On 20 May 2026, during the 79th World Health Assembly, the Center for Global Health Diplomacy co-hosted a high-level dialogue on climate, health, and finance with Peking University’s Institute of Global Health and Development and Africa CDC. Held at the Hotel InterContinental Geneva, the session brought together ministers, multilateral leaders, and financing experts to examine where investment for climate and health is flowing, and where it is most needed.
The links between climate, ecological systems, and human health are increasingly visible: in changing outbreak patterns, in the strain on health systems, and in the gap between what governments plan for and what climate-related health risks demand. Yet investment remains fragmented across climate finance, development assistance for health, and national budgets. The session set out to explore how these flows could be better aligned.
The discussion was organised in three parts:
- The investment landscape. Africa CDC’s Chief of Staff Dr. Claudes Kamenga opened the session in a dialogue moderated by Christoph Benn, mapping current financing flows and making the case for looking beyond GDP-based measures in planetary health planning.
- From vision to action. A panel moderated by Ilona Kickbusch brought together representatives of health ministries, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Global Fund. Panellists discussed what strategic investment in planetary health requires, how national health planning in low- and middle-income countries can reflect planetary health priorities, and what commitments leaders could make in the short and long term.
- Tools for better decisions. The session closed with a presentation of the Planetary Health Axis System (PHAS), an AI-based decision-support tool developed by Peking University to help governments and funders align priorities across climate, health, and equity.
We thank our co-hosts, speakers, and all participants for a rich discussion.