Climate Care Champions

Building climate resilience among frontline healthcare workers 

Climate change is the greatest challenge of the 21st century. With India ranked sixth among the countries most affected by climate change in 2025 (Climate Risk Index2025), the health impacts on its population are profound, particularly among vulnerable groups such as the urban and rural poor, women and children, the elderly, and migrant workers. Women and girls, as primary caregivers, face a range of health issues from pregnancy complications to malnutrition during climate-induced crop failures. Urgent action is needed to mitigate these threats and foster community resilience. 

In 2025, the Elsevier Foundation kicked off a partnership with Swasti to support healthcare workers in addressing the challenges posed by climate change through the Climate Care Champions program. This program will address gaps in skills and knowledge among frontline workers (FLWs) in India, including Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers, Anganwadi workers, and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) – who play a crucial role in ensuring equitable access to health services.  

To do this, the Climate Care Champions program aims at:  

• Equipping frontline workers: Providing essential skills to manage climate-induced health issues. 
• Developing expert-led training: Enhancing knowledge and capabilities through specialized training. 
• Generate Evidence for Climate Resilience: Documenting the impact of trained FLWs on community health outcomes. 

The project is set to be implemented in 2025 across two districts in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, selected based on severity of heat exposure and heat index. The initiative aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of training frontline workers in preparing villages for extreme weather, fostering climate-resilient districts.  

About Swasti 

Established in 2003, Swasti is a leading public health organization in India empowering vulnerable communities for public health. Swasti prioritizes people-centered health systems. Inspired by the Alma Ata and Astana declarations on primary healthcare, Swasti transforms the sense of powerlessness felt by vulnerable individuals by activating their own agency. They power health workers who enjoy and can inspire the trust of vulnerable communities and orchestrate equity-focused outcomes at the policy level through their wide, intersectional network of partners and platforms. By moving beyond the exclusionary realm of medical care, Swasti takes a holistic approach to public health—responding to imminent threats including future pandemics, but also increasing the number of healthy days that marginalized communities enjoy on an everyday basis.