advocacy on global health in 2026

With your encouragement, the UK Government has invested in some very important global health funds in 2025: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. These will help to improve health systems worldwide and to save millions of lives.

The world is changing. Despite a reduction in the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget back in February, the UK remains a leading donor to these funds, but the Government has expressed its interest in working with them differently in future, and to work in partnership with other countries to build resilient health systems for all. Thank you for all your advocacy in 2025! Now it’s time to think about how you would like to take action in 2026 to help people access their right to health, wherever they live.

what

what would you like to campaign on in 2026?

who

you, your campaign group, or other like-minded people

how

reflect on what you care most about, and develop a plan of action!

celebrate your advocacy efforts!

It has been a tumultuous year for international solidarity, with serious reductions in ODA spending from many donors including the US and the UK. While our Government has accepted it has an obligation to spend 0.7% of our Gross National Income on ODA at some point in the future, we are now further away from achieving this than we have been for decades.

But the Government can be in no doubt that this is not where we should be! Thanks to your advocacy, this year we have:

Gained commitments that the reductions in ODA made earlier this year are not meant to be permanent but will be reversed when conditions allow.
Gained £1.25 billion for the fight to vaccinate children around the world from preventable diseases, and £850 million for the fight against HIV, TB and malaria. These investments would not have been agreed without your pressure!
Told the Government very firmly where they still need to do more: on tackling malnutrition; on polio eradication; on access to education (especially for girls); and on financing the Sustainable Development Goals.

the world is changing

The Government is now expected to hold a conference in the spring of 2026 to begin a conversation on the future of its international development programmes. Donors such as the UK expect global health institutions such as Gavi and the Global Fund to work effectively with their taxpayers’ money, and to help the countries they support become more self-sufficient at funding their own health systems over time.

We cannot let the Government off the hook for the fact that the Gavi and Global Fund replenishments fell considerably short of what will be needed, or for returning our ODA spending to its proper level. But we must also play an active part in the conversation about how the UK’s international development obligations will be fulfilled in 2026 and beyond. At Results, we believe that all development programmes and partnerships must focus on poverty reduction, strengthening health systems, and leaving no one behind, helping countries increasingly fund their own development priorities.

We know the power that genuine and impassioned grassroots advocacy can have in focusing attention on the needs of the world’s poorest and most marginalised communities. Please refer to the drop-down list of priorities below, and the known dates in 2026 when concerted advocacy can have maximum impact on global health outcomes.

key campaigns in 2026 for global health advocacy

Polio eradication. Last year, we called on the UK to invest £50 million in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 2025 and another £50 million in 2026 to contribute to global efforts to ensure a polio-free world. It remains essential for them to provide this additional funding and to commit to help eradicate this debilitating childhood disease from the planet for good. At present, it is endemic (existing in the environment) in just two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but there is a significant and growing risk that it could come back, causing thousands of extra avoidable deaths.

Health financing. In 2026, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) will be asking governments across the world to work together to fund their programmes, and Results will be asking the UK Government to contribute its share. The GFF is a country-led partnership, hosted at the World Bank, focusing on improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition, helping end preventable deaths and improving well-being. It combines multiple funding sources to maximize impact, including domestic government resources, external grants, and concessional loans from the World Bank. In 2023, the UK committed £80 million for the period 2025-30 but more is needed.

Pandemic preparedness. In 2026, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will require additional funding from donors to help protect the world from future infectious disease outbreaks. In 2022, the UK provided £160 million to fund this vital work – yet in 2023, we called for an additional investment of £140 million which has not been provided. CEPI aims to provide equitable access to vaccines and treatments for diseases with pandemic potential, aiming to produce the first vaccines within 100 days of a pandemic being declared.

take action!

pat yourselves on the back, and share these successes with your friends (self–care is an important part of sustainable advocacy)

make a plan to campaign on the issues you care most about – as an individual, in your campaign group, or with other like-minded people

practice explaining these campaign issues to your friends or fellow campaign group members, to help persuade more people to take advocacy actions and sign up for updates from Results in 2026!

I took action!

we’re here to support you!

If you have any questions or need support or advice in planning your campaigning, please reach out to us!

You can contact Naveed Chaudhri, Head of Campaigns, at [email protected].

campaigning success: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

In June, due in part to the persistent campaigning of Results grassroots volunteers, the UK Government announced a higher-than-expected level of financial support to global vaccination programmes. Throughout our campaign, it looked like the Government might make a low pledge compared to what it had given in previous replenishment cycles. Our advocacy helped bring the Government’s funding pledge up from an estimated £1 billion to £1.25 billion – an astounding result given the squeeze on the FCDO budget this year. That pledge will help Gavi in their mission to protect up to 500 million children between 2026 to 2030 and save up to 8 million more lives.

Image: A mother and baby at a malaria vaccination in Burkina Faso, 2024.

Credit: Gavi / 2024 / Arnauld Yalgwueogo