Risk, Resilience, Results

Climate change continues to intensify global health crises, driving increases in malnutrition, vector-borne diseases, and heat-related illnesses, which disproportionately affect the world’s most vulnerable communities. Amid these escalating risks, health adaptation efforts are increasingly recognized as one of the most effective investments in climate resilience. Across the globe, community-level solutions are already demonstrating their impact—showing how targeted, cost-effective interventions can reduce risk, save lives, and strengthen health systems under pressure.

And yet, despite strong evidence supporting these approaches, funding for health adaptation remains fragmented, inconsistent, and largely inaccessible to the local actors best positioned to implement them. Without changes to how funds are allocated—toward more flexible, responsive investment models—many proven solutions will remain out of reach for the communities that need them most. Addressing this shortfall will require not just awareness, but deliberate policy and funding shifts.

Against this backdrop, Foreign Policy, Foundation S, and the Africa-Europe Foundation will convene health ministers, multilateral donors, and local changemakers on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly and NYC Climate Week. This high-level forum will spotlight the 2025 Collective Minds Climate × Health Council report and showcase concrete examples of “community best buys.” Combining fresh evidence with on-the-ground case studies, the dialogue will highlight common denominators across impactful climate and health solutions at the community level. It will serve as a guide for smart investments directly to communities driving adaptation, with the aim of translating local innovation into broader resilience and, ultimately, global health security.

Registration opens in September. Sign up to be the first to know when it goes live.