Strategic Priority Strengthening Health Systems and Preventing Pandemics

Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and a coalition of partners including Skoll Awardee Financing Alliance for Health, Skoll Awardee Last Mile Health, and Skoll grantee Community Health Impact Coalition launched Africa Frontline First, an ambitious new community health financing effort. Its Catalytic Fund assembles diverse partners across sectors—philanthropic, public, private, and multilateral institutions—to build strong health systems in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and professionalize 200,000 community health workers by 2030.

The African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, the Broad Institute, and Harvard developed the Sentinel pandemic prevention system to detect new viruses, connect data, and empower rapid outbreak response, including during the recent mpox epidemic.

Swasti, The Health Catalyst, demonstrated the feasibility of using wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 response in India as part of the #CovidActionCollab. Their newly launched Indian Alliance for Public Health Preparedness is shaping policies, creating knowledge, and building tools to expand this approach for other health threats like antimicrobial resistance.

The Skoll Foundation made a group of investments around global coordination and advocacy, supporting the work of Pandemic Action Network, The Elders, ONE, and the UN Engagement Hub to increase financing and bring equitable representation in pandemics preparedness and response negotiations.

Skoll is supporting the Oxygen Alliance, a Malawi-rooted coalition leveraging its experience in oxygen concentrator repairs to advance a locally rooted advocacy agenda for medical oxygen access. Given the influx of oxygen equipment to the continent amid the COVID crisis, this advocacy will focus on developing the policies, trained personnel, and financing required for long-term, sustainable maintenance and repair of oxygen-related devices and equipment.​ With anchor funding from Skoll, Oxygen Hub partnered with local entrepreneurs to launch 16 oxygen plants across Kenya, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.