News & insights

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the world's deadliest diseases. Earlier this month, the alliance published the policy brief: “Immunisation: a critical pillar of climate adaptation”.

The technical paper, led by CEPA, and in consultation with multiple national, regional and global experts working on the intersection of climate change and health, aims to make the case for the integration of immunisation as an effective anticipatory measure into climate adaptation strategies in support of national, regional and global climate adaptation efforts.

The key messages that are identified by the report include:

• Climate change significantly impacts health by increasing outbreaks of infectious diseases, driving displacement and disrupting health systems.
• The impacts of climate change on health disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as children, women and displaced people, with health workers facing increased risks, especially during extreme climate events.
• Immunisation prevents several climate-sensitive infectious diseases, promotes health system resilience and is an enabler of climate adaptation, particularly for vulnerable communities.
• Integrating immunisation into national climate processes, including national adaptation plans, can enhance health systems resilience and reduce climate-related health risks.

CEPA’s client fed back to say, “we received a lot of excellent praises for the quality of the brief”.

It is now also being translated into French, Spanish and potentially Portuguese and when ready, will be housed under both the Gavi climate and health page and the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) resource repository.