Amsterdam, 8 November 2022 – From 6-18 November, global leaders are gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh, to discuss climate change; one of the largest issues the world is currently facing. WHO foresees that between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause around 250.000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress only. As a supplier of health products such as medicines, medical supplies and health kits, we recognise the demand for emergency health goods., brought on by natural disasters (e.g. drought, floods) or climate-related immigration out of certain areas affected by climate change. At IDA Foundation we believe that we all need to take responsibility for our climate, to ensure that all of us, and especially the most vulnerable people at the frontlines of climate change, are protected. How do we achieve this?

Our strategy

Climate is a key factor impacting global health, and therefore IDA considers it a relevant aspect in shaping our strategy and long-term goals. Within our strategy we identify three different pillars: Purpose, People, and Planet. Different topics derived from the Sustainable Development Goals in these different categories are more, or to a lesser extent, relevant for IDA Foundation.

The category Purpose relates to IDA’s mission of bridging the gap in access to medicines and to the achievement of universal health coverage as a long-term goal. The pillar People focuses on the health, wellbeing and safety of people in our organisation, in our supply chain and the people that are end-users of our products. The category Planet revolves around our environmental strategy; which we capture in our Environmental Management System (EMS - ISO14001). In the latter, we focus on our impact in the environment, taking climate into account. Whether it is through waste management or our GHG emissions caused by the transport of our goods, amongst others, we actively identify environmentally sustainable opportunities to improve our approach with our stakeholders.

Partnerships

For the shaping of our strategy we identified five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where we can maximise our impact. One of these is SDG17, Partnerships for the Goals, as we believe our impact is best when we work together with others. This is why SDG17 is so valuable to us, by collaborating with partners who value sustainability and who can support us in our sustainability journey. Read about some of those partnerships in these previous articles:

• Building local presence: Partnering with manufacturers in destination countries
• Outcomes of collaborative malaria RDT sustainability study
• IDA donates IT equipment
• Innovative partnership to increase supply chain efficiency

For more information on our sustainability journey, read our latest Communication on Engagement. Find the previous reports on our Sustainability page.

If you are interested in becoming a sustainable partner of IDA Foundation, feel free to reach out to Floor Toxopeus for inquiries.

Image credit: African Business