Global health foundations join forces for climate and disease funding
The $300m research partnership will find affordable solutions for people in low and middle-income countries
06 May 2024 - 11:17
byJennifer Rigby
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Novo Nordisk Foundation CEO Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen at the Novo Nordisk Foundation headquarters in Hellerup, Denmark, in this October 3 2023 file photo. Picture: ALI WITHERS/REUTERS
London — Three of the biggest global health funders have joined forces for the first time in a $300m partnership aimed at tackling the linked effects of climate change, malnutrition, and infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the research partnership, focused particularly on finding affordable solutions for people in low and middle-income countries, in Denmark on Monday.
Each will put $100m into the 3-year initiative.
A key aim is to “break down barriers between often isolated areas of research”, said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
For example, Covid-19 showed that obesity can be a risk factor for the severity of some infectious diseases, while extreme weather events linked to climate change can cause food insecurity, leaving undernourished children even more vulnerable to killer diseases such as measles and cholera.
The partners said advances in nutritional science and understanding the gut microbiome opened the door to understanding more about “the impact over- and under-nutrition have on all aspects of health and development”.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has a controlling interest in the drugmaker Novo Nordisk, whose blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy has brought in billions for the foundation since its launch in 2021.
The partners said the initiative was important given faltering global attention to health post-pandemic. Wellcome CEO John-Arne Røttingen, also said it was about tackling “market failures” and signalling a global commitment to equitable access to medical advances.
Catherine Kyobutungi, an epidemiologist and the executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center. Picture: BILLY MIARON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The funding will also include support for researchers based in low- and middle-income countries, and the partners said they are on the lookout for private, philanthropic and public partners.
“The most effective solutions to pressing challenges often emerge from the very communities they affect,” said Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, a leading scientific research institution.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Global health foundations join forces for climate and disease funding
The $300m research partnership will find affordable solutions for people in low and middle-income countries
London — Three of the biggest global health funders have joined forces for the first time in a $300m partnership aimed at tackling the linked effects of climate change, malnutrition, and infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the research partnership, focused particularly on finding affordable solutions for people in low and middle-income countries, in Denmark on Monday.
Each will put $100m into the 3-year initiative.
A key aim is to “break down barriers between often isolated areas of research”, said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
For example, Covid-19 showed that obesity can be a risk factor for the severity of some infectious diseases, while extreme weather events linked to climate change can cause food insecurity, leaving undernourished children even more vulnerable to killer diseases such as measles and cholera.
The partners said advances in nutritional science and understanding the gut microbiome opened the door to understanding more about “the impact over- and under-nutrition have on all aspects of health and development”.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has a controlling interest in the drugmaker Novo Nordisk, whose blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy has brought in billions for the foundation since its launch in 2021.
The partners said the initiative was important given faltering global attention to health post-pandemic. Wellcome CEO John-Arne Røttingen, also said it was about tackling “market failures” and signalling a global commitment to equitable access to medical advances.
The funding will also include support for researchers based in low- and middle-income countries, and the partners said they are on the lookout for private, philanthropic and public partners.
“The most effective solutions to pressing challenges often emerge from the very communities they affect,” said Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, a leading scientific research institution.
Reuters
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