Grand Challenges Canada and AVPN Launch Nexa Lighthouse to Fund Climate and Health Innovation Across Asia and the Pacific

— Nexa, the global climate and health innovation initiative, joins forces with The Lighthouse Fund to back locally led solutions to climate-driven health threats across Asia and the Pacific —

NEW DELHI, India, Aug. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), AVPN, and global partners today launched Nexa Lighthouse at the AVPN Global Conference 2026, a new initiative to fund locally led innovations that address the growing health impacts of climate change across Asia and the Pacific. Nexa Lighthouse brings together Nexa, a global climate and health initiative co-led by GCC and the Science for Africa Foundation, with The Lighthouse Fund, an AVPN-led initiative that invests at the intersection of climate and health. Nexa Lighthouse is co-led by GCC, which receives funding from the Government of Canada, and AVPN, together with Bayer Foundation, India Health Fund, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Sanofi Foundation, and Temasek Foundation

The first funding call for Nexa Lighthouse opens in October 2026 and will accept applications from innovators across Asia and the Pacific.

Nexa is a global climate and health innovation initiative that launched in June 2026 at London Climate Action Week, with a first funding call that sought promising solutions in Africa and the Americas. Nexa’s funding priorities were shaped by the largest climate and health survey to date, which engaged 6,400 respondents — health workers, scientists, innovators, policymakers and humanitarian workers — across 107 low- and middle-income countries. Nexa Lighthouse extends that work into Asia and the Pacific.

Rising temperatures, changing disease patterns and severe weather events disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, people with chronic illnesses, children, and underserved communities with limited access to healthcare. Nexa Lighthouse will support bold innovations that address three key climate-related drivers of health risk that emerged from the survey: changing vector patterns (driving malaria and dengue), extreme heat, and poor air quality.

"Addressing the impacts of climate change demands bold ideas and strong partnerships,” said the Honourable Randeep Sarai, Canada’s Secretary of State for International Development. “Through our partnership with Grand Challenges Canada, Global Affairs Canada supports initiatives like Nexa Lighthouse that help innovators develop solutions to protect health and strengthen resilience across Asia and the Pacific.”

The climate crisis has been described in The Lancet as the greatest global health threat of the 21st century, but global financing to address this challenge remains low. Only 0.5% of climate funding focuses on improving health outcomes.ⁱ Asia and the Pacific is the world’s most disaster-prone region, where more than four in five people face multi-hazard risks associated with slow- or sudden-onset climate events.ⁱⁱ Nexa Lighthouse responds to the pressures communities face as intensifying heat, shifting disease patterns, and worsening air quality drive new health risks and strain already overburdened health systems.

“The health effects of climate change are here, and the people most affected are already building solutions. What they need is capital and support that moves at their speed,” said Rahul Chandran, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer, Grand Challenges Canada. “Nexa Lighthouse changes that. We are proud to have Nexa join forces with The Lighthouse Fund and with partners across Asia and the Pacific who know these markets, know these innovators, and will join us to back them.”

“Asia and the Pacific will face some of the greatest health impacts of a changing climate, but the region is also home to innovators who are already developing solutions,” said Dhun Davar, Chief of Programmes and Deputy CEO, AVPN. “AVPN has been working to bring capital and collaboration to these locally led solutions through the Lighthouse Fund. Nexa Lighthouse builds on that work, bringing together new and existing partners to help promising climate and health innovations move from early ideas to solutions that can scale.”

Nexa Lighthouse will provide catalytic funding for growth-stage climate and health innovations that strengthen health systems adaptation and resilience and have strong potential for impact and scale. Proven solutions will each receive approximately US$250,000–US$2,000,000 in Transition to Scale funding, depending on the maturity of the innovation.

Innovations may take the form of a product, process, service, or delivery model that can deliver better outcomes than existing approaches and lead to transformational impact.

Philanthropic, public-sector and private-sector partners interested in joining Nexa Lighthouse, and potential applicants, can visit www.nexalighthouse.orgto learn more.

About Nexa Lighthouse:

Nexa Lighthouse is a climate and health initiative co-led by Grand Challenges Canada, in partnership with the Government of Canada, and AVPN, bringing together Nexa and The Lighthouse Fund with a coalition of funding partners. It supports locally led innovations that help communities across Asia and the Pacific anticipate, adapt and respond to climate-related health threats, with a focus on extreme heat, mosquito-borne infections and poor air quality. Learn more at www.nexalighthouse.org

Nexa Lighthouse partners include Grand Challenges Canada, AVPN, Bayer Foundation, India Health Fund, NovoNordisk Foundation, Sanofi Foundation, and Temasek Foundation.

About Grand Challenges Canada:

Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) backs Bold Ideas with Big Impact®. With anchor funding from the Government of Canada, GCC invests in bold, locally led innovations solving critical health and development challenges, and helps the most promising solutions reach millions of people around the world. GCC has supported more than 1,600 innovations in 110 countries and aims to reach 700 million people by 2035. Learn more at www.grandchallenges.ca

About AVPN:

AVPN is Asia’s largest platform for social impact, where over 700 resource providers, innovators and intermediaries from across 43 markets collaborate to mobilise capital. Grounded in deep regional expertise and partnerships, AVPN is building a thriving ecosystem that accelerates measurable progress toward inclusive growth, empowering Asia to lead the way in global impact. AVPN’s mission is to translate intent into impact by bringing together people, ideas, and resources for Asia. It does this by strengthening partnerships, fostering open collaboration, and enabling the coordinated flow of resources across markets and borders. Together with communities, AVPN is building a thriving impact ecosystem that drives a prosperous and inclusive Asia. Learn more at www.avpn.asia

Media contacts
Grand Challenges Canada: Gillian Mathurin, media@grandchallenges.ca
AVPN. Mehar Kakkar, mehar.kakkar@avpn.asia

ⁱ Rockefeller Foundation, Financing Climate-Health Solutions. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/initiatives/financing-climate-health-solutions/

ⁱⁱ 1 UN ESCAP, Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2023. https://un-ggim-ap.org/sites/default/files/media/docs/Asia-Pacific%20Disaster%20Report%202023-Full%20report.pdf