GENEVA, Switzerland, 23 July 2025 (The Geneva Learning Foundation) –Today, The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) announces the launch of “Learning to lead change on the frontline of climate change and health,” the inaugural course in a new certificate programme designed by and for professionals facing climate change impacts on health.
Enrollment is now open. The course will launch on 11 August 2025.
- English: https://go.learning.foundation/tglf/c/20132
- French: https://go.learning.foundation/tglf/c/21450
Two years ago today, nearly 5,000 health professionals from across the developing world gathered online for an unprecedented conversation. They shared something most climate scientists had never heard: detailed, firsthand accounts of how rising temperatures, extreme weather, and environmental changes were already devastating the health of their communities.
The stories were urgent and specific. A nurse in Ghana described managing surges of malaria after unprecedented flooding. A community health worker in Bangladesh explained how cholera outbreaks followed every major storm. A pharmacist in Nigeria watched children suffer malnutrition as crops failed during extended droughts.
“I can hear the worry in your voices,” one global health partner told participants during those historic July 2023 events, “and I really respect the time that you are giving to tell us about what is happening to you directly.”
Connecting the dots from individual impact to systemic crisis
While climate change dominates headlines for its environmental and economic impacts, a parallel health crisis has been quietly unfolding in clinics and hospitals across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Health workers have become first-hand witnesses to climate change’s human toll.
Dr. Seydou Mohamed Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso described devastating floods that “really marked the memory of the inhabitants” and led to cascading health impacts.
Felix Kole from Gambia reported that “wells have turned to salty water” due to rising sea levels, while extreme heat meant “people are no longer sleeping inside their houses,” creating new security and health complications.
Rebecca Akello, a public health nurse from Uganda, documented malnutrition impacts directly: “During dry spells where there is no food, children come and their growth monitoring shows they really score low weight for age.”
Health professionals like Dr. Iktiyar Kandaker from Bangladesh already get that this is a systemic challenge: “Our health system is not prepared to actually address these situations. So this is a combined challenge… but it requires a lot of time to fix it.”
These health workers serve as what TGLF calls “trusted advisors”—over half describe themselves as being like “members of the family” to the populations they serve. Yet until now, they have had no structured way to learn from each other’s experiences or develop coordinated responses to climate health challenges.
Learning from those who know because they are there every day
“It is something that all of us have to join hands to be able to do the most we can to educate our communities on what they can do,” said Monica Agu, a community pharmacist from Nigeria who participated in the founding 2023 events. Her words captured the collaborative spirit that has driven the programme’s development.
The new certificate programme employs TGLF’s proven peer learning methodology, recognizing that health workers are already implementing life-saving climate adaptations with limited resources. During the 2023 events, participants shared examples of modified immunization schedules during heat waves, cholera outbreak management after flooding, and maintaining health services during extreme weather events.
“We believe that investing in health workers is one of the best ways to accelerate and strengthen the response to climate change impacts on health,” explains TGLF Executive Director Reda Sadki.
The programme has been developed from comprehensive analysis of health worker experiences documented since 2023. Most observations come from small and medium-sized communities in the most climate-vulnerable countries.
For health, a different kind of climate action
Unlike traditional climate programmes focused on policy or infrastructure, this initiative recognizes that effective climate health responses must be developed by those experiencing the impacts firsthand. The course enables health workers to share their own experiences, learn from colleagues facing similar challenges, and develop both individual and collective responses.
Dr. Eme Ngeda from the Democratic Republic of Congo captured this approach during the 2023 events: “We are all responsible for these climate disruptions. We must sensitize our populations in waste management and sensitize how to reform our healthcare providers to face resilience, face disasters.”
The programme connects leaders from more than 4,000 locally-led health organizations through TGLF’s REACH network, enabling them to become programme partners supporting their health workers in developing climate-health leadership skills.
Building global solutions by connecting local, indigenous knowledge and expertise
The inaugural course offers health professionals worldwide the opportunity to learn from documented experiences of colleagues who are facing unprecedented consequences of climate change on health. Rather than lectures or theoretical frameworks, the programme employs structured reflection and peer feedback cycles, enabling participants to develop actionable implementation plans informed by peer knowledge and global guidance.
The course covers four key areas based on health worker experiences:
- Climate and environmental changes: Recognizing connections between climate and health in local communities.
- Health impacts on communities: Understanding direct health impacts, food security, and mental health effects.
- Changing disease patterns: Managing infectious diseases, respiratory conditions, and healthcare access challenges.
- Community responses and adaptations: Implementing local solutions and innovations from peer experiences.
Participants earn verified certificates aligned to professional development competency frameworks. Upon completion, they join TGLF’s global community of health practitioners for ongoing peer support and collaboration.
The urgency of now
The programme launches at a critical moment. Climate change impacts on health are accelerating, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where health systems are least equipped to respond. Yet these same regions are producing innovative, resource-efficient solutions that could benefit communities worldwide.
As one health worker reflected during the 2023 events: “Although climate change is a global phenomenon, it is affecting very, very locally people in very different ways.” The new programme acknowledges this reality while creating pathways for local solutions to inform global responses.
The course is available in English and French, designed to work on mobile devices and basic internet connections. It is free for health workers in participating countries.
For health workers who have been managing climate impacts in isolation, the programme offers something unprecedented: the chance to learn from colleagues who truly understand their challenges and to contribute their own expertise to a growing global knowledge base.
As the climate health crisis deepens, the solutions may well come from those who have been living with its impacts longest—if we finally give them the platforms and recognition they deserve.