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In a week that started with a terrible attack on the Jewish community in Bondi and with ramifications nationally and globally – there is a need more than ever to lean on, strengthen and protect community. As we mourn each individual who needlessly lost their lives, it is communities which will carry their families through and the links between communities which will continue to heal all our broken hearts and fears.
As many of our member offices start to draw to a close and we each head off for some much needed rest, I want to take the opportunity to thank each of you for your enduring kind support and trust in this precious Alliance community in 2025. We exist to support the Australian global health ecosystem and its global partners.
To say that this year has been a big one is a gross understatement. From US and other major donor funding cuts, to assaults on science, DEI, LGBTIQ+ and women’s health, to ongoing humanitarian crisis and conflict and climate-related health impacts – the global health community has endured a lot. And it has done so with your support and in partnership with all the other amazing networks, experts and advocates in our region.
In the heat of crisis and funding pressures, it’s important not to overlook some critical wins that the Alliance community made in 2025.
In Australia, our partners at Pacific Friends of Global Health, alongside other amazing advocates such as RESULTS Australia, and with the support of the Alliance’s Parliamentary Friends for Global Health platform, have helped successfully secure maintained or increased replenishments for both the Global Fund and Gavi – unlike the reduced contributions seen in many other donor countries this year.
In July, the first two in a series of reports commissioned by the Alliance were launched mapping the public investment into global health research and making the multilateral investment case for our region. We hosted a whole-of-government meeting in Parliament House in Canberra, which included government partners in DFAT and NHMRC, and held a press conference to not only highlight the messages in the reports but also lay the ground for collective work to release the cap on funds for medical and global health research, such as from the Medical Research Future Fund. A recent statement by the NHMRC CEO cites the first report. More to come next year.
We joined forces with local climate and health NGOS and advocates to prepare for COP31, which ultimately will not end up being hosted in Australia, but nevertheless we will work together to ensure that the Pacific is front and centre during the conference in Türkiye and that the global health community and all partners are able to contribute to pre-COP discussions.
For the first time, the Australian Global Health Alliance film festival partnered with a local Rohingya diaspora advocacy group in the celebration of Rohingya culture through the Meeras Pavilion and screened the immersive film Wandering: a Rohingya Story at Customs House on Circular Quay Sydney.
The Alliance is honoured to be supporting a new Lancet Commission on Indigenous Health with leads at Lowitja Institute, and particularly delighted that Victoria is the first state to sign a Treaty between First Peoples in Victoria and the Victorian Government. We are also thrilled to continue our trust and collaboration with students in the Australian Medical students Association (AMSA) Global Health, teaching decolonisation of global health to medical students at the University of Sydney, and encourage all emerging and young leaders in global health to reach out with your ideas to the secretariat. We have some exciting plans together to strengthen our links intergenerationally in 2026.
The Alliance, George Institute for Global Health, McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer and the WHO Collaborating Centre Network last month hosted a half-day symposium on advancing progress on NCDs globally and locally, and we have just ended the year with the soft launch of our third platform, building on Business and Philanthropy and Global Health. There will be much more on this in the new year and the launch of the third report in the series mapping private investment in Australia into global health.
Please keep your eyes open in the New Year for more information on our Annual Congress, scheduled for 4th February 2026, which will be focused on a discussion around lessons learnt from CDC and health security capacities in our region and beyond. We are excited to share more soon!
We also have a number of very special events to be delivered early in the year – including our very first Intergenerational Masterclass for Parliamentarians on Global Health Leadership early next year with special guest Rt Hon Helen Clark and in partnership with Dr Mike Freelander MP.
Finally, today in collaboration with WPRO we hosted two parliamentarians from the Korean global health caucus. They visited Doherty Institute and MCRI and met with leads from Nossal Institute, Monash University and the Alliance.
The most remarkable achievement is that we have collectively accomplished all of the above—and more—thanks to the commitment of many of you, alongside a small but extraordinarily dedicated and hardworking secretariat, executive committee, and advisory board. We extend our particular thanks to our Chair, Prof Brendan Crabb; Deputy Chair, Prof Jane Fisher; and Prof Helen Evans and Matt Ralston, who make up our Executive Committee, as well as the members of the Advisory Board who give their time freely, driven by the belief and hope that, as a collective of independent members, we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone. We thank Raylynn Benn who replaced Abbie Minter as Pacific Friends of Global Health lead this year during her maternity leave.
Please have a safe, peaceful, and restful festive season and New Year break with your families, friends, and communities. For those working through the period, thank you for your continued commitment. I hope you return refreshed for a bumper year ahead, and I look forward to connecting with many of you as you continue to engage with and support this vital global health asset – the extraordinary community of members, sponsors, and friends who make up the Australian Global Health Alliance.
Dr Selina Namchee Lo
Executive Director
Australian Global Health Alliance
