Joint partnership will support science to tackle a series of
global health challenges and build healthier futures, especially
for the world's most vulnerable populations
HELSINGØR, Denmark,
May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Novo
Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome, and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation announced a new partnership to support critical
scientific research and development (R&D) for global health.
The partnership is focused on supporting science and innovation to
advance solutions that are accessible and affordable to people in
low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The three-year initiative was announced at the Novo Nordisk
Foundation's Global Science Summit in Denmark, where each organization committed
US$100 million, for a total of
US$300 million. Initial funding will
support solutions to address the health impacts of climate change;
infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance (AMR); and greater
understanding of the interplay between nutrition, immunity,
disease, and developmental outcomes.
"By pooling the vast experience and unique expertise of each
organization—across research, technology, innovation, and
enterprise—we can make advances that wouldn't otherwise be
possible," said Mads Krogsgaard
Thomsen, CEO, Novo Nordisk Foundation. "I am particularly
excited about the chance to break down barriers between often
isolated areas of work—between cardiometabolic and infectious
diseases, or between scientific discovery and delivery of
solutions, for example—and support the development of truly
innovative solutions that can improve, and save, lives."
The initial three areas of this collaboration include:
- Climate/sustainability: Advancing climate
data, sustainable agriculture, and food systems. To better
protect people globally from the devastating effects of climate
change on health, solutions that draw across climate, health, and
agricultural science will be needed. This initiative will help
drive deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change,
develop novel solutions, and strengthen available data to support
environmental sustainability, build food system resilience, and
protect the health of vulnerable populations around the world.
- Infectious diseases: Addressing AMR, advancing
disease surveillance, and developing vaccines for respiratory
infections. As new pathogens emerge, persistent threats like
tuberculosis remain, and the prevalence of AMR increases,
infectious diseases continue to pose a significant threat to
countries and regions around the world. New advances in detection
and the development of vaccines and other tools can help reduce the
burden of disease in LMICs and prevent outbreaks from turning into
global crises.
- Interactions: Understanding the interplay
between nutrition, immunity, infectious diseases, cardiometabolic
and other noncommunicable diseases, and developmental outcomes.
Advances in nutritional science and our understanding of the
microbiome and immunology create an opportunity to solve for the
effects that over- and under-nutrition have on all aspects of
health and development, including the risk and severity of
cardiometabolic and infectious diseases.
The new funding will also include direct support for researchers
and institutions based in low- and middle- income settings,
including resources to advance locally relevant research agendas,
strengthen R&D capacities, and scale equitable access to
existing tools and technologies.
"The most effective solutions to pressing challenges often
emerge from the very communities they affect," said Dr. Catherine
Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health
Research Center, a leading scientific research institution. "I'm
encouraged that this new partnership seeks to unlock novel ideas
and support the scientists working directly with the communities
that stand to benefit the most."
In recent years, new technologies, scientific breakthroughs, and
a global pandemic have helped accelerate the pace of innovation.
Health workers, governments, and global alliances have shown how
collective action can transform progress to eliminate diseases,
extend life expectancies, and lift generations out of poverty. But
funding and attention for global health and development is
faltering, putting progress at risk. Debt crises are forcing
governments to cut funding for essential health programs; climate
change and conflict are shattering communities; and progress to
protect lives from diseases known and unknown is under threat.
Across all of these challenges, it is the world's poorest who are
most affected.
"We face huge challenges to protecting and improving physical
and mental health, compounded by vast inequities globally," said
John-Arne Røttingen, CEO of Wellcome. "Solutions will start in
science. We've seen this throughout history, and we've lived
first-hand through incredible advances to save and improve lives.
In today's complex world, health challenges increasingly overlap.
We need global collaboration and cooperation more than ever to
build healthier futures, and for society to thrive. I look forward
to seeing the exciting, innovative research that will come as a
result of this partnership. By partnering with the Novo Nordisk
Foundation and the Gates Foundation, we can raise ambition, and
combine resources and networks to find new ways to advance global
health research—especially for those with greatest need."
Recognizing that philanthropy has an important role to play but
can't do it alone, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome, and the
Gates Foundation will explore opportunities to expand this effort
to include both public and private partners, as well as engaging
other philanthropic partners.
"We're on the cusp of so many scientific breakthroughs in
agriculture, health, and nutrition, and with the right support
these innovations will save and improve lives around the world,"
said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation. "Every sector has a critical role
to play, and we hope this collaboration opens the door for other
funders and partners to contribute to scaling up existing
innovations and developing the tools of tomorrow."
About the Novo Nordisk
Foundation
The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with
philanthropic objectives established in Denmark in 1924. The vision of the Foundation
is to improve people's health and the sustainability of the planet.
The Foundation's mission is to progress research and innovation in
the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious
diseases, as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support
a green transformation of society.
www.novonordiskfonden.dk/en
About Wellcome
Wellcome is a global charitable foundation, based in the UK.
Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health
challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into
life, health, and wellbeing, and we're taking on three worldwide
health challenges: mental health, infectious disease, and climate
and health.
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead
healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on
improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift
themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all
people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to
the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in
Seattle, Washington, the
foundation is led by CEO Mark
Suzman, under the direction of Co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda
French Gates and the board of trustees.
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