Your Guide to Global Health – 11 Organizations to Elevate Your Distribution Business

Statistics show that almost the entire cost of healthcare in the developing world is covered by the local government themselves. However, even if the average aid from international health organizations is estimated at around 5% or less of the total country’s costs, the importance of those organizations should not be diminished. Why? Organizations like the WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the alike, are immensely important because of their openly published data and reports. Health workers, researchers, doctors, or in this case pharma distributors, can get firsthand information on rapidly emerging diseases or medicine shortages in the market at any given time.

This is particularly advantageous to local distributors in developing regions as they can use the given information, knowledge of the local area and their personal network, to stay ahead of big pharma and the competition. Manuals for health care workers, papers on the development of health care systems, as well as campaigns against tropical diseases, all published by different international organizations give insights to trends in medicine demand that may follow. In addition, international health organizations are a major source of current news on outbreaks, statistics about recent increases of non-communicable diseases, updates about the newest local healthcare initiatives, technical advice, and training for local health professionals, and some even produce major publications about healthcare in general.

Manuals for health care workers, papers on development of health care systems as well as campaigns against tropical diseases, all published by different international organizations, give insights to trends in medicine demand that may follow

Today, there are multiple international agencies and institutions that guide global health efforts. They can be generally divided into three categories:

1. Multilateral Organizations, are funded from multiple governments and other sources and are splitting their efforts among many different countries and/or regions, not necessarily only developing ones.
2. Bilateral Organizations, are government agencies or nonprofit organizations, based in a single country, however, still providing funding and effort to multiple countries, but those in the developing stage.
3. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), are nonprofit groups, usually lead mainly by volunteers. They can be local, national or international and are focus and task-oriented, meaning they are usually devoted to a particular health issue or disease. On the opposite, first two types are involved in many initiatives and projects, related to health in general and many types of diseases and illnesses.

Most of the prominent ones (multilateral and bilateral) are under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, but smaller, usually being the NGOs, are larger in numbers. It is estimated that there are around 1,500 non-governmental organizations that are fighting for better worldwide health, thus they are playing an integral part at the forefront of solving global health challenges.

2. African Medical and Research Foundation

Commonly known as AMREF, the organization was established in 1957 with the sole purpose of training local healthcare providers. Today, being an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, AMREF strives to improve the health of disadvantaged people in Africa as a channel for them to liberate themselves from poverty and improve their quality of life. The organization aims to increase sustainable health access to communities in Africa through solutions in human resources for health, health services delivery and investments in health.

3. The Stephen Lewis Foundation

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a non-governmental organization that facilitates mostly AIDS – and HIV related grassroots projects in Africa. Since it’s conception in 2003, the organization has been earnestly collaborating with community-level organizations which are shifting the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa through granting care and support to women, orphaned children, grandmothers and people living with HIV/AIDS. Through the organization’s partnerships with more than 325 community-based institutions, the foundation has amassed a wealth of information about what has really been working to push back the ravages of AIDS, and re-open the possibility of decent futures for so many people afflicted by the disease in Sub-Saharan Africa.

5. Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Famously known as UNAIDS, the organization strongly advocates for an expedited, far-reaching and coordinated global response on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is UNAIDS ambition to help escalate and support an expanded response against the lethal HIV/AIDS by working in close conjunction with partners from world governments and civil society. The organization places people affected by the HIV virus at the center of the AIDS response efforts through devising pathways for countries and local communities to get on the fast-track to ending the AIDS pandemic.

6. United Nations Children Fund Customarily referred to as UNICEF, is a specialized agency of the United Nations and a critical player in child health initiatives. The organization was conceived in December 1946 with the sole purpose of providing emergency food and healthcare to children and mothers in war-torn countries. Today the organization strives to address major health issues such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and child nutrition, maternal mortality rates, vaccination rates as well as child survival and development. UNICEF has concentrated much of its effort in areas in which relatively small expenditures can have a significant impact on the lives of the most disadvantaged children, such as the prevention and treatment of disease.

7. The World Bank The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. It is not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce poverty and support development.

8. GAIN - Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Every day, 815 million people are going to bed hungry, up from 777 million in 2015. One in three people lack key micronutrients, like iron and vitamin A, needed to grow properly, live active lives, and raise a healthy family. At the same time, two billion adults are overweight or obese and 41 million children are overweight. GAIN’s purpose is to improve nutrition outcomes by improving the consumption of nutritious and safe food for all people, especially the most vulnerable regions where malnutrition is not uncommon.

9. VillageReach Globally, more than 1 billion people have little or no access to healthcare and 6.3 million children die each year primarily from preventable diseases. The great majority live in low- and middle-income countries where limited resources and infrastructure significantly impede the ability to access quality health services. VillageReach was formed in 2000 to save lives and improve health by increasing access to quality health care for those underserved communities.

10. Access to Medicine Foundation Access to Medicine Foundation was founded in 2003 and started with a single idea: how can we encourage the pharmaceutical industry to do more to help the world’s poorest people access the medicine they need? Today the Access to Medicine Foundation analyses how the world's largest pharmaceutical companies are addressing access to medicine. The foundation has been working to stimulate and guide the pharmaceutical industry to do more for people living in low- and middle-income countries for more than ten years.

11. The World Health Organization The World Health Organization is a multilateral health institution primed to unite nations under a unified banner of eradicating diseases and bringing about quality healthcare globally. Since its establishment in April 1948, the WHO has played a leading role in the eradication of the smallpox pandemic. Currently, the organization has its sights set on tackling communicable diseases, particularly Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria. This, coupled with the organization’s efforts in alleviating the effects of non-communicable diseases, further affirms the institution’s goal to build a better, healthier future by working hand in hand with world governments and other partners so as to ensure the highest attainable level of health for everyone.