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The Preparatory Workshop of the WHS Academic Alliance Working Group on Maternal and Child Health was convened in New Delhi on 23 July 2026. The workshop brought together national and international experts from academia, government, development partners, professional associations, civil society, and philanthropic organizations to formally initiate the first WHS Academic Alliance Technical Working Group on Maternal and Child Health. It aimed to establish a shared vision, identify priority areas, and define governance arrangements for the Technical Working Groups. Maternal & Child Health working…
Participants were from 37 organizations across seven stakeholder sectors and 14 States and Union Territories of India, joining onsite and virtually, a breadth of engagement that reflects both the scale of India's maternal and child health enterprise and the wide constituency invested in its success. Discussions focused on strengthening evidence-informed, multisectoral collaboration to improve maternal and child health through a life-course approach. Participants acknowledged India's remarkable progress in improving maternal and child health outcomes while recognizing persistent geographical and social inequities and emphasized the need for stronger integration across maternal and child health, nutrition, early childhood development, and non-communicable disease programs. Maternal & Child Health working…
Participants underscored that the two thematic areas, 1. Childhood and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), and 2. Inclusive Early Childhood Development (IECD), represent global priorities where evidence from the Indian subcontinent can meaningfully inform international policy and practice. They highlighted the importance of strengthening the interface between research, policy, and implementation in both areas through multidisciplinary collaboration, implementation research, policy-relevant evidence generation, and knowledge exchange. Key priorities included developing practical outputs such as policy briefs, technical guidance, white papers, and capacity-building resources. Maternal & Child Health working…
The Technical Working Groups were envisioned as collaborative platforms that complement existing national initiatives, facilitate coordination among diverse stakeholders, strengthen global engagement through the WHS Academic Alliance, and establish governance mechanisms to support sustained technical collaboration, positioning the Working Group as a bridge between India's implementation experience and the global maternal and child health agenda, in service of health equity, health security, and societal wellbeing worldwide.