26 June 2025- The Global Health Solidarity Open Forum took place on June 25, 2025, under the theme ‘A Solidarity of the Shaken? From Despair to Collective Action’. The virtual gathering brought together over 150 attendees including researchers, civil society organisations and activists, practitioners, and scholars from 33 countries. The event aimed to explore how solidarity can shape responses to global health challenges amid shifting political and funding landscapes.
Moderated by Professor Caesar Atuire, the Principal Investigator of the Project, the discussion which featured five speakers offered a rich tapestry of ideas, grounded in personal experience, institutional insight, and ethical reflections.
There were nuanced analyses on how solidarity requires a shift in power dynamics, not merely rhetoric. Speakers observed that global health structures often perpetuate inequality, and that true solidarity calls for more equitable partnerships. Emphasis was placed on forms of solidarity that transcend professional, geographical, and social boundaries, highlighting how actors in high-income countries can stand meaningfully with those in the Global South without overshadowing their leadership.
The discussion explored how solidarity is operationalised in legal, medical, and activist contexts.
Dr. Seye Abimbola, Associate Professor of Health Systems at the University of Sydney, Australia, reflected on the strain placed on solidarity during funding cuts and crises—moments that can either fracture or strengthen relationships among researchers and between researchers and communities. He stressed the need to shift focus from Global North–South dynamics to the connection between researchers and the communities they serve. As funding priorities evolve, he argued, this moment presents an opportunity to reconsider who holds power and how shared values can be better upheld at every level of research.
“Solidarity means shared interests, shared objectives, shared standards, and shared sympathies. Those are hardest to achieve when there is a power imbalance. But if we can name them, we can build them.”
Professor Judd Walson, Professor of International Health, Medicine and Paediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, USA, framed solidarity not merely as a concept, but as a movement and a collective response to injustice. In the face of funding cuts and philosophical attacks on equity, he urged solidarity to become a unifying force grounded in action. He addressed the fragility of partnerships when power imbalances are ignored, calling for honest reflection on how privilege shapes even well-meaning collaborations.
“Solidarity that is not linked to the building of health systems that can deliver, to me, becomes performative. We must ensure that we are building the infrastructure necessary so that solidarity translates into lives saved.”
Speaking from Brazil, Georgia Nicolau offered a compelling reflection through the lens of the commons, which are shared resources and relationships that sustain life. As founder of Instituto Procomum, she framed the commons as a political, economic, ecological and cultural practice rooted in collective responsibility. Nicolau cautioned against idealising solidarity as conflict-free harmony, asserting instead that it must embrace complexity, contradiction, and diversity.
“Solidarity is not an idyllic peace. It is a practice of care, contradiction, and imagination rooted in how we relate to one another and the world. It is deeply underestimated but should be central in shaping more sustainable and cooperative futures,” she emphasised.
Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), spoke of the increasing precarity of global health and science, citing the erosion of trust, worsening inequality, and intensifying global polarisation. He asserted that solidarity must place equity, social justice, and health justice at the heart of all global health efforts. Critiquing donor practices that impose burdensome requirements and funnel funds through high-income institutions, he called for a redistribution of power.
“To build true solidarity, funders must stop reinforcing dependencies and instead help the global majority build agency, trust, and impact-driven partnerships rooted in equity and justice.” He also championed South–South collaboration, investment in local health infrastructure, and inclusion of marginalised voices—particularly women, frontline workers, and people with lived experience.
Dr. Alice Norton, Associate Professor and Head of the Policy and Practice Research Group at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, questioned how funding is typically framed—not as solidarity, but as aid. She called for a paradigm shift: research should be seen as a collaborative endeavour to solve shared problems, bringing mutual benefit to both high- and low-income countries. Such reframing, she suggested, could protect global health research from further cuts and facilitate more equitable partnerships.
Dr. Norton outlined the funding lifecycle as a framework for embedding solidarity:
- Priority Setting: Engage end users and communities to define funding agendas.
- Funding Calls: Include expectations and mechanisms for equitable partnerships in cross-country collaborations.
- Decision-Making: Ensure funding panels are diverse and globally representative.
- Disbursement: Improve the timeliness and equity of fund distribution, particularly during emergencies.
“Research is not just about aid—it is about solving shared problems,” she stressed. “If we frame it this way, solidarity becomes not just a value, but a strategic foundation for more just and effective global health funding.”
The discussion was further deepened by questions from the audience, who brought valuable provocations to the panel.
Mr. Dodzi Koku Hattoh questioned whether solidarity still holds meaning amid declining global health funding, particularly for countries like Ghana that depend on external support during crises such as COVID-19. Prof. Judd Walson acknowledged the concern, noting that transformative progress has often occurred despite limited resources. He stressed that while funding matters, action rooted in solidarity must lead. Dr. Seye Abimbola agreed, emphasising that efficiency and shared purpose can achieve more with less, and that sustainable health systems rely on domestic revenue, not just aid.
Dr Alberto Giubilini challenged the panel to consider whether solidarity remains viable when national and global interests clash. He urged them to move beyond theoretical ideals and confront real-world tensions. Prof. Walson responded by distinguishing between shared values and diverging interests, highlighting the role of diplomacy in bridging the gap. Dr. Abimbola added that while state actors may not always align, solidarity between people across borders remains powerful and politically transformative.
As the conversation deepened, participants reiterated that solidarity is not a theoretical concept, but a transformative practice that demands difficult conversations, redistribution of power, and long-term, values-driven collaboration.
Thank you, to all who attended the inaugural Global Health Solidarity Open Forum!
Watch the full video of the Global Health Solidarity Open Forum here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkhQBeuQ-iM
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