Blogs

The change in timeline for GPEI wind-down poses a significant opportunity to assess what progress has been made in polio transition planning. We must act now to ensure immunisation coverage rates and immunisation systems are strengthened. RESULTS UK and ACTION’s new policy brief which looks deeper into the seven publically available transition plans, identifies the true cost of transition, unpredictable timelines, assumption of donor support, and a lack of ambition as common themes in the plans. 

In our "Champions for Change" workshop, ACTION trained its newest group of media champions; the participants include several pediatricians and a former senator and polio survivor. The eight are buoyed and ready to get started with their work as advocates for child health in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

CSOs reflected on Gavi’s past and future at the Mid-Term Review. Speaking on the opening plenary panel, Chris Dendys of RESULTS Canada said, “we need to identify better why children are being missed and how we reach them regardless of where they live.”

The Global Financing Facility (GFF) presents an opportunity for governments to increase investments in the building blocks for healthy development and progress on RMNCAH-N. The GFF We Want Campaign, led by WACI Health, captured and elevated civil society’s voice in the lead up to November’s US$1 billion replenishment.

ACTION and Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Networks (SUN CSN) trained youth advocates from around the world alongside the RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC. The cadre of advocates developed campaign plans, and ACTION and SUN CSN are supporting their nutrition advocacy efforts — in their home countries and on the global stage — and will continue into 2019.

The 49th Union Conference on Lung Health marked the first major gathering of advocates following the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis at the United Nation’s General Assembly in July. Along with allies like the Global TB Caucus and International Civil Society Support, ACTION Global Healthy Advocacy Partnership used the conference to engage advocates, affected communities, and 35 MPs from more than 18 countries on strategies to achieve the targets agreed upon in the UN Political Declaration on TB.

As we commemorate World AIDS Day — an opportunity to unite as a global community in the fight against HIV and AIDS — I’m reminded of Nelson Mandela’s remarks at the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok about tuberculosis (TB): “We are all here because of our commitment to fighting AIDS. But we cannot win the battle against AIDS if we do not also fight TB. TB is too often a death sentence for people with AIDS.” This statement still rings true today.

World leaders have committed to achieving specific targets by 2030 related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health plus nutrition (RMNCAH+N). Delivery of these targets requires substantial investments through national and international commitments and accountability in budget allocation and spending. In the lead up to this replenishment of the GFF, WACI Health and ACTION facilitated a regional consultation to elevate the voice of civil society through the "GFF We Want" campaign.