Thank you for a rich and energising conversation.
Many of us have talked about the challenges we face and also you have highlighted the progress we have made.
Over the past 25 years, we have seen incredible achievements in global health.
Maternal mortality has dropped by 40%, under-five mortality has decreased by more than half and stillbirths by more than a third.
Over 90 million deaths – mostly children – have been averted due to vaccination.
But as we all know, millions of women and children are still dying from preventable causes.
Progress has stalled not because we lack solutions, but because systems, financing, and capacity are not yet reaching the places where the need is greatest.
In 2023 alone, 260 000 women died from pregnancy-related causes – more than 180 000 of those deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa – alongside 2.3 million newborn deaths and 1.9 million stillbirths.
The leading causes – postpartum haemorrhage, hypertension, sepsis, preterm complications, unsafe abortion – have also not changed.
We cannot accept this. And we do not have to – because today, we are equipped with game-changing tools and models that work.
For example, for postpartum haemorrhage, we have the global roadmap, consolidated guidelines, the rollout of heat-stable carbetocin and the WHO treatment bundle. These are already saving lives.
Countries are advancing evidence-based reforms, expanding emergency obstetric and newborn care, strengthening midwifery-led models of care, and improving referral and data systems.
When implemented at scale, these interventions work.
Our task now is scale. Scale requires partnership, and partnership requires predictable, multi-year investment.
Funding is tightening globally – official development assistance is expected to drop by 40% this year, and the financing gap for maternal health alone exceeds 100 billion US dollars.
Yet 80% of maternal and child deaths are preventable with what we already know, and every dollar invested can return up to nine.
So let me propose three concrete pathways forward for everyone in this room:
First, invest together in high-impact acceleration packages, beginning with postpartum haemorrhage – the single largest cause of maternal death. We have the tools. We need them everywhere.
Our public-private partnership with the private sector on heat-stable carbetocin has demonstrated what could be achieved. We anticipate building similar partnerships for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy – the second leading cause of maternal death.
Second, finance the systems that make solutions real: Midwives. Referral and transport. Oxygen and commodities. Small-and-sick newborn units. Real-time data to guide decisions. These are the levers of survival, especially in fragile settings.
Third, commit to predictable, multi-year financing aligned to national and global priorities.
Pooled mechanisms like the proposed Beginnings Fund demonstrate what is possible: catalytic capital, aligned with governments, scaling tools that work.
And we have another opportunity before us – the child health coalition currently under discussion with France, South Africa, and the Gates Foundation.
This coalition can be the bridge between maternal and child survival agendas, uniting partners behind scale-ready interventions, supply chain strengthening, and workforce expansion.
I invite the private sector, philanthropy, and governments here today to join us in shaping and powering that coalition from the very beginning.
If we act with urgency and unity – if we invest not just in innovation, but implementation – then millions of mothers and babies will live. And they will thrive.
Thank you all once again for your leadership, your partnership, and your commitment. Let us move from conversation to acceleration — together – for better beginnings and hopeful futures, and for every mother and every child.
Shukran jazeelan. I thank you.