Global South Health Ministers Rally at WHA78 to Prioritize Child Survival Through Integrated Strategies
Ministers of Health from sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia convened on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) to reaffirm their commitment to child survival, advocating for integrated approaches to scale life-saving interventions amid dwindling donor funding and rising health demands.
The high-level roundtable, titled “Integrating Child Survival Delivery Strategies to Maximize Effectiveness and Save Lives,” was co-hosted by Mali’s Ministry of Health, the Centre for Vaccine Development–Mali (CVD-Mali), and the REACH Network.
Health ministers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, and representatives from Burkina Faso, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Senegal participated.
Mali’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Colonel Dr. Assa Badiallo Touré, emphasized urgent collective action: “Millions of African children continue to die every year from preventable causes. We owe them leadership, solidarity, and the courage to do things differently.”
The session underscored the benefits of integrating child survival strategies such as immunization, nutrition, and azithromycin distribution into national policies. Professor Samba Sow, REACH co-chair and Director of CVD-Mali, hailed the movement of “African-led solutions” that are both cost-effective and rooted in national ownership.
Participants, including UNICEF, WHO, Save the Children, and other partners, stressed the need to dismantle silos and link health delivery to enablers such as WASH, energy, and infrastructure. The ministers called for multisectoral collaboration and cross-border partnerships to overcome systemic barriers and ensure accountability.
The gathering concluded with a firm resolution to track progress, scale innovations, and align child survival with broader maternal and neonatal health efforts—cementing a vision where national systems, not projects, lead the charge.
