Retrouver les enfants congolais non-vaccinés: des acteurs de tout le pays lancent le premier Accélérateur zéro-dose pour renforcer la mise en oeuvre et le suivi

Reda SadkiGlobal health

«Si je réussis mon projet de terrain, je m’attends à avoir au moins vacciné 345 enfants». Cet engagement n’a pas été pris par un ministre dans la capitale, mais par Jérémie Mpata Lumpungu, infirmier titulaire dans la province du Kasaï. Il n’était pas seul. Lundi 10 novembre 2025, un appel a résonné à travers la République démocratique du Congo. Depuis Kinshasa, le Dr Josaphat-Francois WETSHIKOY, épidémiologiste, a détaillé son objectif pour les 21 prochains jours: «récupérer 30 % des enfants» non vaccinés dans sa zone cible de 230 000. Barthélemy Daké Saoromou, préparant une stratégie mobile, vise «plus de 500 enfants zéro dose». Cette détermination palpable, venue de praticiens de tout le pays, a marqué le lancement de l’«Accélérateur d’impact zéro-dose». Il ne s’agit pas d’une formation ou d’un atelier de plus. C’est une nouvelle phase d’action, un «système de soutien» pour la mise en oeuvre et le suivi, conçu par …

Green skills and artificial intelligence

The future of work: remarks at the 9th 1M1B Impact Summit held at the United Nations in Geneva

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

On November 7, 2025, Reda Sadki, Executive Director of The Geneva Learning Foundation, joined the panel “The Future of Work: AI and Green Skills” at the 9th 1M1B Impact Summit held at the United Nations in Geneva. Moderated by Elizabeth Saunders, the discussion explored the rapid redefinition of the workforce by artificial intelligence and the green transition. The following is an edited transcript of Mr. Sadki’s remarks. Living with artificial intelligence Moderator: You have just seen some of these really incredible changemaker ideas and so what skills and mindsets stood out to you and how do you think those can be scaled to build a workforce that is living with AI and not competing with it? That is a wonderful question. I would answer that the key skill is learning to work with artificial intelligence. It is likely that your generation will be the first one learning to work side-by-side …

Bill Gates

Development is adaptation: Bill Gates’s shift is actually about linking climate change and health

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Bill Gates’ latest public memo marks a significant shift in how the world’s most influential philanthropist frames the challenge of climate change. He sees a future in which responding to climate threats and promoting well-being become two sides of the same mission, declaring, “development is adaptation.” Gates argues that the principal metric for climate action should not be global temperature or near-term emission reductions alone, but measured improvement in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations. He argues that the focus of climate action should be on the “greatest possible impact for the most vulnerable people.” The suffering of poor communities must take priority, since, in his view, “climate change, disease, and poverty are all major problems. We should deal with them in proportion to the suffering they cause.” Climate change is about the health of the most vulnerable This position resonates with a core message that has emerged …

20251029.CLIMATE Lancet Countdown 2025.005.1600

How the Lancet Countdown illuminates a new path to climate-resilient health systems

Reda SadkiGlobal health

The 2025 Lancet Countdown report has begun to acknowledge a critical, often-overlooked source of intelligence to build climate-resilient health systems: the health worker. By including testimonials from health workers alongside formal quantitative evidence, the Lancet cracks open a door, hinting at a world beyond globally standardized datasets. This is a necessary first step. However, the report’s framework for action remains a traditional, top-down model. It primarily frames the health workforce as passive recipients of knowledge—a group that must be “educated and trained” because they are “unprepared”, rather than build on existing evidence that points to health workers as leaders for climate-health resilience. The 2025 report confirms that climate change’s assault on human health has reached alarming new levels. Yet, within this sobering assessment lies a quiet but potentially pivotal shift. For the first time, the Countdown’s country profiles integrate direct testimonials from frontline health workers, explicitly acknowledging their “lived experiences as valuable …

20251029.CLIMATE Lancet Countdown 2025.008.1600

Climate change and health: what the Lancet Countdown says about the value and significance of local knowledge and action

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Here is everything that the new Lancet Countdown says about the value and significance of indigenous and other forms of local knowledge, as well as their value for community-led action to respond to the impacts of climate change on health. Why does this matter? Read our article: How the Lancet Countdown illuminates a new path to climate-resilient health systems On the value of community-led action and the significance of local knowledge Defining community-led action by its local context and empowerment “Community-led actions are those spearheaded by self-organised individuals within a community, working together for a common goal. Rooted in local societal, cultural, and economic contexts, they can promote equity, empower local actors, and strengthen climate resilience.” Community-led action as a driver of meaningful progress “Individual, community-led, and civil society actions can drive meaningful progress with substantial health benefits.” Grassroots activities growing into formal organizations “These grassroots activities can grow into …

Old poison in new bottles

How do we stop AI-generated ‘poverty porn’ fake images?

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

There is an important and necessary conversation happening right now about the use of generative artificial intelligence in global health and humanitarian communications. Researchers like Arsenii Alenichev are correctly identifying a new wave of “poverty porn 2.0,” where artificial intelligence is used to generate stereotypical, racialized images of suffering – the very tropes many of us have worked for decades to banish. The alarms are valid. The images are harmful. But I am deeply concerned that in our rush to condemn the new technology, we are misdiagnosing the cause. The problem is not the tool. The problem is the user. Generative artificial intelligence is not the cause of poverty porn. The root cause is the deep-seeded racism and colonial mindset that have defined the humanitarian aid and global health sectors since their inception. This is not a new phenomenon. It is a long-standing pattern. In my private conversations with colleagues …

State of AI report

What the 2025 State of AI Report means for global health and humanitarian action

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

The 2025 State of AI Report has arrived, painting a picture of an industry being fundamentally reshaped by “The Squeeze.” This is a critical, intensifying constraint on three key resources: the massive-scale compute (processing power) required for training, the availability of high-quality data, and the specialized human talent to build frontier models. This squeeze, the report details, is accelerating a consolidation of power. It favors the “hyperscalers”—the handful of large technology corporations that can afford to build their own power plants to run their data centers. For leaders in global health and humanitarian action, the report is essential reading. However, it must be read with a critical eye. The report’s narrative is, in many ways, the narrative of the hyperscalers. It focuses on the benchmarks they dominate, the closed models they are building, and the resource problems they face. This “view from the top” is valuable, but it is not …

Empower Learners for the Age of AI conference

The great unlearning: notes on the Empower Learners for the Age of AI conference

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is forcing a reckoning not just in our schools, but in how we solve the world’s most complex problems.  When ChatGPT exploded into public consciousness, the immediate fear that rippled through our institutions was singular: the corruption of process. The specter of students, professionals, and even leaders outsourcing their intellectual labor to a machine seemed to threaten the very foundation of competence and accountability. In response, a predictable arsenal was deployed: detection software, outright bans, and policies hastily drafted to contain the threat. Three years later, a more profound and unsettling truth is emerging. The Empowering Learners AI 2025 global conference (7-10 October 2025) was a fascinating location to observe how academics – albeit mostly white men from the Global North centers that concentrate resources for research – are navigating these troubled waters. The impacts of AI in education matter because, as the OECD’s Stefan Vincent-Lancrin explained: “performance in education …

Pour retrouver les enfants congolais non vaccinés, il est question des fumoirs à poisson et du dialogue inter-religieux

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Au deuxième jour de leurs travaux en direct, les professionnels de la santé congolais sont passés de la découverte à l’exploration des causes profondes qui laissent des centaines de milliers d’enfants exposés aux maladies évitables par la vaccination. Ils découvrent que les racines du problème sont souvent là où personne ne les attend: dans l’économie de la pêche, le dialogue avec les églises ou la gestion des camps de déplacés. Lire également: En République démocratique du Congo, la traque des enfants « zéro dose » passe par l’intelligence collective des acteurs de la santé Les analyses, plus fines, révèlent des leviers d’action insoupçonnés, démontrant la puissance d’une méthode qui transforme les soignants en stratèges. « La séance d’hier, c’était une séance de découverte, mais aujourd’hui, c’était une séance d’exploration. Explorer, c’est aller en profondeur. Il faut sonder ». Ces mots de Fidèle Tshibanda Mulangu, un participant congolais, résument la bascule …

En République démocratique du Congo, la traque des enfants « zéro dose » passe par l’intelligence collective des acteurs de la santé

En République démocratique du Congo, la traque des enfants « zéro dose » passe par l’intelligence collective des acteurs de la santé

Reda SadkiGlobal health

KINSHASA et LUMUMBASHI, le 7 octobre 2025 (La Fondation Apprendre Genève) – « Ces jeunes filles qui ont des grossesses indésirables, quand elles mettent au monde, elles ont tendance à laisser les enfants livrés à eux-mêmes », explique Marguerite Bosita, coordonnatrice d’une organisation non gouvernementale à Kinshasa. « Ce manque d’informations sur les questions liées à la vaccination se pose encore plus, car ces enfants grandissent exposés à des difficultés de santé ». Sa voix, émanant d’une mission de terrain dans la province du Kongo Central, s’est jointe à des centaines d’autres ce 7 octobre 2025. Il s’agissait de la deuxième journée d’un exercice d’apprentissage par les pairs de 16 jours visant à identifier et à atteindre les enfants dits « zéro dose » en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Ce sont ces centaines de milliers de nourrissons qui n’ont reçu aucun vaccin pour les protéger de nombreuses maladies. Pour …