The impacts of climate change are increasingly hindering efforts to treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and other diseases, such as malaria, which disproportionately affect populations vulnerable to extreme weather and other climate-related challenges. This forum  builds on the dialogue generated by the recently published ‘Climate Action for NTD Elimination and Health Systems’ paper (see below), and ‘Climate change, malaria and neglected tropical diseases: a scoping review’ led by the World Health Organization. During the discussion, we hear perspectives from community organizations, governments, and multilateral institutions that inform the fast-growing debate around how political and financial systems must coordinate to support the communities most affected by climate change and who contribute least to its causes, and how disease elimination strategies can evolve considering these challenges.

---

Policy Perspectives: the Importance of Climate Action for NTD Elimination and Health Systems was commissioned by the END Fund to advance the discourse around the important but nascent climate and neglected tropical disease nexus. This paper represents the perspectives of partners working across the health and climate spectrum in academia, philanthropy, government, international organizations and nonprofits. It recommends a need to build evidence in order to drive climate and NTD investment; greater integration of climate action into health strategies; and for increased cross-sectoral learning and collaboration amongst climate, health, and development stakeholders.

“Practice and policy are where the
rubber meets the road. We can do all
the research to feed into the policy,
but without the practice part it
becomes a problem.”

—Dr. Martin Muchangi
Director for Population Health and
Environment, Amref Health Africa

Are you interested in participating in future research on climate change and NTDs? Fill out this form so that we can reach out!