We, the staff of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), are appalled by the violent death of George Floyd. His and so many other deaths and injustices are reminders of insidious and systemic racism that exists in the United States and in all countries around the world.

Discrimination and exclusion based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity and other grounds are often the underlying driver of inequities faced by women, children and adolescents, infringing on their rights and dignity and leading to vast disparities in health and well-being.

This is at the very heart of PMNCH’s mandate and what we strive toward in all our work: to achieve the highest standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being. And yet we realize that, as individuals, as an organization, and as an alliance of over 1,000 partners in 192 countries, we can and must do more.

We are committed to better equipping ourselves as individuals and as an organization to address all forms of racism, discrimination and inequity in all our work. We are also committed to actively confronting implicit biases, harmful stereotypes and power dynamics that still exist within the global health and development sector, and to actively fostering a more diverse and inclusive environment.

We stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and commit to embarking on our own journey to become stronger allies in the worldwide fight against all forms of discrimination, inequity and injustice.