PRETORIA, South Africa — A new, authoritative health policy paper by Lancet Countdown Africa has issued a stark warning to African policymakers: Climate change is rapidly intensifying the continent's health crisis, driving significant economic losses, stalling progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and multiplying threats like infectious diseases and food insecurity.

Published by the research collaboration hosted at the University of Pretoria (UP), the report underscores a critical global inequity: African nations, despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, are enduring some of the most severe climate-related risks.

The findings are intended to inform urgent policy decisions as global negotiators prepare for COP30.

Major Health Threats Compound Economic Strain

The report highlights that the climate crisis is exacerbating existing public health challenges across the continent.

The key threats include: Worsening Infectious Diseases: Changing temperatures and rainfall patterns are expanding the range and transmission seasons of vector-borne diseases; Food Insecurity: Climate shocks disrupt rain-fed agriculture, leading to chronic and acute malnutrition; and Declining Air Quality and Mounting Strain on Fragile Health Systems.

In Malawi, a nation highly dependent on rain-fed agriculture, these threats are already a devastating reality, according to experts.

Consecutive climate-induced disasters, including Tropical Storm Ana and Cyclones Idai, Gombe, and the catastrophic Freddy, have caused economic losses estimated at $1.19 billion between 2015 and 2023, according to Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs.

Malawi's Climate Burden: Malawi’s vulnerability is exceptionally high, with an annual GDP loss of at least 1.7% attributed to the combined effects of droughts and floods. Climate change is directly linked to the increased incidence of malaria, diarrhoeal diseases (like cholera), and malnutrition, which are already leading causes of death in the country.

The disruption to food supplies is also noted to increase vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls, potentially leading to negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes and a rise in gender-based violence.

A Call for Data-Driven Resilience

The Lancet Countdown Africa paper stresses that protecting health must be at the centre of climate action and development planning. Researchers are urgently calling for stronger data systems, equitable climate financing, and evidence-based policies to build resilience across Africa.

Dr. Zakari Ali, Lancet Countdown Africa Fellow, noted that adaptation is possible, but requires immediate, focused investment.

“The solutions to adapt to the health impacts of climate change in Africa will not come easy, but we are not starting from zero. Now is the time to build new expertise and galvanise pockets of existing data to guide appropriate and effective action,” he stated.

New Regional Centre to Amplify African Voice

In a direct response to the urgent continental need for locally relevant data, the Lancet Countdown has launched a new regional Centre in Africa. Hosted by UP’s Future Africa pan-African platform, the Centre aims to: Bring together regional experts and institutions; generate locally relevant evidence and track climate-related health indicators and support African policymakers with robust data for climate action.

Professor Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi, Director of Lancet Countdown Africa, affirmed the Centre's mission. “The centre will elevate the African voice in global discourse and support the translation of global climate commitments into meaningful solutions that protect health and livelihoods in a changing climate,” he said.

The report serves as a definitive call to action, demanding that global stakeholders recognize the interconnected nature of the climate and health crises, particularly in the most vulnerable regions of the world.