Africa's Climate Cr[AI]sis
Amref Health Africa
Health | Social impact & sustainability
Five of the ten countries set to be most affected by climate change are in Africa. That’s why Edelman – and Africa’s largest health development NGO, Amref Health Africa – wanted to find a new way to showcase what could happen to the continent without immediate climate action. But we didn’t simply want to focus on the negative, we wanted to highlight the health sector’s unique capabilities to mitigate this harm, by calling on some of healthcare’s most important stakeholders to join our campaign.
We decided to use the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) as the platform to launch Amref’s new strategy and to bring to life the impact of climate change on health in Africa, in an engaging, immersive, and interactive way.
The Strategy
Africa is more affected by climate change than any other continent. Clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter are all affected-without action, public health challenges will increase. But Africa’s health and climate future is still in our hands.
To showcase both potential futures, we used the AHAIC as a platform for this. Here we created the first AI Art Gallery in Africa - using AI generated images, we clearly showed the impact climate change has on the health of Africans – and our environment – if no decisive action is taken.
Once the delegates engaged with the gallery, we gave them an opportunity to create the more positive and brighter future they envisaged for themselves and future generations of Africa. We did this by getting them to scan a QR code and filling in an online survey with prompts which was then used to generate their artwork using AI.
This was accompanied by the signing of a pledge by AHAIC’s key delegates, committing to behavioural change that could help mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Execution
To set the tone for what was to come, we worked with a spoken word artist to develop a manifesto that encompassed Amref’s new strategy with a focus on the intersection of climate change and health. This manifesto was powerfully delivered at the opening ceremony of the AHAIC conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
Using AI, we created images that showcased how climate change is impacting the lives, livelihoods, and health of Africans, particularly the most vulnerable. We used these images to create the digital AI gallery at the conference.
We also created our powerful pledge, that could be signed through a QR code. Delegates were invited to scan and sign following the spoken word delivery and throughout the 3-day conference. Politicians, healthcare industry giants, policymakers, and communities from across the world joined Amref’s chorus.
We gathered messages from delegates throughout the conference asking them to share their vision of the Africa they want to leave for children born in 2030.
The Outcome
This campaign elevated Amref Health Africa as the leading African organisation that is taking the lead on the climate and health conversation in all global platforms, and as such was selected as the African envoy, representing Africa at the COP28 Health Day.
The envoy urged leaders to prioritise investment in adaptation and resilience solutions as a core component of the COP28 agenda. An African Common position was developed by Amref's key regional leaders and presented at the Cop28 Health Day, with a theme of ‘Exploiting the potential of One Health Approach for Low-Carbon, Climate Resilient Health Systems in Africa’.
The campaign was named a finalist in the Healthcare category in the 2024 SABRE Africa awards.