Nigeria’s former vice president opens a five-country initiative this week in Sierra Leone, targeting health systems strained by debt and climate shocks.

Former Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will convene a high-level meeting in Sierra Leone from March 11–13 to launch a regional push for new health financing strategies across five African countries, as governments in the region grapple with mounting debt and worsening climate-driven health crises.

The Sierra Leone talks, hosted alongside President Julius Maada Bio, who currently chairs the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State, mark the opening round of consultations spanning Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

The initiative is led by Future Perspectives and its policy arm, the Africa Centre for Future Perspectives. Its core aim is to find domestic financing solutions that can shore up health systems without relying on the external funding structures that many Sub-Saharan governments are already stretched to sustain.

The urgency is driven by compounding pressures: rising national debt, climate-induced disruptions to food supply, and a documented increase in vector-borne diseases — all of which are falling hardest on health systems that were already under strain before recent climate shocks.

Osinbajo, who has been vocal on climate inequality since leaving office, has previously said that the burden will not fall evenly.

“The poor and vulnerable, largely in developing economies, will be first to suffer and worst hit by the effects of climate change,” he said. “These multiplier effects can be drawn in other sectors, from health to shelter and security.”

Following the Sierra Leone summit, he is expected to hold separate discussions with senior ministers and national leaders across the other four countries in the programme.

According to the initiative’s documentation, the programme will produce evidence intended to inform government policy, though no timeline for findings has been announced.