Global Health
Most Recent
Remembering Dikembe Mutombo’s Global Philanthropy
The NBA hall of famer — Mt. Mutombo, the man with the resounding and everlasting finger wag — passed away in September. Ade Adeniji looks back at the man’s career and philanthropy.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Targets Lead Poisoning in the First of Its New “Big Bets”
The consultancy and philanthrosphere stalwart has a new program of collaborative big bets in the works. Its first tackles a global problem that’s benefiting from a recent uptick in funder attention.
Effective Altruism Needs a Gender Lens
Guest author Kate Grant, the founding CEO of Fistula Foundation, wants to shake up effective altruism by focusing on its gender inequality blind spot.
Basic Data, Big Impact: Why Bloomberg’s Doubling Down on Tracking Global Births and Deaths
With additional backing from Gates, Bloomberg Philanthropies is pumping more money into its decade-long project to help low- and middle-income countries collect accurate birth and death data — and act on it.
As Funding Dwindles, HIV and AIDS Remain as Much an Issue of Human Rights as of Health
A new report shows a continued decline in HIV giving as infection rates in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and other regions rise. Long-underserved groups, including women and girls, are disproportionately impacted.
How One Corporate Foundation Is Backing Maternal Health in the U.S. and Abroad
The newly formed GE HealthCare Foundation is hitting the ground running with grants focused on the U.S. and on work in Kenya and Indonesia. Building and training the maternal health workforce is a priority.
The WHO Foundation: Applying a “Start-up Mentality” to the Challenges of Global Health
Founded amid the pandemic, the World Health Organization’s foundation channels philanthropic cash to rapid responses, several medium-term priorities, and bigger bets. We connected with CEO Anil Soni to learn more.
Five Questions for Lim Seok Hui, CEO of the Philanthropy Asia Alliance
With no shortage of wealthy donors, the Asia Pacific region has a lot of philanthropic potential. To learn more, we connected with Lim Seok Hui, who leads a collaborative philanthropy initiative looking to deliver on that.
This New Global Funder Is All About Proximate, On-the-Ground Giving in Africa
Masana wa Afrika, now fully independent from its parent organizations, is based in Africa and is led and run by Africans. It’s backing critical care services for children, those with special needs in particular.
Melinda French Gates Charts a Course for a “New Chapter.” Here Are Some Takeaways
As she departs from the Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates is quickly ramping things up with a multifaceted, $1 billion commitment focused on women’s rights. What does this all tell us about how her giving might evolve?
A Global Relief Organization Keeps the Spigot Open for Community Healthcare Providers Closer to Home
Direct Relief is known for its global work, but it’s also backing safety net health providers in the U.S. through its Fund for Health Equity, channeling donations from MacKenzie Scott and several pharma philanthropies.
How Kellogg and Partner Philanthropies Are Funding in Haiti, a Country Beset by Crisis
Through the three-year, $90 million Pockets of Hope campaign, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and several other funders want to change the narrative that backing systemic change in the island nation is a lost cause.
A Skoll Award Winner Finds a Proximate Solution for School-Based Nutrition in Africa
Every year at the Skoll World Forum, the foundation recognizes a handful of social innovators, who each receive $2 million in unrestricted funding. We take a closer look at the awards and one of this year’s winners.
How the Segal Family Foundation Funds Globally, Acts Locally
Most U.S. foundations fund close to home, and when they do support global causes, tend to fund large Western NGOs. But for years now, the Segal Family Foundation has been backing locally driven work in Africa.
A Public-Private Cancer Funder Backs Team Science and Targets Inequities in Care and Outcomes
Cancer Grand Challenges has announced $125 million across five new grants to take on key questions in cancer research and to better understand causes of poorer health outcomes for certain patient populations.
On/Go: Healthcare Entrepreneur Ron Gutman on Championing Humanitarian Causes
Through a giving initiative at the company he cofounded, Intrivo Diagnostics, the serial entrepreneur has channeled aid to Ukraine and during the Israel-Gaza conflict. He says a family foundation is also on its way.
Where is MacKenzie Scott’s Global Giving Headed? Here’s What the Latest Data Tells Us
While the U.S. remains the primary focus, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving has been moving huge sums toward global philanthropy, including hundreds of millions last year. Here are the top issues and geographies.
With “A Little Courage,” Ipas Is Shifting Money to the Front Lines of Abortion and Contraceptive Access
By redirecting money from its own operating expenses, the international reproductive justice organization has been able to double the number of grantees receiving support through its Ipas Collaborative Fund.
Big Pledges Won’t Solve Our Climate and Health Crisis If Those Who Need the Money Can’t Access It
Guest contributor Dr. Vanessa Kerry argues that even as philanthropy pledges billions toward climate adaptation and the climate-health nexus, what really matters is how and to whom those dollars are made available.
“The Solutions Are There.” Funding Challenge Backs Community-Led Efforts to Save Mothers and Infants
The winners of the Maternal & Infant Health Award, organized by Lever for Change and several funding partners, are working in high-need communities to save the lives of mothers and infants.
Three Ways the Gates Foundation is Supporting the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals are closely tied to some of the Gates Foundation’s core priorities, including maternal health. Here are three moves the foundation has made recently to help get stalled progress back on track.
Gates Leans into mRNA Technology for Vaccine Capacity in Low and Middle-Income Countries
mRNA technology promises vaccines that could be easily produced and highly effective against disease, especially in places with low access to medicines. Here’s how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is ramping up its support.
This Year at the UNGA, Philanthropies Unite Behind Democracy and Locally Led Development
Reflecting sector-wide trends, philanthropies threw their weight behind two collaborative global development efforts, seeking to bolster citizen engagement and shift power to those close to the ground.
This Bespoke Funding Intermediary Focuses Donors on a Dozen Highly Vetted Global Grantees
Founded by a private equity veteran, Focusing Philanthropy brings a venture-capital-informed approach to the role of philanthropic go-between, routing donor dollars to a carefully curated set of nonprofits.
Global Lack of Access to Eye Care Exacts a Great Cost. But This Organization Is Stepping Up
Philanthropy has been slow to recognize the importance of vision care, despite its centrality to global life. There have been exceptions, though. The NGO Orbis International is one focus for funder support.
Gates Remains Among the Few in Philanthropy to Drive Research for an HIV Vaccine
Philanthropy makes up only a small fraction of spending on research and support for people with HIV, still a major threat around the world. In the push for a vaccine, Gates and Gilead are leading the pack.
This Women’s Donor Collective Invites its Members to “Experience Philanthropy Differently”
Celebrating 10 years, the Maverick Collective has moved over $100 million to women and girls’ health and reproductive rights globally. Its unique approach asks donors to learn from the people on the ground.
A Global Philanthropic Competition to Save the Lives of Mothers and Babies
Lever for Change recently announced finalists in its Maternal & Infant Health Award grants competition. Can this approach, which supports community-based health programs, move the needle on a global problem?
Type 1 Diabetes Is an Overlooked Global Threat. This Health Funder Has Made it a Top Priority
Among non-communicable diseases, diabetes has a particularly low profile as a global health concern. The Helmsley Charitable Trust has made it a central focus, including two recent commitments to the WHO.
Can an Aging Population Stay Healthy? Two Global Funders Hope to Unlock the Secrets of Resilience
Humans are living longer, but in our later years, we become more vulnerable to injury and age-related diseases. Wellcome Leap and the Singapore-based Temasek Trust are funding a new program to extend “healthspans.”
