Vanessa Kerry: Air pollution causes 7 million deaths per year

"Investments in reducing air pollution, which causes 7 million deaths per year, more than we saw officially recorded globally in the entire COVID pandemic, will prevent a future loss of almost 50 trillion we've spent since 2010 to address this impact. Investments in green energy for health systems will decrease our carbon contribution and ensure stable access to medicine, oxygen, blood and services for those most vulnerable, for our patients, my patients.

Investing in strong, responsive, resilient health systems and the health workers that enable them, which is near and dear to my heart because I am one, will allow us to address both the coming flood of disease from climate change, as well as the existing pandemics of HIV, TB, malaria, maternal mortality, and NCDs that we are already fighting today.

In the organization which I lead, Seed Global Health, we have already seen this impact on the ground in the countries where we work. Our critical mission to train frontline health workers is becoming even more urgent. In Malawi, in deep partnership with the government, we are helping to tackle the worst outbreak of cholera in the country's history, driven by ferocious storms accelerated by climate change. And when Cyclone Freddie took out the bridges to essential birthing units, we help provide additional services to existing units so that women could deliver safely when they couldn't reach those. These investments will help grow GDPs, reduce migration, and even our CO2 footprint as healthier people seek less services and use less energy and resources."