The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Novo Nordisk Foundation joined forces on Monday to tackle some of the world’s most pressing health problems, an endeavor that pulls together three of philanthropy’s biggest players to tap developments in science and technology at a time when funding and attention for global health among governments is faltering.
The project will first fund research and solutions that address three major global health challenges, all of which disproportionately impact the world’s poorest people: the health impacts of climate change; infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance; and better understanding the interplay between nutrition, immunity, disease and development.
“By pooling the vast experience and unique expertise of each organization… we can make advances that wouldn’t otherwise be possible,” said Novo Nordisk Foundation CEO Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, adding that he’s “particularly excited about the chance to break down barriers between often isolated areas of work.”