Co-convened by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (Africa CDC), and the United Nations Foundation, this workshop is the third in a series designed to inform NAM’s Global Commission on Reimaging Systems for a Healthier Climate Future. Convened at Africa CDC headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the workshop will draw from grounded country experiences, cross-sector expertise, and futures thinking to:
- Envision future scenarios of health-centered systems transformation by drawing on innovative practices, country- and community-driven strategies, and positive deviance across diverse contexts to imagine what success could look like in 20-30 years.
- Surface practical pathways for transformation by connecting long-term aspirations to the realities of political economy, institutional capacity, financing, culture, and climate-health risks, and by identifying policies, partnerships, and investments that can unlock progress through sequenced and context-sensitive action.
- Clarify roles and responsibilities across scales of action by distinguishing what must be addressed locally or nationally, what requires regional cooperation, and what depends on global ecosystem shifts—ensuring accountability is distributed fairly and effectively.
- Identify shared priorities and “no-regrets” actions that can accelerate transformation across diverse contexts while respecting regional differences and strengthening global solidarity.
These discussions aim to deepen collective understanding of how health-centered climate action can take root and scale across contexts, building the relationships, evidence, and momentum needed to inform the NAM’s forthcoming consensus study to develop a Roadmap for Transformative Action to Achieve Health for All at Net-Zero Emissions.
As global and regional efforts to integrate health into climate policy gain momentum—including through the recent release of Africa CDC’s Climate Change & Health Strategic Framework and the forthcoming Belém Health Action Plan at COP30—the imperative now is to translate ambition into action. Achieving health-positive climate transformation requires more than commitments; it calls for practical, context-sensitive strategies that are politically feasible, locally grounded, and responsive to the lived realities of countries and communities.
Recordings will be available on this page shortly after the workshop.
Access the recording and materials from NAM’s first two workshops, The “What” of Systems Transformation and The “How” of Systems Transformation.
Workshop Planning Committee
- Wale Aboyade (Sun King)
- Yewande Alimi (Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention)
- Zulfiqar Bhutta (SickKids’ Centre for Global Child Health, and Aga Khan University)
- Howard Frumkin (University of Washington)
- Luiz Augusto Galvão (FIOCRUZ, and Loma Linda University)
- Vanessa Kerry (SEED Global Health, and Harvard University)
- Emani Kumar (ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability)
- Jemilah Mahmood (Sunway Centre for Planetary Health)
- Tolullah Oni (University of Cambridge, and UrbanBetter)
The NAM and Planning Committee also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Cecilia Mundaca Shah, Patty Sanchez Bao, and Celynne Balatbat (United Nations Foundation), as well as Charles Akataobi Michael and Thato Sengwaketse (Africa CDC), for their integral roles in supporting planning and agenda development.
Learn more about the NAM’s initiative on Transforming Systems for Climate & Health.
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