The Future of Global Health Depends on Solidarity: Health workers and communities are leading the way—institutions must follow

India Workshop Story Collage

New Delhi, September 22-23, 2025 – Experts, youth leaders, grassroots activists, researchers, funders, and representatives from civil society from India, Nepal, and beyond called on global institutions to put solidarity at the heart of health systems, warning that resilience cannot be achieved through top-down strategies alone.

This message came through strongly at the 5th regional workshop of the Global Health Solidarity Project, at the Royal Plaza Hotel in New Delhi. Across two days of dialogue, up to 30 participants reflected on the urgent need to reimagine health and social systems and the hope that grassroots action offers for building fairer, more resilient futures.

Solidarity is not just feelings or charity; it is action rooted in mutual support, community cohesion, and standing together in times of crisis or happiness,” one participant remarked. 

The sentiment underscored a central theme of the workshop: solidarity must move beyond rhetoric to become a justice-driven practice that values lived experiences and diverse cultural perspectives.

Participants spotlighted some of the most compelling grassroots efforts shaping health today. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in India, and Sahiyas in Jharkhand, emerged as lifelines for marginalised populations, bridging the gap between communities and formal health systems. These workers connect people to services, fight misinformation, and deliver care in the toughest conditions. Yet despite their indispensable roles, they remain undervalued and underpaid, reflecting the structural inequities embedded in many health systems.

Civil society movements also offered inspiration. A participant emphasised that health is a public good co-produced through the interactions and actions of families, communities, and health systems, where everyone is an equal partner—making solidarity an obvious and essential value on which to ground global health. The participants also cited the Doha Declaration as a landmark example of Global South solidarity that reshaped the TRIPS framework, as countries collectively resisted its rigidities and secured flexibilities to safeguard access to medicines during public health crises. These stories demonstrated the power of solidarity not only to address immediate gaps but also to transform systems at their core.

Participants stressed that solidarity must not be mistaken for charity. Instead, it should be understood as a dynamic process of justice in action—one that requires humility, listening, and recognition of multiple ways of knowing, beyond Western frameworks. Stories of resilience from disaster relief efforts to indigenous rights advocacy illustrated how solidarity fosters healing, empowerment, and social justice when it is grounded in community leadership.

But solidarity also faces challenges. Participants warned that solidarity can, in some contexts, exclude as much as it includes. One striking example discussed was India’s caste system—a socio-economic hierarchy that binds communities together but reserves privilege for upper castes while excluding Dalits, once known as “untouchables.”

A leader from a Dalit-led initiative - Movement for Scavenger Community - Dr. Vimal Kumar, shared how caste-based exclusion has forced Dalits to form solidarities of their own in response to centuries of marginalisation. “The caste system institutionalises solidarity according to class, but in ways that push the most oppressed to the margins,” Vimal narrated.  For Dalits obligated to sanitation and cleaning work, solidarity has become not only a survival mechanism but also a form of resistance and dignity.

Amid these realities, participants raised concerns about misinformation, political dynamics, and entrenched funding biases that often dilute the moral and relational essence of solidarity. They emphasised the need to rethink funding and institutional practices that often prioritise short-term, project-based interventions over long-term systemic transformation. 

Building resilient, equitable health systems depends on reimagining funding, measurement, and engagement to be rooted in local realities and shared values. Without such change, solidarity risks becoming a hollow slogan, performed rather than lived.” one speaker argued. 

Still, the opportunities are significant. By centering community voices, fostering equitable partnerships, and creating inclusive spaces that recognise gender, class, and cultural diversity, health and social systems can become more just and more effective. The task, participants agreed, is not only to support solidarity but to ensure it is genuinely inclusive, avoiding the infantilisation or exclusion of subgroups.

 “True solidarity requires dialogue, collaboration, and acknowledgment of diverse ways of knowing and being, aiming toward more just and inclusive social relations in global health.”

The message from New Delhi was clear: solidarity is more than a moral aspiration, it is the foundation of resilient health systems.

The workshop was the 5th and last of the regional workshops conducted by the Global Health Solidarity Project, a Discovery Award funded by Wellcome Trust, to explore how solidarity is understood and practiced in different contexts. Previous workshops were held in Australia (pacific region), Costa Rica (Latin America), Ghana (anglophone) and Guinea (Francophone) between 2023 and 2025.