“Solidarity in Sovereignty in Africa” is a call to action for the global community to stand with African nations by respecting and upholding their sovereignty – while recognizing that international assistance remains essential to enable low-income countries to invest the resources needed to close equity gaps and eradicate poverty. To be effective, this support must champion Africa-led priorities, decision-making, and solutions, respond to local needs and contexts, and recognize African leadership as central to shared global progress. In the third edition of our Black History Month series, we had the honour of speaking with Rosemary Mburu, Executive Director of WACI Health, African health leadership champion and one of TIME's 2026 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱’𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵.
I’m Rosemary Mburu, Executive Director of WACI Health. We are a women-led African regional advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone can access health services. Our work focuses on shaping the financing, governance, and health systems that serve people.
WACI Health is 27 years old. We were originally established to mobilize across Africa to respond to HIV. Over time, particularly during the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the mid 2010s, we broadened our focus from a single-disease response to a more comprehensive global health agenda.
Today, we convene community groups and civil society organizations across Africa to advocate for accountability, sustainable financing, and inclusive governance. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure equitable access to health services, grounded in African priorities and leadership.
During the MDG era, there was a lot of focus on ending epidemics, particularly HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. That period brought unprecedented global solidarity. Mechanisms like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria were created, financing increased, and scientific breakthroughs transformed what was possible. It was a powerful example of what coordinated global action can achieve.
With the SDGs, the lens expanded. We began focusing not only on diseases, but on the systems required to deliver services. Universal Health Coverage became a central ambition, ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can access care without financial risk. That was a critical evolution.
But while the goals shifted, structural inequalities persisted and continue to persist. Women and girls, marginalized communities, and people criminalized because of their identities or circumstances continued to face barriers. Inequities in voice and decision-making remained deeply embedded in the global health architecture. COVID-19 exposed this clearly where scientific progress accelerated but access was unequal.
So while we transitioned from MDGs to SDGs, the underlying power dynamics in the global system changed far less. That is the tension we continue to confront.
For me, solidarity is reflected in how the world came together to fight HIV, TB, and malaria. The creation of the Global Fund is a powerful example, countries pooling resources, working alongside affected communities, and investing collectively to stop epidemics. That kind of solidarity saved millions of lives.
Sovereignty, however, asks a deeper question: who is making decisions, and where? It is about African countries governing their own health systems, setting priorities, and leading responses without undue external control.
Solidarity in sovereignty is not about disengagement. It is not about breaking partnerships. It is about reshaping them. It means international assistance continues but in ways that respect and reinforce African leadership, respond to local contexts, and align with nationally defined priorities.
It also means sovereignty must extend beyond governments to people. Too often, conversations focus only on state authority. But communities and civil society must also have voice in how health systems are governed. True sovereignty includes participatory governance, accountability, and human rights.
That is why I remain a strong defender of multilateralism. At its best, it creates space for communities, civil society, and equity principles to shape decision-making. It can embody solidarity while reinforcing country leadership if structured intentionally.
The shift toward more government-to-government agreements risks narrowing participation. When partnerships are structured exclusively between governments, community voices and accountability mechanisms can be sidelined. Multilateral models, despite their imperfections, have historically created space for civil society engagement, equity lenses, and community monitoring. Those gains are fragile.
We are also seeing rising nationalism and populism. Principles like equity, inclusion, and diversity, core to reaching those historically left out of health systems, are increasingly contested. That has real consequences on the ground.
When funding disruptions occur, communities, especially those already marginalized, are the first to feel it. Rapid integration of services without adequate preparation strains fragile systems. Civil society organizations that play critical accountability roles face uncertainty. The immediate impact is confusion, disruption of services, and heightened vulnerability for those already at the margins.
International assistance remains essential for many low-income countries to close equity gaps and eradicate poverty. But it must be structured in ways that strengthen domestic systems, not override them.
This moment has shown how interconnected we are. Whether you are in Nairobi, Ottawa, or Washington, we are part of one global community. When advocates in donor countries engage their governments, push for principled investments, and defend multilateralism, it matters. It reinforces that African countries are not standing alone.
At the same time, solidarity must also support accountability within our own countries here in Africa. Sovereignty comes with responsibility: governments must govern transparently, protect civic space, and ensure health systems serve all people.
Advocates can help by continuing to organize globally, defend health as a political priority, and co-create stronger accountability mechanisms. We need to rethink what we measure, how we track progress, and how communities shape those reforms.
Solidarity in sovereignty means standing with African nations, not over them, so they can lead. It means international partners providing sustained support that respects local priorities and strengthens domestic systems. And it means recognizing that Africa’s leadership is not peripheral to global progress. It is central to it.
READ ON: the future of Africa led by Africa with Fara Ndiaye
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