The effects of climate change on human health are bound to exacerbate in the coming years. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause an estimated 250,000 additional deaths per year and a loss of $2-4 billion every year globally. The climate crisis threatens to undo the last fifty years of progress in global health and can severely jeopardize the realization of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The presence of functional health facilities during extreme events such as landslides, flash floods, heatwaves, droughts, etc is critical to ensure timely treatment and care for the people affected and to monitor diseases. There is a need to build resilient healthcare facilities that are sustainable and can respond efficiently to climate change calamities.
The Vision
Robust and climate-resilient health systems are the primary line of defense against climate related shocks and stressors since they provide the much-needed care to communities affected by impacts of changing climate conditions such as vector-borne and diarrheal diseases as well as climate-related hazards such as heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and air pollution.
Our vision through this challenge is to accelerate the deployment of near-ready climate-responsive solutions in public health settings that focus on tackling the impact of climate change vis-à-vis public health.
We will provide a platform for low-cost, scalable, and replicable innovations which promote health systems’ capacity, resilience, and adaptability to extreme climate change risks and related health effects. The challenge will provide a platform for innovators to showcase their solutions and innovations, which can be adopted and implemented in the existing public health facilities.
Focus Areas
CLIMATE X HEALTH is seeking product and process innovations and solutions on adaptation, mitigation, environmental governance, or local community participation for climate-resilient health systems and related health risks in India and similar low and middle-income countries.
There are three programmatic focus areas broadly:
1) Decarbonizing public health facilities:
Innovations that help reduce the carbon footprint of public health facilities and make operations more sustainable.
2) Risk mitigation and adaptation for health system preparedness:
Innovations that track and collate weather and meteorological data for use in public health facilities to respond to climate-related risks and hazards.
3) Enhancing community engagement and capacity development on climate-induced health risks:
Innovations that engage communities in addressing the effects of climate change on health and build the capacity of the health workforce to address climate-related health risks.
Program Offerings
Direct access to public health stakeholders: To be showcased to key stakeholders (government, health agencies, donors, development partners, etc.) in the healthcare space within PATH and partners’ global and local networks.
Expert support: Provision of expert advisory in refining operational plans, navigating the regulatory landscape, and understanding national and global market dynamics. The selected innovations will be provided contextual support by PATH and program partners for fast-tracking testing and deployment at public health facilities.
Market validation: PATH and program partners will provide access and technical support to the innovators in performing market validation of their innovations.
Scaled positioning and visibility: Opportunity to strengthen their strategic positioning and develop their value within the public health space through inclusion in the compendium of the challenge disseminated across public health networks in a dissemination workshop.
Who can apply?
* The program is for enterprises (Indian or global) including Profit/Not for Profit organizations and individual innovators.
* Product Innovations that are at TRL 8 or 9 (where TRL 9 means technology has been applied in its final form and is operational and TRL 8 means technology is proven and developed but not yet operational or applied anywhere) only will be considered.
* Process innovations that are beyond the conceptual stage and with a robust methodology can apply.
The applicant will be required to submit an online application following registration. Only the applications submitted online will be accepted for further evaluation. No e-mail or hard copy application will be entertained.
The window for submission of the application closes (at midnight of January 6th (IST).
Preliminary Screening to select the applications based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Shortlisting of screened applications.
Shortlisted applicants to make a demonstration of the solution to the assessing panel.
Final selection and announcement of innovations.
Release of compendium and dissemination workshop to showcase the
successful innovations
Program Partners
Please read the terms and conditions here. For any queries, write to us at indiaclimatechange@path.org