Novartis collaborates with others to help address some of the world’s greatest health challenges. To do that, our corporate responsibility programs help more people secure the healthcare they need, regardless of where they live. We’ve done this for a long time, largely through philanthropic and not-for-profit programs. Because the number of people in need continues to exceed the capacity of corporate philanthropy, Novartis and other companies are turning to new ways of reaching people in need, by creating Social Ventures [2] – shared value business models that complement philanthropic and zero-profit initiatives.

We concentrate our efforts on controlling and eliminating diseases such as malaria [3] and leprosy [4], pioneering new business approaches to reach underserved patients, and finding new treatments and adaptive solutions to improve health for people around the world.

We believe improving healthcare access is a defining opportunity of our time. But it’s complicated. It’s an ethical issue. It’s a political issue. It’s a government issue. For us, it’s also business issue.

We take our responsibility to help meet the challenge of healthcare access very seriously. Novartis is doing three key things to improve access to healthcare: 1) we work to get more medicines to more people, 2) we use our core expertise – science – to help eliminate disease, and 3) we transfer vital healthcare and science skills to clinicians and researchers in developing countries.

It’s the right thing to do for society. And it’s the right thing to do for business. Why?

• The world population increasing, with one billion people estimated to move into the middle class by 2020
• Healthcare demands are increasing. The developing world is disproportionately affected by infectious diseases that put a significant burden on struggling economies. In Africa, for example, malaria and other contagious and often preventable diseases like HIV, Ebola, pneumonia and even leprosy still stand in the way of growth. But noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases are projected to overtake communicable and nutritional diseases as the most common causes of death in Africa by 2030.
• 2 billion people today still live on less than $2 per day

To address access, we deploy a mix of models adapted to local conditions. Our approaches include philanthropic donations, zero-profit solutions, social business models and tiered pricing models – all of which aim to help more patients access our medicines and improve health outcomes. No two communities or countries are identical, so we design programs to fit local needs.

This is no easy effort to undertake. Our decades of on-the-ground experience in the developing world have given us insights into ways to address barriers. At the same time, we know we can’t do it alone – our philanthropy, zero profit and social business approaches are all supported by extensive partnerships with governments, NGOs, other companies.

Learn more about our range of access activities [5]

Find out the impact our access programs are making to patients worldwide in numbers [6]

Some of our leaders discuss the challenges in ensuring access to healthcare in the developing world

Ann Aerts, Novartis Foundation, talks about the unfinished agenda in leprosy [7]

Richard Francis, Head of Sandoz (generics) division, on the importance of basic medicines being available to those in need [8]

Our efforts to improve access to healthcare have been recognized by several external organizations

Access to Medicine Index 2014 – Novartis ranks fourth [9]

Novartis access to healthcare initiatives highlighted in new BSR report [10]

IFPMA Developing World Health Partnerships Directory features 40+ Novartis projects [11]