Access to healthcare

We believe everyone should have access to healthcare, no matter who they are or where in the world they live. This is critical across the patient care pathway – from prevention, early detection and diagnosis to the effective treatment of disease.

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Our approach to access to healthcare

Science can transform healthcare to help secure equitable access

We are working to identify barriers to access to healthcare resources and services – such as economic and supply barriers – and innovating to deliver our life-changing medicines in a sustainable and equitable way, including through global, regional and local public-private partnerships.

Central to this is our commitment to promoting preventive measures, increasing access to diagnostics and treatment, and strengthening health systems sustainability and resilience.

Our focus areas

Equitable access

Driving equitable access to healthcare services across the product portfolio, through digital health, clinical trial diversity, patient centricity, investing in rare diseases, open innovation and intellectual property (IP) sharing arrangements.

Learn more about Equitable access

Affordability and pricing

Increasing accessibility of medicines for diverse, equitable and inclusive patient groups, through company policy and programming, including core pricing principles and access programmes, while addressing barriers to access and affordability.

Learn more about Affordability and pricing

Health system resilience

Strengthening health systems by partnering with stakeholders in the development of research-based recommendations, advocating for health system policy reform and building capabilities to strengthen the delivery of health services, including through community investment. We also support continuity of healthcare in communities affected by humanitarian emergencies.

Learn more about Health system resilience

Our ambition by 2025:

Reach 50 million

people (cumulative) through our Healthy Heart Africa (HHA), Young Health Programme (YHP),and Healthy Lung and Phakamisa programmes by 2025

Train 170,000

healthcare workers (cumulative) to strengthen health systems throughout the world

Increase collaboration

through cross-sectoral partnerships to improve health outcomes

Our achievements

90.4 million

people reached through access to healthcare programmes*

156,810

healthcare workers trained (all current and historic programmes)

14.2 million

people reached through patient assistance programmes (cumulative)*

*as at December 2024. Source: Sustainability Data Annex 2024

Our access to healthcare highlights

Click below to learn more about our sustainability initiatives:

Smiling older person standing amongst crops, holding a wooden gardening tool

Tackling the climate crisis through decarbonising healthcare, managing our environmental impact, and investing in nature and biodiversity. Learn more about Environmental protection.

Two colleagues seated at a table engaging in conversation with a colleague standing nearby

Promoting and ensuring ethical, transparent, and inclusive behaviour across our organisation and value chain. Learn more about Ethics and transparency.

We work closely with a range of organisations, institutions and through business and NGO alliances to build private and public sector collaboration and initiate new programmes to achieve shared goals. Learn more here.