By Science Africa correspondent
The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents(GFF) has received new funding commitments totaling US$ 806 million.
This support is geared towards GFF’s TRANSFORM 2030 strategy, a five-year plan to accelerate progress towards ending preventable maternal and child deaths in countries with the highest burden.
These pledges mark the beginning of the GFF’s new investment round, and come at a decisive moment with the tools, evidence and partnerships in place to accelerate progress, even as hard-won gains face increasing risks from multiple shocks.
Hosted by the World Bank Group (WBG), the GFF is a country-led partnership that helps scale proven health and nutrition solutions through national health systems to reach hundreds of millions of women, children, and adolescents with lifesaving care.
Through 2026-30, the GFF intends to expand its operations from 36 to 50 countries with the highest maternal and child mortality, and is projected to leverage US$ 12.5 billion in WBG financing, US$ 17.8 billion in partner resources, and US$ 21.4 billion in domestic resources to scale high-impact health interventions. These efforts will contribute to the WBG’s goal of reaching 1.5 billion people with quality, affordable health services by 2030.
“The case is clear: investing in women, children and adolescents builds human capital, reduces poverty, and creates jobs and lasting prosperity. With its new strategy, a fully funded GFF will help partner countries to deliver lifesaving care to hundreds of millions of people twice as fast,” Mamta Murthi, Vice President, People, WBG, and Chair, GFF Trust Fund Committee.
“We are grateful to our partners who have already committed over US$ 800 million to kickstart this investment round, and we look forward to more partners joining us.”
The commitment announced on the sidelines of the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings represent over 80 percent of the GFF’s fundraising goal of US$ 1 billion by the end of 2026 – with additional pledges expected in the coming months.
As part of these commitments, philanthropies and the private sector have committed funding to scale up access to innovations and key commodities. These include US$ 250 million for Sustainable Commodities Access Program – launching today – which will incentivize countries to invest more to expand access to high-quality commodities and fix supply chain system bottlenecks; and a first investment of US$ 15 million for a new innovations challenge program, which will catalyze further funding for the scale-up of the Safer Births Bundle of Care in 10 countries.
Commitments include: Government of Canada (CAD 190 million), Government of Germany (EUR 45 million), Government of the Netherlands (US$ 186 million), Government of Norway (NOK 600 million), Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) (US$ 150 million), Gates Foundation (US$ 200 million) and Laerdal Scale Up Fund (US$ 15 million).
Anita Zaidi, President, Gender Equality Division, Gates Foundation: “Ending maternal and child deaths remains both an urgent priority and an achievable goal. Our commitment to the GFF reflects a clear conviction: that resilient, adequately financed country health systems are essential to improving the health of women and children. We are also proud to support, alongside CIFF, the GFF’s newly launched Sustainable Commodities Access Program, which enables countries to maintain reliable access to critical medicines and supplies.”
Kate Hampton, CEO, CIFF: “Supporting countries to end preventable deaths of children and mothers is a goal CIFF, the GFF, and our partners are all united by. To support country leadership to achieve this, we need to remove the practical barriers, including limited access to essential supplies. That is why CIFF is proud to support the GFF’s newly announced Sustainable Commodities Access Program, which will help ensure reliable, sustained access to critical health-care commodities for women, children, and adolescents.”
Launched in 2015, the GFF has demonstrated the power of its country-led, catalytic model. Since joining the GFF, partner countries have become global leaders in reducing maternal and child deaths, and three-quarters have reduced their rates of childhood stunting.
