.png?sfvrsn=6d0e27cd_1 "Partnership for Change - v7 (1)")
On 24 March 2025, the Global Leaders Network (GLN) for Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health convened its Senior Technical Meeting in Durban, South Africa on the margins of the G20 Health Working Group Meeting. This high-level gathering brought together GLN member states and key global and African Union health organisations to finalize and refine the GLN Programme of Action, which will accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health.
Participants prioritized discussions on embedding women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health (WCAH) within Universal Health Coverage (UHC), emphasizing ending preventable maternal mortality as the critical indicator of successful UHC implementation. Sustainable domestic resource mobilization strategies were highlighted, noting the urgent need for innovative financing approaches including public-private partnerships and regional pooled procurement to address the declining international assistance landscape and shrinking fiscal spaces globally. Additionally, leveraging regional manufacturing capacities was highlighted as a strategic approach to improve equitable access to essential health commodities and strengthen supply chains.
Global and South-South cooperation emerged as crucial elements, with participants exploring effective regional and global platforms for knowledge sharing, resource mobilization, and innovative, region-specific health solutions. Discussions also emphasized the need to safeguard sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights through progressive law-making and advocacy, countering increasing anti-rights movements globally, and aligning efforts with national contexts and international frameworks such as the Maputo Protocol.
The convening successfully built consensus on the GLN’s programme of action which will ensure that the GLN Heads of State are able to deliver on their mandate to galvanise accelerated action towards the SDG targets for women’s, children’s and adolescents health, with a focus on significantly reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. The GLN also targets the significant reduction of adolescent mortality by addressing a range of social determinants of health
About the Global Leaders Network: The Global Leaders Network is the first and only global South-led initiative designed to drive high-level political action and ensure that maternal, neonatal, and adolescent health remains a top priority. Founded in 2023, the GLN is chaired by H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. It brings together nine sitting Heads of State and Government (HOSG) with an urgent mission to mobilize political will, forge partnerships, and accelerate progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health.