases
• Effective response and resilient provide chains for disaster administration

About the Global Grand Challenges Network of Partners

The world grand challenges community of companions help revolutionary options to “Grand Challenges” in well being and improvement with a imaginative and prescient for a world the place native, regional, and world innovation ecosystems are thriving and fostering options within the locations the place they are going to have probably the most influence. Together, Grand Challenges (GC) companions have invested US$1.6 billion, awarding 3,800 grants to a various pool of scientists and researchers in 118 nations. These embody numerous GCs and their host establishments under:

• Grand Challenges Africa, Science for Africa Foundation
• Grand Challenges Canada, Government of Canada
• Grand Challenges South Africa, South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
• Grand Challenges Rwanda, Rwanda’s National Council of Science and Technology (NCST)
• Grand Challenges Brazil, Brazil’s Ministry of Health
• Grand Challenges Ethiopia, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and hosted at Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)
• Grand Challenges India, India’s authorities, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistant Council (BIRAC)

In addition to nationwide authorities funding, these GCs are additionally supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, Foundation S -Sanofi Collective, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Pasteur Network.

Media Enquiries:
Juliette Mutheu, Corporate & Science Communications
j.mutheu@scienceforafrica.foundation