Philanthropy Asia Alliance Supports Southeast Asia Heat Health Hub to Scale Coordinated Action on Extreme Heat

The Philanthropy Asia Alliance is supporting the next stage of development of the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) Southeast Asia Hub, based at NUS Medicine, helping to translate regional knowledge and collaboration into sustained, country-led action on extreme heat.

Bangkok, 8 October 2026 – The Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA) today announced its support for the next stage of the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) Southeast Asia Hub at the Global Heat Forum in Bangkok. This includes funding for targeted efforts in Indonesia and Thailand next year, alongside preparations for a second Southeast Asia Heat Health Forum. Tools, evidence and lessons from these efforts will be shared across the region to strengthen coordinated action on extreme heat.

Established in January 2025 as GHHIN’s first regional hub, the Hub brings together governments and partners to strengthen collaboration, advance evidence and support action on extreme heat across Southeast Asia. GHHIN is a global network of policymakers, scientists and practitioners and an initiative of the World Meteorological Organization, World Health Organization (WHO) and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Hub is based at the Heat Resilience & Performance Centre (HRPC), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), and draws on more than a decade of heat resilience research and the university’s role as a neutral platform for regional convening. PAA complements this as a catalytic funder and impact partner, bringing experience in building funder collaboratives and cross-sector partnerships that direct capital towards shared outcomes.

Turning regional collaboration and data into country-led action

Across Southeast Asia, action on extreme heat is growing but remains fragmented. While early warning systems and municipal heat action plans are expanding, many countries still lack a standing mechanism for robust coordination between health, labour, urban and disaster agencies. Data varies across countries and successful pilots often can lose their institutional footing once funding ends.

Shaun Seow, Chief Executive Officer of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, said: “Extreme heat sits at the intersection of climate, health and the economy, which is why responsibility for it can fall between institutions designed to address each area separately. The challenge is to connect the science with public agencies and local communities in ways that endure, so we can move from protecting hundreds of thousands of people to hundreds of millions.”

PAA’s support will build on the Hub’s regional foundation by advancing sustained, country-led action while strengthening the evidence and shared learning available across Southeast Asia.

Advancing heat health action in Indonesia and Thailand

In Indonesia, the Hub is building on the ongoing Project KATALIS-HEAT, delivered with WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health (ACE), WHO Indonesia, and the Ministry of Health. The work strengthens national coordination and advances city-level heat action in Makassar and two additional cities.

Efforts in Thailand are at an earlier stage, with partner consultations and a rapid stocktake laying the groundwork for longer-term action and helping stakeholders to agree on shared priorities for the next phase of work.

Lessons from both countries will flow back into the Hub’s regional platform, enabling governments elsewhere in Southeast Asia to build on tested approaches rather than start afresh.

Sharing lessons across Southeast Asia

Working alongside the governments, researchers, funders and implementation partners already active on heat, the Hub provides a regional home for evidence and proven pilots and helps countries adapt what has worked elsewhere.

Organised around three connected streams, the Hub helps translate science into policy through stronger evidence, coordination and heat-health data systems; strengthens community capacity by grounding action in local realities and lived experience; and builds regional learning by convening partners, turning their lessons from individual countries into shared resources others can adapt.

Since its launch, the Hub has begun laying the foundations for a coordinated regional response, starting with its first country-level engagement in Indonesia and support for emerging efforts on heat in Cambodia and the Philippines. Knowledge products have followed, among them a 2026 report documenting Singapore’s multi-stakeholder approach to urban heat resilience.

Professor Jason Lee, Director of the Heat Resilience & Performance Centre, NUS Medicine, and Chair of the GHHIN Southeast Asia Hub, said: “The Hub is designed so that progress in one country can help accelerate action in another. Evidence generated with governments can be adapted elsewhere, while frontline experience helps shape the questions researchers pursue. By bringing these insights together across Southeast Asia, we can build a stronger body of practical knowledge that countries can draw on and adapt to their own contexts. This next stage aims to build on the foundation we have and support governments in developing heat-health responses that are locally relevant and sustainable over the long term.”

- END -

About the Philanthropy Asia Alliance

Philanthropy Asia Alliance (PAA) is a Temasek Trust initiative dedicated to catalysing collaborative philanthropy in Asia through dynamic multi-sector partnerships. By harnessing collective strengths, PAA multiplies impact, accelerates positive change, and takes urgent action to address the pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. PAA's flagship programme is the annual Philanthropy Asia Summit. For more information, visit philanthropyasiaalliance.org.

About the Heat Resilience & Performance Centre, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS)

The Heat Resilience & Performance Centre (HRPC), based at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), is a globally connected first-class thermal research unit based in Asia, centred on helping humans thrive in a warming world. HRPC’s mission brings together scientists and experts to create holistic and forward-looking solutions that boost human resilience to rising ambient heat, providing a platform for collaboration and innovation locally, regionally, and internationally. HRPC is honoured by its designation as the Southeast Asia Hub by the Network since COP28. Launched in Jan 2025, the Hub aims to champion and advance partnership, collaboration, and advocacy within Southeast Asia to collectively protect and prepare for the impacts of heat on human health and well-being.

Media contacts

For Philanthropy Asia Alliance, Nicole Tan, comms@philanthropyasiaalliance.org

For HRPC, NUS Medicine, Joyce Goh, joycegoh@nus.edu.sg