ELI LILLY AND COMPANY & UNICEF

Eli Lilly and Company supports UNICEF USA which enables UNICEF’s efforts to accelerate non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and care for children and adolescents in resource-limited settings.

Lilly committed $14.4 million to UNICEF USA from 2022 through 2025 to help reach millions of children and adolescents as part of UNICEF’s lifesaving work to address NCD risk factors, strengthen health systems and train health care workers to care for patients in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, the Philippines and Zimbabwe.

Separately, in 2024, Lilly provided $6.5 million to UNICEF USA to strengthen primary health care capacity for promoting, preventing and managing childhood NCDs in resource-limited settings in India. 

Scaling reach

In 2026, Lilly committed $50 million to UNICEF USA, supporting UNICEF to improve the health of children and adolescents, aiming to reach over 30 million young people and caregivers across 21 low- and middle-income countries.  

This new six-year collaboration builds on what works and aims to help primary health care systems better prevent, detect and manage NCDs like diabetes, cancer, congenital and rheumatic heart disease, sickle cell and respiratory illness in children and adolescents. It will also improve prevention, care and support for children living with overweight and obesity, helping reduce long-term health risks for them, their families and communities.

These efforts raise awareness of the importance of treating childhood NCDs at the national, regional and global levels and across sectors. They also focus on addressing environmental and behavioral factors early on, so children are less likely to develop NCDs later in life.

UNICEF will support governments in making prevention and care part of routine health services, expanding access to quality care in communities, training and supporting health workers and improving early diagnosis and long-term care for children and adolescents. 

Creating a lasting impact 

Since 2022, through various support from Lilly to UNICEF USA, UNICEF has reached nearly 16 million young people and caregivers with essential NCD care and prevention services, including: 

• Health Care Access: Reached 102,200+ children and adolescents with NCD care and support
• Capacity Building: Trained 28,600+ facility and community-based health workers in NCD prevention, diagnosis and management
• Community Outreach: Reached 15.9+ million children and families with NCD awareness and behavior change campaigns
• Advocacy Impact: Integrated childhood NCD indicators into national health management systems in key countries 

The global NCD landscape

NCDs are a growing threat to children and adolescents, undermining their right to health, nutrition, education and play. Each year, about 1 million children and adolescents under age 20 die from treatable NCDs, such as diabetes, congenital and rheumatic heart disease, sickle cell, asthma and cancer, accounting for close to 16 percent of deaths in this age group.

Historically, global health efforts have focused on combating infectious diseases due to their high death toll. This left health systems ill-prepared to detect and treat long-term NCDs in childhood and adolescence. As a result, many in low- and middle-income countries cannot access lifesaving care and die prematurely.

As countries work to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 — ensuring healthy lives and well-being at all ages — addressing NCDs is essential so no child or adolescent is left behind in the global effort to lower mortality rates. UNICEF is committed to developing health systems in resource-limited settings and equipping frontline workers with tools, technology, training and knowledge to improve local health systems and create scalable, sustainable change.