What we do

The WHO Foundation Is Investing in a Safer and Healthier World for Future Generations

As a grant-making foundation, we work alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners, providing funding for innovative initiatives with the greatest potential to improve world health. We aim for rapid and transparent results and encourage collaborations based on aligned interests and big ambitions. We believe in leveraging the strengths and expertise of all partners, while bringing together the resources and funding to achieve our shared goals.

Together with our partners, we fund the greatest opportunities to strengthen world health capacity, so that humanity is ready to deal with the health challenges of today and tomorrow. From averting pandemics, to promoting health, preventing diseases and improving health systems, we reduce health risks by building awareness and supporting our partners, including WHO, in establishing global preparedness for any health emergency that may arise.

Shaping New Strategies for Investment into Global Health

We will be cultivating philanthropic and private sector partners to help power solutions for critical global health areas. In close collaboration with WHO, our Foundation is developing approaches that enable WHO and its implementing partners to achieve greater innovation, scale, and impact in its new frontiers of work, which break free of disease-specific projects. We have identified six overarching thematics to explore through our Impact Strategy. Following a strategic diagnostic process, the Foundation identified needs and gaps in WHO’s programs and budgets, and solutions to address needs in global health across key thematic areas.
The six areas are: primary healthcare, health emergencies, climate and health, mental health, digital health, and health equity.

Responding to Health Emergencies Around the World The WHO Foundation Health Emergency Partner Programme

Health Emergencies Alliance: Responding to Health Emergencies Around the World

Every day, millions of people living in fragile and conflict-prone settings face a wide range of serious threats to their health and well-being due to epidemics, pandemics or new diseases, natural disasters, and situations of conflict and war.

COVID-19 exposed vulnerabilities in health systems, especially those in countries and regions already dealing with humanitarian crises which are threatening many communities’ ability to cope. According to OCHA, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022. This is a significant increase from 235 million people a year ago, which was already the highest figure in decades. The world must prepare for large-scale health emergencies, diseases, conflicts, and other humanitarian situations by powering the work of WHO, which serves as both a first responder and a provider of last resort care for the world’s most vulnerable people.

In health emergencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) often serves as both a first responder and a provider of last resort for the world’s most vulnerable people, from Ebola outbreaks in Africa to maintaining essential health services in Afghanistan and Syria. As the UN health agency, WHO provides important and underpinning activities in the context of emergencies including disease surveillance, emergency operations and management of medical supplies, training for health workers, and coordination with local, regional and global partners. Preparedness is also a key component of WHO’s emergency work, investing in vulnerable health systems including training the necessary staff, supporting laboratories, carrying out analysis and detailed assessments, ensuring supplies, and developing and testing coordinated action plans.
The need to fund health emergency response is now greater than ever. By committing to support the newly launched Health Emergencies Alliance, partners can play a key role in providing predictable and reliable funding for unpredictable health emergencies supporting WHO’s Global Health Emergency Appeal, aiming to provide humanitarian assistance to 160 million people across 56 countries in 2022 alone. Over five years, the WHO Foundation’s Health Emergencies Alliance Heath has set a target of $100 million to achieve this goal.

Learn more: WHO GHEA 2022 and WHO’s Health Emergency Appeal 2023
Read more about the Health Emergency Alliance.

The Global Health Equity Fund: Funding breakthrough technology solutions that enable global health for all

A collaboration between OurCrowd and the WHO Foundation, the Global Health Equity Fund is a return-seeking impact investing vehicle that will invest in companies that have breakthrough technologies that can impact health inequity.

Companies in the fund are encouraged to share their technology with low- and middle-income countries through an associated Access Pledge. With a target size of US$ 200 million and a selection of 25-30 companies, the fund offers a unique opportunity for investors to improve global health and social determinants of good health outcomes.
Read more about the Global Health Equity Fund.

WHO’s COVID-19 Response - Solidarity Response Fund

The world has never faced a crisis like COVID-19. The pandemic has impacted communities everywhere.
Leading the response to the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP). This has guided coordinated action at national, regional, and global levels to overcome the ongoing challenges in the response to COVID-19, address inequities, and chart the course out of the pandemic. The SPRP was further updated in 2021 to build on key learnings, as well work towards the safe, equitable and effective delivery of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to successfully tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of this plan, the Solidarity Response Fund (SRF) was developed, and powered by the WHO Foundation, in collaboration with the UN Foundation and a global network of fiduciary partners, to support the work of WHO and its partners to quickly and effectively respond to COVID-19 outbreaks all over the world.

Donations to the fund enabled vital work to suppress transmission, reduce exposure,
counter misinformation, protect the vulnerable, reduce mortality and morbidity, and accelerate
equitable access to new COVID-19 tools. Some of the donations have supported additional Fund partners including the: African Union/African CDC, the Big 6 Youth Organizations, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the World Food Programme (WFP).

The WHO Foundation managed COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund (SRF) from March 2021 until its closure in December 2021. Find out more on how the Fund made an impact.

Resources:

Read the latest COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund impact report (April – June 2021)
Read the January-March 2021 Fund impact report

Our Campaigns & Appeals

We enable the private sector and civil society to tackle global issues and challenges together. We’ve clearly seen the power of collective response through two international fundraising campaigns launched in 2020-2021 with the WHO Foundation to power WHO’s work on the ground. In total, the Solidarity Response Fund (SRF), and Go Give One (GG1) campaigns raised more than US$ 260 million from the private sector to actively support the work of WHO and its partners in the fight against COVID-19. Together with WHO, the WHO Foundation will continue to launch campaigns and appeals tackle global health challenges with a coordinated, multi-sector approach.

Discover our Campaigns and Appeals here.

Help to Continue World Health Organization’s Lifesaving Work

Donations are being accepted to support WHO and its partners’ response efforts to COVID-19 and other health emergencies around the globe.

Other Ways to Give
For questions about partnerships and donations, please contact: partnerships@who.foundation