COP30 Health and Climate Resilience: Integrating Health and Health Workers

Background

The climate crisis is a health crisis. From heatwaves and floods to vector-borne and respiratory diseases, climate change is already endangering lives and placing immense strain on health systems. Health workers are on the frontline of this crisis—responding to emergencies, maintaining essential services, and enabling communities to adapt. Yet, in many countries, the policies and financing frameworks that guide climate action still overlook health and the workforce that underpins system resilience. 
 
To close this gap, national policy frameworks such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs), and climate health and environmental policies play a critical role. When centering health workers and when aligned and implemented coherently, these frameworks can mobilize climate finance, guide cross-sectoral planning, and institutionalize the integration of health and health workers into national adaptation efforts. 
 
However, many countries face challenges: limited technical capacity to link health, finance and environment ministries, fragmented financing streams, and lack of data on health vulnerabilities and workforce readiness. This session provides for a space to governments (and other partners) to discuss challenges to share best practices and lessons learnt to center health workers in national (and global) climate and health policies and frameworks and ensure these commitments are translated into action.

Objectives

• Underscore how the climate crisis impacts health and health workers and why workforce resilience is central to adaptation.

• Highlight country experiences in embedding health and health workers in NDCs and HNAPs.

• Identify key barriers and practical solutions to inter-ministerial coordination and financing.

• Move from rhetoric to action—defining what implementation and accountability should look like post-COP30.

Speakers:

• Dr. Namanya Bambaiha Didacus, Climate Change and Health Focal Point, Ministry of Health Uganda
• Dr. Hendricks Mgodie, Chief Public Health Officer, Ministry of Malawi
• Jess Beagley, Policy Lead, Global Climate and Health Alliance
• Dr. Brian Agaba, Deputy Country Director, Seed Global Health Uganda
• Gernot Laganda, Chief of Climate, UNICEF (tbc)
• Dr. Chris Sichone, Public Health Consultant, Ministry of Health Zambia

Moderated by Marionka Pohl, Senior Director of Policy, Seed Global Health