2026: IAP Legacy Series: Advancing Global Health Accountability

Georgian Medical Journal  ·  IAP Legacy Series  ·  Continuous Thematic Series  ·  Open Access  ·  CC BY 4.0  ·  Published by the Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG)

The Georgian Medical Journal (GMJ) launches the IAP Legacy Series on Global Health Accountability — a sustained scholarly initiative to preserve, interrogate, and advance the conceptual and operational foundations of accountability in global health.

This Series builds on the work of the Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent, established in 2016 within the United Nations Secretary-General's Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy (2016–2030). The Panel provided independent, evidence-informed assessments of progress and gaps in advancing the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents, while articulating accountability as a central function of health systems.

Its core message was unequivocal: accountability is not an adjunct to health systems performance, but one of its defining conditions. It requires credible data, institutional transparency, equity-oriented analysis, and enforceable responsibility across actors and levels of governance.

With the conclusion of the Panel's mandate, the need to sustain and extend this body of work has become more pressing. At the same time, access to elements of its intellectual and operational legacy — including reports, analyses, and supporting materials — has become fragmented. The IAP Legacy Series responds to this moment by establishing a structured academic space for continuity, critical engagement, and forward-looking analysis.

A Continuous Series Embedded in the GMJ Publication Cycle

The IAP Legacy Series is not conceived as a standalone or time-limited special issue. Instead, it is embedded across the regular publication cycle of GMJ as a continuous thematic series.

Submissions addressing global health accountability are actively encouraged on an ongoing basis. Where a sufficient body of work emerges within a given publication cycle, GMJ will curate these contributions as a dedicated thematic section within that issue. Where this threshold is not reached, accepted manuscripts will be published within the general issue structure or carried forward to enable future thematic consolidation.

This model reflects a deliberate editorial choice: to sustain intellectual continuity without fragmenting the journal into multiple special issues, while ensuring both visibility and timeliness of contributions.

Core Elements of the Series

Curated Resource Infrastructure

The Series is supported by a structured resource hub providing organized access to publicly available materials related to the Independent Accountability Panel, including its reports, peer-reviewed publications, and associated outputs.

These materials are accessed through original sources. GMJ does not host or reproduce these documents and does not claim ownership. The purpose is to facilitate academic reference, teaching, and policy engagement.

Scholarly Contributions and Critical Dialogue

At its core, the Series functions as an open platform for rigorous academic work examining accountability across health systems.

Contributions may address, among others:

— governance and institutional accountability mechanisms
— monitoring and evaluation frameworks
— data integrity and transparency
— equity and rights-based approaches
— implementation challenges across diverse health system contexts

The Series aims to foster cumulative knowledge and critical debate on how accountability can be operationalized in practice, beyond declarative commitments.

Positioning and Scope

The IAP Legacy Series is an independent academic initiative hosted by the Georgian Medical Journal.

It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or formally connected to the United Nations, the Every Woman Every Child initiative, or the Independent Accountability Panel. All referenced materials remain the intellectual property of their respective authors and institutions.

Call for Contributions

GMJ invites researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to contribute to the IAP Legacy Series.

Submissions will undergo the standard peer-review process and will be published within the journal's regular issues. Where appropriate, they will be grouped into thematic sections that reflect the evolving contours of global health accountability.

By embedding this Series within the ongoing life of the journal, GMJ seeks to move beyond episodic attention and toward sustained, cumulative engagement with one of the defining challenges of contemporary global health systems.

Submit a manuscript →  ·  Open Knowledge Hub →

Editorial Note: The IAP Legacy Series is an independent academic initiative hosted by GMJ and PHIG. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or formally connected to the United Nations, the Every Woman Every Child initiative, or the Independent Accountability Panel. All referenced materials remain the intellectual property of their respective authors and institutions. Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · DOI prefix: 10.66636.