Our Story

 

The Bay Area Global Health Alliance’s mission is to advance global health innovation and equity and improve health outcomes by connecting and convening its cross-sector, multi-disciplinary members and partners.

 

Our Values

Our theory of change is based on the assumption that collaboration across multiple sectors, expertise, and geographies is necessary to solve today’s complex global health challenges. We believe in the catalytic power of shared knowledge and cross-sector collaboration, that together we can shift what is possible and achieve better and more sustainable health outcomes for all. A dedication to working together for innovation and equity is what unites us and is our strength.

As a multi-sector Alliance, we are aligned organizations with shared values and commitments to:

  • Global health equity and innovation, facilitating access to innovative solutions and resources for the world’s most marginalized  individuals and communities

  • Engagement of the tech sector and its innovation ethos with traditional global health stakeholders, which has the potential to transform global health by designing what is appropriate, affordable, acceptable, and accessible to those who need it most

  • Collaborative mindset and building community with trust, respect, and shared integrity as crucial at the foundation  

  • Deliberate and intentional inclusivity, including inclusive innovation that puts people at the center, supports locally led solutions and diminishes barriers that may have prevented organizations from previously working together

  • Continuous multi-directional learnings, candid, evidence-based dialogues and trusted conversations that reach across communities, organizations, and geographies to catalyze technology, high-quality research, development, and delivery of health care for all

 

Our Core Strengths 

Our core strengths are convening, communications, fostering collaboration, and 1:1 connections. Even as a young organization, the Alliance has demonstrated proof points of success, including forging strategic partnerships, such as the Advancing Health Online (AHO) and Insights Dialogue initiatives, as well as the WHO Tech Task Force, for which the Alliance serves as secretariat. 

The Alliance has built a trusted community that has facilitated innovative programs, partnerships, and mechanisms for elevating our collective intelligence such as:

  • Merck/Meta $40M original collaboration to accelerate the use of social media for SBCC

  • Amplifying AHO and grantees through Insights Dialogue resource platform, podcasts, high-visibility convenings, and awareness-building activities with partner and member Sabin Vaccine Institute

  • Monthly online convenings of the WHO Tech Task Force, highlighting digital solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic and other pressing health challenges, including three in-person meetings with 30+ tech and global health organizations

  • Conducting 20 multi-sector events and convenings over a 12 month period, with 33% of members featured as co-hosts, speakers, or panelists. For example, a recent supply chain convening involved The Global Fund Head of Supply Chain and public and private sector stakeholders, together with African health tech innovators in the areas of demand, government partnerships, and procurement platforms.

  • Alliance Monthly Connections Newsletter (distribution to ~9K global health leaders, practitioners, implementers, funders, students, researchers)

The Alliance is also well positioned to mobilize, build awareness and advocate to drive policies that advance health equity and save lives; the network includes leading advocacy coalitions, such as the Global Health Council, Global Health Technology Coalition, Consortium of Universities in Global Health and the advocacy arm of The Global Fund, as well as decades of advocacy and policy expertise and experience driving social change among the board and secretariat.

 

Our Journey

With roots in the Bay Area, the Alliance has expanded to include organizations from across the United States and the world. Our vision for impact has also expanded to become increasingly global in scope. 

The Bay Area Global Health Alliance was founded to bring together our region’s fragmented global health community, harness and amplify our collective expertise, and facilitate connections across diverse sectors to accelerate health impact in the communities we serve. With input from 120+ Bay Area organization stakeholders and seed funding from Chevron, Gilead Sciences, Merck for Mothers, PATH, and leading universities, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance was formed. We are building on the experience of global health alliances around the world, such as the Global Health Council, the Washington Global Health Alliance, and other established alliances in North Carolina, Georgia and Melbourne.

Over the last three years, we have been able to build bridges that are beginning to transform how these diverse sectors work together in our region, and beyond. The pandemic pole vaulted us to a global focus with more opportunities and offerings online, as well as members from California to New York to Guatemala to Zimbabwe. While we continue to connect the global health community in the Bay Area of San Francisco and harness its innovation ethos, rich resources and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem, our members also recognize that locally led solutions are inherently more sustainable than imported solutions, and that innovation and talent exist around the world. Connecting those worlds can help catalyze the transformation of global health.