Every day, roughly 800 women and newborns die due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, a crisis that African leaders and development partners vowed to tackle at the Seventy-fifth Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa (RC75).

The session witnessed robust engagement on accelerating progress in the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents (WCAH), with a total of 43 statements – 30 from Member States and 13 from partners – making it one of the most engaging sessions of the meeting and reflecting the urgency of investing in WCAH on the continent.

Africa accounts for 70 percent of global maternal deaths and around 55 percent of child deaths. While the continent has made important progress between 2000 and 2023 – maternal mortality declined by 40 percent, from 727 to 442 per 100,000 live births; neonatal mortality fell from 39 to 26 per 1,000 live births; and under-five mortality dropped from 149 to 67 per 1,000 live births – progress remains uneven and insufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030 targets. 

African women and children face a much higher risk of dying than those in other regions, compounded by persistent gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services.

WHO AFRO’s working paper, “Accelerating progress in the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents by transforming health systems in the African Region” (AFR/RC75/5), which provided the basis for discussion, highlighted three flagship approaches for accelerating WCAH through stronger health systems: stimulating investments in health as a development priority by elevating governance, accountability, and financing; capacitating health systems for service delivery by expanding the health workforce, improving access to essential products, strengthening infrastructure, and investing in data systems; and delivering essential health services for all across the life course, embedding quality, equity, and resilience into service delivery, including during emergencies.

Member States highlighted national and regional efforts to advance WCAH while acknowledging persistent challenges. Kenya noted, “key challenges include commodity gaps and skilled health workforce attrition.” Seychelles called for strengthening “robust data systems to guide evidence-based decision making,” emphasizing the centrality of strong data to address pervasive inequities. 

Zambia highlighted that they “are using data to drive health programmes and address challenges such as health systems inequalities.” Malawi underscored the urgency of addressing teenage pregnancies, highlighting interventions such as in-service and pre-service training and improving the availability of life-saving commodities.

Calls for increased financing, including through domestic resource mobilization, were echoed by many. Seychelles stressed, “We particularly call for investment in health as a driver of socio-economic development.” 

A Lancet study projected that on-going deep funding cuts from the US, combined with the dismantling of USAID, could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million deaths among children younger than five years.

Calls for Accountability and Support

Despite commitments, the problem persists. Senegal, a member of the Global Leaders Network (GLN), stressed the importance of accountability as key to ensuring progress, calling on African Union bodies to institutionalize WCAH accountability mechanisms. Senegal’s representative noted, “Senegal calls for joining the Global Leaders Network to institutionalize accountability for the health of women, children and adolescents within the organs of the African Union (AU).” Kenya, another GLN member, echoed this call for “stronger regional mechanisms for accountability and data use.”

The Partnership for Maternal, New-born and Child Health (PMNCH) emphasized that while the solutions are known, the challenge lies in ensuring commitments are implemented, tracked, and reviewed transparently, with communities, youth, and civil society meaningfully engaged. 

This requires clear milestones, regional peer review, and systematic reporting of measurable action. Partners emphasized that accountability must also extend to ensuring universal access to SRHR services, recognizing them as a cornerstone of progress in reducing maternal and child mortality.

Presidential Opening Intervention

President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia set the tone for RC75 with a deeply personal reflection: “I was born in a health center with no water, no electricity. My grandmother was the birth attendant.”

 He emphasized that this memory remains a reality for too many African women and children today, where access to skilled attendants and essential services is often left to chance.

The President outlined Zambia’s ongoing reforms: expanding health facilities closer to communities, recruiting not just baseline staff but also specialists, linking health and education so that over 2 million children could return to school, and ensuring a minimum package of services even in fragile contexts.

Looking beyond Zambia, he called on all African leaders to act decisively on four priorities: investing in resilient health systems, accelerating local manufacturing, strengthening regional solidarity, and aligning with global health frameworks.

 He reflected on recent cuts in development funding, noting, “These challenges are only beginning, therefore we need to respond positively and aggressively. We must see the opportunity in challenges,” committing Zambia to lead in vaccine manufacturing and urging peers to transform dependency into agency.

Looking Forward

 The high level of engagement during RC75 reflects the continued priority Member States and partners place on advancing WCAH. With WHO’s support, and in alignment with President Hichilema’s call to reposition health as sovereignty, security, and growth, the African Region aims to strengthen health systems as the foundation for accelerated progress – ensuring that every woman, child, and adolescent in Africa can survive, thrive, and reach their full potential.