By Rachelle Sapphire Laplante
We caught up with Consultant Rachelle Sapphire Laplante to discuss the project: FP305 | Building the Resilience of Togo’s National Health System and Vulnerable Communities to Climate-Sensitive Health Outcomes. The project was one of three proposals the E Co. team supported to approval at the 45th Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board Meeting (B.45) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in July.
What makes this project particularly important given Togo’s climate-sensitive health risks in Centrale, Kara, and Savanes?
This project is critical because Togo’s northern regions – Centrale, Kara, and Savanes – exhibit the country’s highest vulnerability index for climate-sensitive health risks, yet they currently rely on outdated, reactive health infrastructure. These areas face an accelerating climate change signal characterised by rising temperatures, intense heatwaves, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall, creating a dynamic ‘changing risk regime’ that alters the timing, geography, and severity of malaria and diarrhoeal outbreaks.
Furthermore, under high-emission scenarios, the projected surge in extreme heat days will significantly escalate heat-related complications for mothers and newborns, such as preterm births. Currently constrained by fragmented early warning capabilities and inadequate Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, the local healthcare system is ill-equipped for these compounding crises; this project is essential to bridge the gap between meteorological forecasting and public health planning, transforming a reactive system into a proactive, data-driven model that empowers climate-informed adaptation to safeguard vulnerable populations.
What analytical approach did we bring to structuring the climate-health linkages in the proposal?
Our approach to structuring the climate-health linkages within the proposal utilised a rigorous, data-driven analytical methodology based on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) risk framework, which evaluates public health risks by examining the intersection of extreme weather, population exposure, and community vulnerability. Developed alongside technical partners like the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), this approach combined a thorough review of medical literature with national health data to prioritise the three most critical threats: malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, and heat-related premature births.
We used advanced geographic mapping to overlay high-resolution weather hazards with local population metrics (such as the location of pregnant women and young children) and community data (like access to clean water and travel times to clinics), which scientifically proved that Togo’s northern regions – Centrale, Kara, and Savanes – are the most vulnerable target areas. Then, we built predictive statistical models that paired historical weather observations and future climate projections (under both moderate and worst-case emission scenarios) with local health records. This data modeling allowed us to prove exactly how shifting weather patterns alter disease outbreaks and heat risks over time. Overall, by combining localised mapping with predictive modelling, we provided an evidence-based justification that clearly demonstrates how climate change threatens these communities, making the project compelling for GCF investment.
Once implementation begins, how will the project support the roughly four million people it’s expected to benefit?
The project will actively build the adaptive capacity of its beneficiaries by integrating raw meteorological data into predictive health surveillance, enabling early, data-driven responses to climate hazards. On the ground, it will deliver tangible resilience upgrades by climate-proofing Peripheral Care Units with passive cooling and flood mitigation, alongside the deployment of solar-powered cold chains to protect temperature-sensitive medicines and vaccines from extreme heat waves. Moreover, the intervention will empower local communities and address fragmented early warning capabilities by recruiting and training hundreds of community multipliers, such as Community Health Workers and volunteers. These multipliers will disseminate actionable early warnings and promote protective WASH and vector-control behaviours directly to vulnerable households, safeguarding populations against heat-related complications for mothers and newborns and other climate-sensitive health outcomes.
