Chairman of United Bank for Africa Group (UBA), Tony Elumelu, has called on stakeholders across the world to unlock climate financing to upscale healthcare delivery.
Elumelu made the call today (Monday May 13) while delivering remarks at Abu Dhabi Health Forum held in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to him, there is a strong link between renewable energy and healthcare, stressing that the two are linked via climate change.
He noted that while so much attention has been devoted to climate financing for renewable energy projects, climate change adaptation and resilience projects, the healthcare side of climate has been sidelined.
He said: “We hear so much about available climate financing for renewable energy projects, as well as climate change adaptation and resilience projects — but what about unlocking climate funding for healthcare delivery as well — particularly on the margins where climate change is leading to new diseases, or diseases appearing in place they were not seen before.
Elumellu, a philanthropist who doubles as the Founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), said as healthcare issues are becoming more severe due to climate change, attention should be directed at how climate funds can be accessed to address health care as well.
“With private sector innovation, startup funding from foundations and financial institutions, health care policies from national and global health systems, investments from all as well as cross-sector collaboration, we can definitely move humanity forward,” he explained.
Global Health Inequity
Mr. Elemelu also pointed out on the global stage that there are significant imbalances between rich and poor countries in quality of health outcomes, excessive investments in R&D in pharma, medical devices and practices for health conditions.
He further explained the implications of the inequality. According to him, the quality of healthcare in the world’s poorest countries can have an impact on the richest countries.
He said: “The world is interconnected and climate change is making disease transmission happen faster.
Covid started in China and quickly spread to all parts of the world.
“The lesson here is that we should be interested in global health equity and not just national health because poor health outcomes affect all everywhere.
“Speaking frankly, Africa is behind, with limited budgets and poor healthcare infrastructure.”
