HE-NEXUS Group

Climate change is no longer a future risk for humanitarian health, it is a present and accelerating crisis within crises

Today, 3.6 billion people live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. In particular, communities based in fragile and conflict-affected regions are among the most exposed, least accountable and least equipped to respond to the drivers and impacts of the climate crisis. Climate-related hazards already account for a growing share of humanitarian need, driving displacement, disrupting health systems, and amplifying disease risk.

From extreme heat and flooding to shifting disease patterns and food insecurity, climate acts as a threat multiplier, intensifying existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. For people already living through conflict, displacement, and fragility, these impacts are immediate and compounding – intensifying and driving humanitarian needs even further.

We know the problem. Now what?

At Elrha, we’ve been exploring what this means for humanitarian health, and how research and innovation can better support responses to both acute climate shocks and longer-term environmental change for people already affected by more typical crises.

Our approach builds on our situation analysis on climate and humanitarian health, our 2025 Research Forum, and the rapidly expanding global agenda at the intersection of climate, health and crisis.

Across the humanitarian, climate and health sectors, there is increasing attention on this intersection. The COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace signalled increasing recognition of the issue, while a growing number of organisations, networks, and initiatives are working to better understand and respond to climate-related health risks.

But despite this progress, critical gaps remain.

Much existing knowledge is not designed for the realities of crisis contexts, where systems are fragmented, resources are constrained, and decisions must be made rapidly under uncertainty.

Our situation analysis highlighted this clearly: while global evidence is growing, there is limited specificity for populations affected by crisis and minimal guidance for practical action.

Evidence built for the real world, not an ideal one

Last year, we began scoping Humanitarian Health and Climate Collaboratives (HHCCs) – hubs designed to connect insight with action on climate and humanitarian health. Each collaborative will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and communities within a specific crisis context to generate and translate evidence into practical, decision-ready guidance.

We commissioned The George Institute for Global Health to conduct a scoping study to ensure the design of the HHCCs is evidence-based and complements existing global and regional efforts.

The scoping study brought together:

• A review of existing climate–health collaboratives and initiatives
• Analysis of fragile and conflict-affected settings to identify priority contexts
• Interviews with researchers, humanitarian practitioners, funders, and policy actors
• A workshop to validate findings, explore practical models and prioritise geographic focal areas

Joining the dots – without duplicating the effort

We recognise the importance of engaging in the climate-humanitarian health nexus in a way that contributes to existing efforts – adding value, avoiding duplication, and working in partnership to support research and innovation with and for people affected by crisis.

The findings point to a clear opportunity for the HHCCs: to move beyond fragmented work towards more coordinated, context-driven approaches that link evidence, action, and decision-making.

The collaboratives will connect and strengthen ongoing intiatives across academia, humanitarian preparedness and response, and regional initiatives – improving alignment, amplifying impact and ensuring added value of a research and innovation lens in this evolving landscape.

The HHCCs will:

• Convene interdisciplinary researchers, humanitarian actors, policymakers, and affected communities
• Translate existing evidence into practical, decision-ready guidance
• Fill critical knowledge gaps through locally-rooted research and innovation
• Support targeted research and innovation where gaps remain
• Ensure findings reach the people and systems that can act on them.

To be effective, the HHCCs must:

• Embed equitable partnerships: Center local leadership from the outset
• Start with context: Focus on specific climate hazards within well-defined settings
• Work through systems: engage the networks of actors that shape humanitarian response in practice
• Bring together communities: Connect climate scientists, health researchers and humanitarian actors to address jointly identified and defined priorities
• Prioritise uptake: Ensure knowledge and evidence informs key decisions and programme delivery

The gap isn’t (just) evidence. It’s connection.

This work marks a shift from understanding the problem to exploring how to respond.

It reinforces that no single actor can address this alone. The challenge now is not only generating more evidence, but to connecting, translating, and applying what we already know.

While climate and humanitarian health is a newer frontier for Elrha, our approach to collaboration, convening and partnership building to solve systemic humanitarian problems is not. Over the next six months, we will build on this foundation with HHCC partners to turn insight into action.

With climate risks accelerating faster than our response, the priority is clear: bridge the gap between evidence and practice to support more effective, locally grounded humanitarian health responses.