UNICEF and Lilly Collaborate to Help Improve Health Outcomes for 10 Million Children and Adolescents

$14.4 million commitment from Lilly will focus on strengthening health care for children and adolescents living with and at risk of non-communicable diseases

NEW YORK and INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and UNICEF have today announced a new collaboration to help improve health outcomes for 10 million children and adolescents living with chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through 2025.

Lilly has committed $14.4 million in support of UNICEF's lifesaving work to address NCD risk factors, strengthen health systems, and enhance the ability of health care workers to care for patients in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, the Philippines and Zimbabwe¹. The countries were selected based on the diversity of geography and the potential to strengthen country-level health systems and models that provide care and support for children and adolescents with chronic conditions.

Based on data from the Global Burden of Disease Study, every year nearly one million people under the age of 20 die from often treatable non-communicable diseases, including type 1 diabetes, cancer, congenital and rheumatic heart disease, sickle cell disease and asthma. These deaths account for 15 percent of overall mortality for this age group.

"No child should die from a treatable disease because of inadequate care or treatment. Non-communicable diseases undermine a child's right to health, nutrition, education and play," said Karin Hulshof, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF. "We are grateful to Lilly for this collaboration to help strengthen health care systems children rely on and ensure health care workers are well-equipped and confident in providing care and treatment to children living with chronic conditions."

This four-year commitment reflects the respective efforts of Lilly and UNICEF to work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

"UNICEF's relentless work to reach disadvantaged children, combined with Lilly's experience and deep commitment to bettering people's lives and society, serve as the foundation of this collaborative effort," said David A. Ricks, chair and CEO of Lilly. "This critical, lifesaving 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."

Interventions in the five countries will include strengthening data and health information systems for NCDs; establishing and strengthening prevention, care and treatment of NCDs within primary health care and referral facilities (e.g., capacity building of local health care providers including training, mentorship, remote patient monitoring, etc.); and capacity building of service providers for the screening and improved management and treatment of NCDs.

About Lilly 30x30
Through investments in people, medicines and health systems, we aim to improve access to quality health care for 30 million people living in limited resource settings annually by 2030.  We call this global effort Lilly 30x30. To achieve our goal, we have structured Lilly 30x30 as a company-wide effort in strategic collaboration with valued external partners. Lilly 30x30 initiatives include activities across three areas of impact: pipeline, programs and partnerships. In each of these areas, we are leading cross-functional teams to develop high-impact, scalable projects and solutions.  

About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global health care leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at lilly.com and lilly.com/news.

About UNICEF 
UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. 

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook 

UNICEF's work is funded entirely through the voluntary support of millions of people around the world and our partners in government, civil society and the private sector.

UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). For further discussion of risks and uncertainties of the company, see Lilly's most recent respective Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

For more information, please contact Carrie Munk, munk_carrie@lilly.com, or Sohini Roychowdhury, sroychowdhury@unicef.org.

¹ Donations from Lilly will go directly to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the tax-exempt organization that supports UNICEF's global work.