The New Partnership Agenda: Ending Preventable Deaths

Due to limited space, we kindly ask that each organization be represented by one participant only. Across Francophone West Africa, the need is urgent, but so is the opportunity. In Guinea and Togo, lives are already being saved. Community health workers are reaching mothers and newborns that public systems have long struggled to serve. The approaches work and the evidence is real. The harder, more human question is: how do proven approaches become part of a national health system that a country leads, funds, and sustains long after outside support winds down? That’s the conversation we’re bringing to UNGA week, with a focus on what it will take to accelerate progress across Francophone West Africa. What makes this moment work isn’t any one player, it’s what happens when all three move together. A government sets direction and carries the system it will sustain for decades. Organizations closest to the community keep the work grounded in what families actually need, generating the evidence that makes it real. Philanthropy brings flexible funding and the patience to stay for the long build. That’s what it takes to save mothers and newborns at the scale this challenge demands. Hon. Khaïté Sall, Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Guinea Rahul Rawat, Deputy Director, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Gates Foundation Dieynaba Thiam-Ka, Managing Director, Integrate Health Emily Bensen, CEO, Integrate Health Doug Galen, Cofounder and CEO, Rippleworks - Moderator What to expect A candid conversation among people who see the same challenge from very different seats. Starting from real experience in Guinea and Togo, we’ll get into where the path to government-led scale tends to stall, what philanthropy is genuinely best placed to fund, what governments actually need from outside partners, and how organizations working alongside them should evolve as country-led systems grow stronger. Who this is for This session is for philanthropists, government partners, African and locally led organizations, development finance practitioners, implementing partners, and others grappling with how proven health solutions can move beyond externally funded programs toward sustainable, country-led scale. What you will get out of it A clearer view of where catalytic philanthropy can help de-risk the path to public scale A practical look at what it takes to move from a proven health model to national ownership Perspectives on the distinct roles of governments, philanthropy, and locally rooted organizations Lessons from government partnerships and community health implementation in Guinea and Togo Questions for funders and implementers about how their own roles should evolve as government ownership grows