Global Health

Our approach to social impact starts with our medicines and our commitment to expand access to those medicines to as many people as possible. We extend our reach by being part of the solution for complex global health challenges that disproportionately affect people living in settings with limited resources.

We expand our impact even further by working to strengthen communities around the world. We invest our resources, time and expertise to drive social impact, with a focus on improving health and education. We encourage and support our employees’ efforts to give and volunteer in ways that help make life better.

COVID-19 Response

The global pandemic brought on by COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it. At Lilly, we joined our industry partners in bringing the unique scientific and medical expertise of the pharmaceutical industry to bear in the crisis.

Improving Health Outcomes for 10 Million Young People

Lilly is proud to be committing $14.4 million to supporting UNICEF through to 2025 to improve health outcomes for 10 million children and adolescents living with chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe. NCDs, like Type 1 diabetes, cancer, and asthma account for 15% of the overall mortality for the under-20 age group, despite often being treatable ¹ .

Our commitment will help strengthen the healthcare systems that these young people rely on, and ensure healthcare workers are well-equipped and trained to provide effective treatment.

This critical, life-saving work by UNICEF is aligned to the Lilly 30x30 initiative to provide improved access to quality health care for 30 million people in resource-limited settings, annually, by 2030. We look forward to following the results of our collaboration.

Reaching Children with Diabetes

Since 2008, we have been donating Lilly Insulin to the Life for a Child Partnership. In 2019 alone, our donations helped 19,000 young people in 31 countries with limited resources.

Improving Screening for Breast and Cervical Cancer in Kenya

As of 2021, 126,000 people have been screened for breast and cervical cancer in Kenya through AMPATH with the support of the Lilly Foundation. Community health screening has enabled people like Nancy Odari to receive early diagnosis and treatment.

Improving the Health of Communities 

More than 1,200 Lilly employees have volunteered through our Connecting Hearts Abroad programme focused on improving the health of communities with limited resources in Asia, Africa and Central and Southern America.

Employee Volunteering

Lilly’s Global Day of Service is one of the largest single day volunteer programs in the world. Our employees have volunteered in 65 countries and given more than 1.2 million hours since 2008.

Disaster Relief

Disasters bring chaos and can change lives in an instant. That's why Lilly works with leading disaster relief organisations to prepare for the worst and respond with our collective best. We do this through disaster readiness efforts, providing medicines when requested by our partners and supporting people and communities to help them recover.

Lilly 30x30

Globally, we’ve established an aggressive goal – Lilly 30x30 – to improve access to quality health care for 30 million people, each year, by 2030. We focus on people living in communities with limited resources, including those who might not be reached by Lilly’s traditional business model.

Reaching our 30x30 goal will take far more than philanthropy. It requires a stronger mix of creative approaches across our business and with our partners that help expand access for more people.

We focus our 30x30 effort in three key areas:

• Pipeline: Discovering medicines and repurposing internal assets and legacy products for diseases that disproportionately affect people in resource-limited settings. 

• Programs: Strengthening and creating new programs that help improve access to Lilly medicines.

• Partnerships: Building partnerships that strengthen health systems, increase access to medicines and improve care.

1) UNICEF. UNICEF and Lilly collaborate to help improve health outcomes for 10 million children and adolescents. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/partnerships/unicef-and-lilly-partner-improve-health-children-adolescents?msclkid=21042dafaa0111ecacc1ddf94ee07ec1