Nexa Billion is a new collaboration to finance the scale-up of transformational technologies at the nexus of climate and health in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and Africa. It is co-led by Grand Challenges Canada and BillionScale Health, alongside a coalition of funders obsessed with scale.
The challenge
Nexa Billion will scale up proven solutions that address the health impacts of climate change, starting with ending the crisis of mosquito-borne disease.
Climate change puts the health and livelihoods of the four billion most vulnerable people on the planet at extreme risk, while placing additional pressure on already overburdened health systems. We have the tools to solve dengue, malaria, and other climate-sensitive diseases. Now, local leaders need help to bring them to scale.
Catalytic capital unlocks scale
With massive health challenges affecting billions of people around the globe, scale is what this moment calls for.
Scale changes everything. It bends the curve on cost. It bends the curve on burden, freeing up precious health capacity. It empowers countries, and it creates a repeatable model for their neighbours to follow.
Pooled catalytic capital accelerates scale in three ways:
Demonstrate
Fund country quick start, evidence generation, and operational research.
Shape Markets
Bend the curve on cost, and build capacity for national scale.
Mobilize Finance
Unlock country spending, concessional lending, and commercial investment at scale.
Wolbachia: Making mosquitoes the solution
Wolbachia is a nature-based solution that prevents mosquitoes from carrying dengue and other diseases. A gold-standard Randomised Controlled Trial in Yogyakarta, Indonesia showed 77% fewer dengue cases and 86% fewer hospitalizations within a few years of use. Other cities in Colombia, Brazil, and Australia have achieved 75% to 95% reductions. The technology is ready for regional and global scale.
Results in Yogyakarta, Indonesia:
77% reduction
in dengue cases
86% reduction
in hospitalizations
Spatial mosquito repellents: A force field for mosquitoes
There are growing gaps in vector control financing and effectiveness. New, cost-effective tools are needed. After a decade of investment, SC Johnson has developed a field-tested, WHO-approved, affordable product: the Guardian™ spatial repellent. A simple mesh square, it hangs on the wall and repels indoor mosquitoes for a year, protecting against malaria. Similar devices are increasingly being used against dengue — including in a successful trial in Peru — making them a complement to Wolbachia in dengue-endemic settings as well.
Results:
83% protection
from insect bites
32% additional protection
when used with nets
Pipeline at a glance
Nexa Billion will pool and deploy capital first in Asia and the Pacific, and then in Latin America and Africa.
Initial focus countries include:
About us
Nexa Billion is a joint initiative of Grand Challenges Canada and BillionScale Health. We invite additional partners to join us in co-creating the platform. Connect with us at climate@grandchallenges.ca.
