South Africa Calls for Stronger Financing for Women, Children and Adolescents’ Health

New York, The Gulf Observer: South Africa has called for stronger protection of financing for women, children and adolescents’ health, warning that declining development assistance, rising debt burdens and limited fiscal space are putting hard-won global health gains at risk.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola made the call on Tuesday while representing President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chair of the Global Leaders Network (GLN), at a high-level GLN event on financing for women, children and adolescents’ health amid austerity on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The event was co-hosted by South Africa, Spain, Tanzania and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. It brought together political leaders, health ministers, global health leaders and strategic partners to discuss practical, country-led approaches to sustaining investment in the health of women, children and adolescents.

Lamola said the GLN, a network of 12 sitting Heads of State and Government, has worked since its establishment in 2023 to maintain the health of women, children and adolescents as a priority on the international political agenda while helping countries translate commitments into action and protect health financing.

“We recognise that maternal, child and adolescent mortality cannot be reduced without sustained investment,” Lamola said.

He added that universal health coverage and economic development could not be achieved without protecting resources dedicated to the health of women, children and adolescents.

Financing Under Pressure

Lamola said the global health financing environment had become increasingly challenging, noting that official development assistance declined by more than 23 percent in 2025.

According to Lamola, the decline has placed additional pressure on procurement systems and health workforces in low- and middle-income countries, affecting efforts to ensure equitable access to essential maternal and child health commodities.

He also pointed to growing debt burdens and shrinking fiscal space, which he said were making it more difficult for countries to respond to reductions in official development assistance.

More than 3.3 billion people now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on schools and hospitals, including more than 750 million people in Africa, Lamola noted.

Against this backdrop, he said the GLN had adopted an action-oriented agenda focused on addressing financing gaps, protecting existing health gains and sustaining health-related Sustainable Development Goals accelerators.

The network has conducted a six-part webinar series on domestic resource mobilisation, attracting more than 900 participants from over 40 countries, including representatives of health and finance ministries, development finance institutions, the private sector, academia and civil society.

Lamola said the discussions demonstrated countries’ willingness to explore innovative approaches to health financing, including underutilised mechanisms such as debt-for-health swaps.

From Dialogue to Action

Lamola said the GLN had subsequently moved from dialogue towards implementation through its Financial Diplomacy Series, which brings Ministries of Health and Finance together with investors and technical partners to develop financing plans for national health programmes.

Within five months, Liberia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and South Africa had developed business cases, he said.

Representatives from the four countries met investors and partners in New York on Monday to advance the cases into financing plans.

Lamola said the initiative demonstrated political commitment to mobilising resources for the health of women, children and adolescents.

He also highlighted the Public-Private Partnership Health Accelerator, an initiative developed by South Africa and Botswana to help address financing gaps by bringing together private-sector stakeholders, diaspora networks, philanthropies, Southern and global foundations and development partners.

The initiative was recognised as an official G20 legacy project during South Africa’s G20 Presidency.

Lamola said the initiative demonstrated the potential of partnerships to mobilise additional resources for health programmes in low- and middle-income countries.

Looking ahead, he called on governments to protect and increase allocations for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and to monitor expenditure against measurable outcomes.

He also urged development partners to align their financing and technical assistance with national health plans.

WHO Warns Against Reversing Health Gains

World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the gathering that progress in maternal and child health needed to be protected.

He noted that maternal mortality had fallen by 40 percent over the past 25 years, while child mortality had more than halved. However, he warned that progress had slowed and preventable deaths continued on an unacceptable scale.

Ghebreyesus called on leaders to protect health spending during periods of fiscal pressure and ensure that women, children and adolescents did not bear a disproportionate impact from funding reductions.

He also called for continued financing of sexual and reproductive health services, particularly in humanitarian settings, and urged governments and development partners to demonstrate progress through measurable results.

UNFPA Calls for Greater Investment

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr Diene Keita also highlighted the continuing financing gap affecting women’s health, warning that millions of women and girls were being affected as official development assistance contracted.

Keita said investment in women and girls generates wider social and economic benefits and welcomed efforts by countries to take greater ownership of their national health agendas.

She highlighted initiatives aimed at strengthening investment in frontline health workers, including midwives, and called for increased financing for contraception and maternal health services.

The GLN event formed part of South Africa’s high-level programme during the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, as the country continues to promote multilateral cooperation and country-led approaches to development and global health financing.