Where you live continues to define your chances of enjoying a healthy life.
Amongst the biggest drivers of morbidity and mortality in lower income countries are tuberculosis (TB), malaria, HIV, anti-microbial resistance (AMR), as well as Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). We believe that focusing on prevention and treatment of these high burden infectious diseases is a critical part of the global response to address health challenges in lower income countries.
Our rich heritage as a leader in global health gives us a unique and important role to play in improving health for patients around the world. By using our science, technology, talent and partnerships, we’ll deliver health impact at scale.
Spotlight on our global health impact
Our focus
We have a dedicated global health team of more than 200 outstanding people and our approach is 3-fold to ensure we deliver on positively impacting the health of more than 1.3 billion people in lower income countries.1
We develop new ways to prevent and treat high burden diseases in lower-income countries with a focus on infectious diseases.
In 2022, with ViiV Healthcare, we announced an investment of £1 billion over 10 years to accelerate global health R&D. By the end of 2023, we had invested 21% and progressed 11 global health pipeline assets to address priority WHO diseases, including climate aggravated diseases that disproportionately affect lower income countries1.
By the end of 2023, we had invested 21% and progressed 11 global health pipeline assets to address priority WHO diseases, including climate aggravated diseases that disproportionately affect lower income countries.
We have two R&D hubs located in Tres Cantos, Spain and Siena, Italy, focused on developing a world-leading global health R&D pipeline. We have a proven track record of delivering transformative medicines and vaccines for endemic countries and to date, we have delivered the following significant interventions including:
- The world’s first malaria vaccine
- The first single dose radical cure of vivax malaria
- A new typhoid conjugate vaccine that was introduced in Gavi-eligible countries in 2022
And we are continuing to develop M72/ASO1, the first new TB vaccine that meets the WHO target product profile for over 100 years.
In our experience, developing new vaccines or medicines for global health requires broad collaboration and partnership from across the Global Health world, to maximise health impact at scale. It is through partnerships that GSK can focus on where we add the most value - scientific innovation and using our expertise to advance multiple assets simultaneously across a range of diseases.
As a result of our collaborative approach to global health R&D, and alongside our ground-breaking scientific innovations for malaria, TB, HIV and other priority global health diseases, we are developing more than 30 potential new vaccines and medicines of which more than a third are in clinical development, targeting high-burden infectious diseases in lower income countries.
Our Global Health Access Model guides our approach to achieving sustainable and equitable access to our products. We enable access to products in lower income countries by focusing on the following areas: accessibility, affordability, and availability.
We take several tailored approaches to support product access through strategies including: tiered pricing; donations; NGO supply; voluntary licencing; and technology transfers agreements. We partner with those who have the right capabilities, reach and local knowledge to ensure our products reach people who need them.
We are committed to systematically evaluate 100% of our current pipeline of global health and commercial assets to identify products that have potential global health impact. For products that are identified to have global health impact, we will develop and implement access plans for products in late development.
As part of our Global Health ambition, we are committed to price our assets to support broad access and impact in lower income countries. We do not expect to make a profit from sales in lower income countries on our global health products, but to ensure sustainable long-term access and reliable supply.
We are committed to developing manufacturing strategies to ensure sufficient supply for lower income countries. Strategies may include in-house manufacturing or assessing alternative business models and manufacturing strategies that may include voluntary licensing – that are based on demand forecasts developed in consultation with countries and partners.
Our global health access partnerships are reaching people and patients at scale every day:
- We have supplied more than 1 billion doses of vaccines to Gavi since 2010, contributing to the expansion of immunisation programmes in low-income countries
- Our albendazole donation programme has supplied more than 11 billion tablets driving the elimination of lymphatic filariasis in 19 countries and soil-transmitted helminthiasis as a public health problem from 12 countries
- We have contributed over 17 billion doses of oral polio vaccine as part of the global effort to eradicate polio.
We contribute to helping change the trajectory of high burden diseases in lower income countries with a focus on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases; through catalytic partnerships guided by local communities, experts and stakeholders.
By engaging partnerships to strengthen and adapt healthcare systems, we look to achieve sustainable impact and resilience, to get ahead of diseases and contribute to Universal Health Coverage. Together, we address systemic issues to improve access to effective healthcare, vaccines and treatments and health equity, invest in local research capacity and lead GSK’s humanitarian response. This enables innovation to reach patients and communities who need it most.
GSK has worked in partnership with NGOs, community-based organisations, local leaders and governments for many years as part of the wider ecosystem. In the last two decades, we have trained over 175,000 community health workers recognising their importance as part of a functioning health system and reaching over 17 million people. Our impact partnerships report (PDF - 13MB) summarises our activity and key results in 2023.
Some of our long-standing partnerships include:
- Save the Children – for over 10 years we have worked together towards a world where no child suffers from a vaccine preventable disease. Over the next five years and with a new £15 million investment, GSK and Save the Children’s goal is to significantly increase the number of children receiving vaccinations in the areas where we’ll be working in Ethiopia and Nigeria, and beyond.
- Amref Health Africa – for over 35 years we have worked together to help strengthen health systems in Africa. Currently we are working to support the Africa region’s leadership and agency to implement AMR National Plans sustainably, and a programme to help strengthen public healthcare systems in Kenya and Zambia for the improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and surveillance of malaria.
- Africa Open Lab – our Africa Open Lab initiative aims to promote locally relevant research in Africa by providing research funding grants, in-kind scientific and capability support to early career African scientists working in the field of infectious diseases, with the support of an excellent external Scientific Advisory Board.
- Gender Equity Fund – working with ViiV Healthcare and the Global Fund in Africa, this multi-year fund will help accelerate progress towards gender equality for access to TB, HIV and malaria services for women and girls and non-binary people in all their diversity, through community engagement and empowerment.
Our voices series
Hear from people and communities living in lower income countries about how infectious diseases such as malaria and TB affect them, and their loved ones.
Dedicated healthcare professionals working in lower income countries share their experiences of helping prevent, diagnose and treat people with TB and malaria.
Our impact partnerships
Our impact partnerships strengthen health systems, drive sustainable change and ensure our innovation reaches patients who need it most.
Our R&D
Developing new medicines and vaccines against high burden infectious diseases in lower income countries.
The Climate and Us series
Why stopping typhoid in lower income countries starts with typhoid.
References
- The methodology for calculating our patient reach impact is derived from a detailed product level analysis of actual sales and long-range forecasts by individual countries. It purely accounts for the number of people receiving a GSK product (reach), not the outcomes or benefits they derive. The analysis uses conservative assumptions to ensure people are only counted once, even if they experience two or more of GSK’s vaccines or medicines during the 10-year period. The methodology and the data have been reviewed and validated externally. Budget phasing is not linear across the 10-year period.
