Independent report reveals Foundation’s influence and impact in global health

Since the implementation of our 2022 – 2026 Strategic direction, the Access to Medicine Foundation has vastly expanded our changemaking work to encompass a wide-ranging scope of essential healthcare products. In 2024, the Foundation commissioned Open Consultants to conduct an independent evaluation of our research and engagement work across all our programmes to determine our impact in catalysing improved access to medicine in LMICs.

Based on data, insights and interviews with over 80 stakeholders worldwide, the report finds our work to be highly relevant and unique within the global health ecosystem – with the Foundation being the only independent organisation in this space that works on access for such a wide range of products.

If the Foundation did not exist, there would be a strong rationale to create it. - Stakeholder interviewed during the evaluation.

Our unique and effective way of driving change

As set out in the report, The Foundation has a strong influence on corporate approaches to access and we have driven a sense of urgency among companies, with several providing examples of how the Foundation contributed to their action-oriented initiatives to improve access. At the same time, the Foundation is seen as a respected, evidence-driven, and impartial broker on access issues that works with industry, as well as a range of other key organisations to improve access.

In addition to helping catalyse company action, public and philanthropic stakeholders, as well as institutional investors, recognise how the Foundation engages with them on critical access issues. By generating and sharing evidence, the Foundation empowers these actors to drive change, with our investor engagement specifically noted as influential and unique within the global ecosystem.

A closer look at our impact

Findings from the comprehensive and extensive analysis conducted by Open Consultants show that the Foundation has significantly contributed to improving access to medicine across the 113 LMICs covered in our programmatic scope:

• Access to Medicine Index: Sets a standard of best practice and guides industry on access approaches, with most company representatives viewing the Index as a key reference point for driving corporate change in relation to access issues.

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): The AMR Benchmark has contributed to sustained company commitment in the antibiotics space. In addition, public and philanthropic stakeholders, institutional investors and companies strongly value the Foundation’s analysis and advice AMR.

• Diabetes Care: The Foundation has significantly contributed to a stronger global ecosystem for diabetes. Notably, representatives from LMICs report that the Foundation's role in building collaborative relationships has helped to facilitate new partnerships with pharmaceutical companies.

• Medical Oxygen: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation helped to fill a critical gap in the global health ecosystem by bringing gas companies and other actors to the table for the first time. This, and the Foundation's continued work in this space, has continued to help facilitate progress in LMICs.

• Generic and Biosimilar Medicines: In the short time since the launch of this workstream (the analytical framework and report were released in 2023), concrete progress has already been made. For instance, the Foundation provided advice and data to support the creation of product priority lists for the Access to Oncology Medicines Coalition and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA).

Why support our work?

As detailed in the report, the Foundation is a prime example of an organisation that contributes to the creation of global public goods, be it through knowledge generation and dissemination, convening, guidance on access, or advising on product development partnerships and pooled procurement mechanisms.

According to the report, investment in the Foundation generates substantial public health and economic benefits, with donor funding enabling us to make our work even more impactful. The quality of the work we produce is high, while our expenditure is low compared to similar organisations working in global health.

Since 2021, and implementing our expanded programmatic scope, we have broadened our funding base and significantly increased the number of events we have hosted and co-hosted, as well as producing a wider range of research publications – all of which has amplified our impact and cemented our unique role within the global health ecosystem.