The webinar marked the first concrete activity under the developing strategic partnership between PPD and HIEx, a Geneva based global platform that connects governments, innovators, investors, and international organisations to accelerate equitable access to health innovation. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), PPD’s longstanding development partner, also contributed to the discussion.

In his opening remarks, Professor Dr. Joseph Akinkugbe Adelegan, Executive Director of PPD, stressed that health innovation must be guided by the priorities and realities of Member Countries. He noted that PPD’s network of 28 Member States provides a distinctive platform for connecting national health needs with relevant technologies, technical expertise, and sustainable financing. He called for country led solutions that respond directly to challenges identified by governments and communities.

Mr. Bobby Olarte, Senior Adviser for South-South and Triangular Cooperation at UNFPA, highlighted the importance of technical exchange, technology transfer, and collaborative programming in strengthening country owned health systems. Mr. Pradeep Kakkattil, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of HIEx, and Dr. Biju Jacob, Chief Technology Officer of HIEx, presented a range of opportunities, including artificial intelligence enabled diagnostics, handheld ultrasound for maternal and newborn health, telemedicine and remote surgical support, advanced therapies, digital health infrastructure, sovereign health data systems, and innovative financing.

The discussion underlined that technology alone cannot deliver impact. Participants emphasised the need for local capacity, reliable infrastructure, appropriate data governance, regulatory readiness, and investment ready project plans. Member Country representatives expressed particular interest in maternal and newborn health, sovereign data systems, local innovation and production, early stage financing, and innovative resource mobilisation.

Mr. Chipo, the Investment Specialist from UNFPA Headquarters also shared UNFPA’s work to link women’s health innovation with financing, including sustainable approaches to expanding access to point of care ultrasound and strengthening midwife training. UNFPA and HIEx both reaffirmed their readiness to support practical follow up actions with PPD and interested Member Countries.

The webinar concluded with an agreement that PPD will circulate a summary and invite Member Countries to submit preliminary areas of interest. The PPD Secretariat will facilitate bilateral consultations with HIEx and interested Member Countries to identify priority interventions, develop feasible project concepts, explore pilot programmes, and mobilise resources.

During the courtesy call, Professor Adelegan formally introduced himself to Ms. Breen Kamkong and provided a comprehensive briefing on the organisation’s mandate, ongoing programmes, and current strategic direction as an intergovernmental alliance of 28 Member Countries dedicated to promoting South-South and Triangular Cooperation in reproductive health, population, and sustainable development. Professor Adelegan also presented the key priorities and strategic directions of the PPD Strategic Plan 2026 to 2030, which charts the organisation’s institutional ambitions and programmatic commitments for the years ahead, and underscored PPD’s commitment to delivering tangible and measurable results for its Member Countries across the Global South.

A central theme of the meeting was the longstanding and productive relationship between PPD and UNFPA, which spans decades of collaborative engagement at multiple levels of both organisations. Professor Adelegan warmly expressed his profound appreciation to Ms. Breen Kamkong and to UNFPA for the continued and invaluable support that the Fund has extended to PPD’s activities over the years. He noted with particular gratitude that UNFPA’s partnership with PPD extends well beyond the bilateral relationship with the UNFPA Bangladesh Country Office, encompassing active and sustained collaboration with UNFPA Country Offices in PPD Member Countries across all regions, as well as engagement at the level of the PPD Secretariat Headquarters in Dhaka. This multi-dimensional partnership, Professor Adelegan observed, has been a cornerstone of PPD’s ability to advance South-South Cooperation in reproductive health and population development across the developing world.

Ms. Breen Kamkong warmly received the Executive Director and expressed UNFPA’s continued commitment to supporting PPD’s mandate and programmes. The meeting reflected a mutual recognition of the complementarity between UNFPA’s global mandate and PPD’s unique intergovernmental platform as the only organisation in the world fully dedicated to South-South Cooperation in reproductive health, population, and development. Both sides expressed confidence that the partnership between PPD and UNFPA will continue to grow in depth, scope, and impact in the years ahead, under the leadership of the new Executive Director.

Every year on 11 July, the world comes together to observe World Population Day, a global occasion established by the United Nations Development Programme in 1989 to draw attention to the importance of population issues and their profound connections to human rights, health, sustainable development, and the well-being of present and future generations. On this significant day, Partners in Population and Development (PPD) joins governments, United Nations agencies, civil society organisations, and communities across the globe in reaffirming our collective commitment to the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This Year’s Theme: Realizing the Hopes and Aspirations of Young People — Today and for the Future

The United Nations has designated the theme of World Population Day 2026 as “Realizing the Hopes and Aspirations of Young People — Today and for the Future.” This theme speaks to one of the most defining opportunities and responsibilities of our time. Today, the world is home to the largest generation of young people in human history. Approximately 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24 are shaping the present and will determine the future of our planet. The majority of these young people live in developing countries across the Global South, many of them in PPD Member States.

The aspirations of young people are universal: access to quality education and healthcare, the freedom to make informed decisions about their bodies and reproductive health, opportunities for meaningful economic participation, a safe and stable environment, and the chance to live a life of dignity and purpose. Yet for millions of young people across the developing world, these aspirations remain unrealised, impeded by barriers of poverty, inequality, limited access to reproductive health services, gender discrimination, and inadequate investment in youth-centred policies and programmes.

World Population Day 2026 is a call to action for governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society, and the private sector to redouble their commitment to investing in young people, removing the barriers that constrain their potential, and building the systems, policies, and partnerships that will enable this generation to thrive, contribute, and lead.

PPD and the Aspirations of Young People

As an intergovernmental alliance of 28 developing countries mandated to promote South-South and Triangular Cooperation in reproductive health, population, and sustainable development, PPD regards the realisation of young people’s hopes and aspirations as central to its mission and mandate. The ICPD Programme of Action, which provides the foundational framework for PPD’s work, explicitly recognises the rights of young people to information, education, and services in the area of sexual and reproductive health, and calls on governments and the international community to create enabling environments in which young people can make free, informed, and responsible choices about their lives.

PPD’s Member Countries are home to large and growing youth populations whose energy, creativity, and potential represent one of the greatest assets of the Global South. Through its programmes in adolescent sexual and reproductive health, capacity building, knowledge exchange, policy advocacy, and the South-South Youth Platform (SSYP), PPD works to ensure that young people are not merely the beneficiaries of development but active participants and architects of the future we collectively aspire to build. PPD believes firmly that no sustainable development goal can be fully achieved without investing meaningfully and urgently in the health, education, rights, and opportunities of young people today.

 A Message from the PPD Executive Director

:: Download the message ::

Voices from the Global South:
Messages from PPD Member Countries

In commemoration of World Population Day 2026, PPD invited its Member Countries, Partner Country Coordinators, and distinguished partners to share their reflections, commitments, and calls to action.

We are deeply honoured to present the following messages from across the PPD family, representing the rich diversity of experience, vision, and commitment that defines our intergovernmental community. These voices from the Global South remind us that while our countries differ in geography, culture, and circumstance, we are united by a shared belief.

MESSAGE FROM 
Prof. Budi Setiyono, S.Sos, M.Pol.Admin, Ph.D
Member, PPD Board and Secretary of the Ministry of Population and Family Development/ BKKBN
Ministry of Population and Family Development/National Population and Family Planning Board (NPFPB-BKKBN)
Government of the Republic of Indonesia

MESSAGE FROM
Ms. Lucy Kimondo
Treasurer, PPD Board  and Acting Director General
National Council for Population and Development (NCPD), Kenya

MESSAGE FROM
Ms. Rhoda Gadama Misomali
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM), Malawi

Articles

Bending the Curve: Malawi’s Three-Decade Battle Against Maternal Death

Drivers and Lessons from Malawi’s Success in Accelerating Modern Contraceptive Uptake

MESSAGE FROM
Mr. Farai Machinga
PPD Partner Country Coordinator of Zimbabwe
Chief Executive Officer
Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, Zimbabwe

MESSAGE FROM
Ms. Dima Al-Khatib
Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC)

Mr. Adnene brought to PPD wealth of leadership, management and technical expertise particularly in the field of Reproductive Health, Population and Development acquired from his closest and longest association with the organization and its founding architects since inception in 1994, excellent relationship with the member states and development partners, well conversant about PPD mandates, priority focus areas, governance and management policies and procedures, excellent proficiency in three official languages of PPD constituency (English, French and Arabic)  including the profound commitment and passion to navigate PPD and promote South-South Cooperation to greater height.

Over 25 years of his professional career, Mr. Adnene significantly contributed to the development of the Tunisian population and reproductive health policies and programs. He worked extensively with the overseas governments and international development partners influencing policy changes and program developments at the national, regional and international levels through continued South-South bilateral, multilateral, triangular cooperation and partnerships. His rich expertise in the development and implementation of the national and inter-country programs and projects focusing on the broad spectrum of public health issues, brought international recognition, standing and several prestigious awards to himself and to his country, notably the UNDP South-South Award. Through his unrelenting endeavor, the National Family and Population Board of Tunisia acquired the unique status of the International Center of Excellence.

Mr. Adnene is married with two daughters. Please join us welcoming Mr. Adnene Ben Haj Aissa on board PPD!

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Nous sommes très heureux d’annoncer la désignation de  M. Adnene Ben Haj Aissa, de la Tunisie en tant que nouveau Directeur exécutif de Partenaires en Population et Développement (PPD) . Avant de rejoindre PPD, M. Adnene a servi le Gouvernement tunisien dans différents postes au sein de l’Office National de la Famille et de la Population relevant du Ministère tunisien de la santé chargé du Département de la Coopération technique. Dans ce poste, il avait entretenu des relations de coopération avec des partenaires internationaux grâce à des  concertations techniques et des participations en tant que Représentant de son pays dans de nombreux forums internationaux de haut niveau.

M. Adnene rejoint PPD avec une grande expérience en leadership, gestion et expertise technique, notamment dans le domaine de la santé de la reproduction, de la population et du développement, acquise depuis la création de cette organisation intergouvernementale en 1994. Depuis cette date, il a développé d’excellentes relations avec les États membres et les partenaires de développement, bien imprégné du mandat de PPD, connaissant parfaitement ses domaines prioritaires, ses politiques de gestion et ses procédures de gouvernance et de management, excellente maîtrise des trois langues officielles des principaux pays formant PPD (anglais, français et arabe), ainsi qu’une grande expertise acquise dans le domaine de la Coopération Sud- Sud et triangulaire.

Avec plus de 25 ans d’expérience professionnelle, M. Adnene a contribué de manière significative au développement de la politique de population et du programme tunisien en santé de la reproduction. Il a beaucoup travaillé avec les gouvernements des pays frères et amis ainsi qu’avec les partenaires de développement internationaux ayant contribué aux changements de politiques et de développements de programmes aux niveaux national, régional et international grâce à une coopération et des partenariats bilatéraux, multilatéraux et triangulaires. Sa grande expérience dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre de programmes et projets nationaux et interrégionaux sud-sud et triangulaires axés sur la santé de la reproduction et la santé de la mère et de l’enfant a valu  à son institution plusieurs distinctions internationales dont le prix des Nations Unies en matière de coopération sud-sud,  octroyé à l’Office National de la Famille et de la Population de la Tunisie désigné par l’UNFPA en 1994, Centre  d’excellence en matière de population pour l’Afrique et le Monde Arabe

M. Adnene est marié et père de deux filles. Veuillez nous rejoindre pour souhaiter la bienvenue à M. Adnene Ben Haj Aissa à bord de PPD!.