Challenge

Rapidly changing global health and economic systems require new solutions. Which medicines, diagnostics and digital health solutions can create the biggest improvements in global health? What role should the World Health Organization (WHO) play to improve access to these innovations?

How can GD leverage the WHO’s unique position and capabilities to identify priority innovations and improve access to high quality healthcare in low- and middle-income countries?

Journey

We led an extensive consultation across the WHO and their key external partners. Based on these insights, we developed a comprehensive map of the WHO’s activities and prioritized global health innovations for all phases of the innovation cycle – ideation, research and development, validation, synthesis, optimization and scaling up.

We worked with leaders at every level of the WHO’s organizational structure and across all programmatic areas to assess prioritization of products, services and technologies as well as essential processes. We outlined challenges, opportunities and transformational solutions for the WHO to reinforce its catalytic role in introducing and scaling up innovations in its 194 member countries through diverse public and private partnerships. We then evaluated the WHO’s internal and external communication around innovation and provided recommendations on how to make it more effective and creative.

Impact

• Developed a map of prioritized innovations and processes across all key programmatic areas with a focus on women’s and children’s health and non-communicable diseases
• Recommended priority innovations which can be brought to markets through shared investments and pioneering public-private partnerships
• Highlighted effective mechanisms for the WHO to accelerate the development and delivery of quality and affordable innovations, including how to improve communication with the WHO’s 194 member countries, the private sector, academia and civil society