Sierra Leonean President, Julius Maada Bio, Commits To Making Climate-Resilient Health Systems A National Priority For Climate Finance Mobilization

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His Excellency, President Dr. Julius Maada Bio of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), today received His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, immediate past Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of Future Perspectives, accompanied by a delegation from the organisation.

Future Perspectives, in partnership with Gates Foundation, is working with African countries to identify innovative approaches to financing healthcare and strengthening health systems so they can respond effectively to climate-related challenges, including floods, heat waves, and disease outbreaks.

Sierra Leone is among a number of West African countries included in this initiative and is expected to play a leading role in the region. President  Bio’s decisive leadership has positioned Sierra Leone at the forefront of Africa’s climate, energy, and human capital agenda. Under his leadership, the Government has adopted a coherent, whole-of-government approach that integrates climate action, energy transition, and human capital development as core pillars of national transformation.

Discussions focused on the growing threat climate change poses to Sierra Leone’s hard-won public health gains, including the country’s significant progress in reducing maternal mortality, as well as the increasing vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise. Sierra Leone has established strong policy frameworks, demonstrated institutional capacity, and attracted substantial international investment in recent years. The meeting recognized that the country is well-positioned to play a leading role in advancing climate-health financing within the region.

President Bio reaffirmed his government’s commitment to safeguarding Sierra Leone’s health gains from the impacts of climate change. The Government also affirmed its commitment to making climate-resilient health systems a national priority for climate finance mobilization and to developing a national climate-health investment pipeline, supported by the relevant government ministries and the Climate Finance Unit.

In his capacity as ECOWAS Chair, he also committed to working with other ECOWAS Heads of State to initiate an intergovernmental approach to health and climate resilience to drive greater climate-health financing across the region.

Prof. Osinbajo and the Future Perspectives delegation welcomed these commitments and expressed their readiness to support Sierra Leone’s efforts to access and deploy climate finance for health. Both sides agreed to proceed with urgency. Future Perspectives will provide active support as Sierra Leone translates these commitments into concrete action.