What: High-level Side Event under the theme “Recommitting Africa to Child Survival through Strategic Investment in Prevention of Malnutrition.”

When: Friday, 13 February 2026, from 1800 hrs. to 2000hrs. (EAT)

Where: Hyatt Regency, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Who: Hosted by The Kingdom of Lesotho, represented by His Majesty King Letsie III, African Union Champion for Nutrition

Co-hosted by:

• AU Member State
• African Union Commission
• African Development Bank and its      Africa Leaders for Nutrition i     nitiative    
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• Nutrition International
• World Vision

Background:
On the margins of the 2026 African Union Summit, the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Kingdom of Lesotho and key partners, will convene a high-level side event to elevate child survival as an urgent continental priority. The theme is a call for Africa to recommit to child survival through strategic, prevention-focused investments in nutrition and integrated water and sanitation systems.

Africa is facing a preventable child survival crisis. Over the next five years, at least 30 million children are projected to die globally from preventable causes, with nearly 60 percent of these deaths occurring in Africa, unless action is taken. Many of these deaths are linked to malnutrition, infections, unsafe water and sanitation, climate shocks, and limited access to basic health services despite availability of proven, cost-effective interventions. These challenges are compounded by inadequate financing for prevention.

The event aligns with the African Union Theme of the Year 2026: “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063, and positions child survival as a unifying continental priority that links nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, education, and social protection.

This high-level gathering will bring together Heads of State and Government, Ministers of Finance and Health, development partners, philanthropies, and regional institutions to translate political commitment into scaled budgeted action, mobilize innovative financing, and strengthen accountability for child survival outcomes across the continent.

Objectives of the event are to:

1. Position child survival as a continental development and leadership priority linked to the AU 2026 Theme of the Year
2. Recommit African leaders to prevention-focused investments in nutrition and integrated WASH systems
3. Address Africa’s growing financing gap for child survival and malnutrition prevention
4. Catalyze innovative and blended financing mechanisms for large-scale, evidence-based child survival and nutrition interventions
5. Strengthen multisectoral and multilateral alignment and accountability for results

Expected outcomes include:

1. A continental call to action to place child survival at the center of Africa’s development agenda
2. Renewed political commitment by AU Member States to scale up nutrition and child survival interventions and end preventable child deaths
3. Increased visibility of nutrition-health-WASH linkages within AU policy frameworks
4. Stronger alignment among governments, development partners, and philanthropies

Participation at the event:
Attendance for members of the press is by invitation only.

Media representatives are invited to submit requests to attend or interview delegates to:

• Mr. Derrick Oduck Ochuot | Strategic Communication Expert, African Union Commission | Email: OchuotD@africanunion.org | Web: www.au.int