Bridges to Development

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Our Work

Our team’s collective work, past and present, is bridging gaps in equitable access and opportunity in low and middle-income countries, especially for women and girls.

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Vision

Resilient communities on a path towards sustainable development.

Purpose

Harness our collective expertise in global health and development to shape dynamic partnerships; bring innovative solutions to scale; and cultivate champions to foster change

Strategic goals

1.

Strengthening partnerships to collaboratively deliver impact

Successful partnerships depend upon trust, transparency, and inclusive participation of key stakeholders.

Prior to the establishment of Bridges, the team has had instrumental roles in the establishment, evolution, and delivery of results through global health partnerships such as Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, The Global Fund to Fight Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDs, and the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Partnership. We have also shaped local initiatives to be more impactful, responding to the development needs of marginalized communities.

Since launching Bridges, some of the Partnerships that we have supported in their establishment or strengthening are the Immunization Agenda 2030; The RBM Partnership to End Malaria; The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund; STOP2030 Consortium; and The FGS Integration Group.

2.

Simplify and accelerate the pathways from innovation to impact

The future impact of a new intervention depends on targeting its development to country and community needs, engaging at the right times with the essential data for those making policy and financing decisions, and facilitating scaled-up delivery. Diverse public and private organizations have roles on the path to impact.

We have led several product collaborations and have succeeded in making innovations a reality at scale, such as a combined medicine to treat lymphatic filariasis, new vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and malaria, new diagnostics for NTDs, and solar fridges to keep health products cold.

Recent work in this area has explored diagnostics and, with the STOP2030 consortium, the access pathway for the first new medicine for Soil Transmitted Helminths in over 40 years. We have also been working on innovations driving progress towards Onchocerciasis elimination goals, supporting the access strategy for an alternative medicine, Moxidectin, with Medicines Development for Global Health, as well as planning diagnostic needs for loaisis in order to treat areas that are co-endemic.

3.

Diversify the voices tackling complex problems locally and globally

We bring our unique skill set and global perspective to complement trusted local and regional partnerships to deliver shared returns, beyond what could be conceivable for any one of the partners working alone. Eschewing traditional top-down approaches, we follow the lead of local communities, governments and partners to develop and guide priorities and solutions to development challenges. We build on strengths and share experience to remove barriers and accelerate progress.

One way we diversify voices in global health and development is by leveraging tools such as peer networks, providing affected communities the opportunity to lean on and learn from their peers and produce contextually appropriate and locally developed solutions.

Recent projects in which we have supported the establishment of a peer network include:

  • connecting and training over 700 African HWs about the neglected disease, female genital schistosomiasis;
  • connecting tens of thousands of health and immunization workers around the world on the Movement for IA2030 and;
  • supporting virtual climate and health events for health workers from LMICs

Our Work

FDC2

Strategic alignment:

2023 – Present

STOP2030

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections, or intestinal worms, affect over 1.5 billion people, particularly in the world’s most neglected communities. These infections hinder well-being, reduce educational outcomes, and limit productivity. While current treatments like albendazole and mebendazole are valuable, they are ineffective against two of the five worm species. A new, more comprehensive treatment using a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of ivermectin and albendazole can treat all five species, addressing drug resistance and offering a pediatric-friendly formulation.

In July 2023, Bridges and six partners launched the STOP2030 Consortium to develop and implement this FDC treatment, supported by the European Union and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation. The project aims to improve data on the safety, effectiveness, and cost-efficiency of FDC in school-based deworming programs. Regulatory reviews in Europe, Ghana, Kenya, and WHO prequalification are expected to allow large-scale public health use by 2025.

Bridges leads efforts to ensure that this data informs decision-making on policy, access, and financing for FDC treatment. In 2023, Bridges helped establish the consortium’s legal framework and supported early trial planning in Ghana and Kenya.

For more information, check out stop2030.org

2020 – 2024

Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030)

Bridges has played a vital role in advancing the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), a global strategy focused on ensuring universal access to vaccines for all ages. As the Secretariat, hosted by WHO, Bridges guided the governance design and implementation of the partnership. Our role included management of the IA2030 Coordination Group, Partnership Council, technical Working Groups, and the development of reports on implementation progress to agency heads, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), and the World Health Assemblies. We also facilitated regional strategy development for the Americas.

In early 2023, Bridges organized the first in-person meeting for IA2030 partners since the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancing clarity in roles, strengthening partnerships, and promoting accountability and collective action. The meeting catalyzed the launch of the Big Catch-Up initiative to address the decline in global immunization rates due to the pandemic, supported by a Gavi Board commitment of $290 million for recovery efforts.

With backing from the Wellcome Trust, Bridges worked with The Geneva Learning Foundation, to foster a Movement for Immunization Agenda IA2030 that grew to over 16,300 members from 99 countries. Activities included peer learning events where

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Strategic alignment:

Strategic alignment:

2021-2024

The Pacific Integrated NTD Elimination Project (PINE)

Bridges’ has been leading the Pacific Integrated NTD Elimination Project (PINE) since 2021. Partners include the WHO, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Vanuatu Ministries of Health (MOH), the PNG Institute of Medical Research, Kirby Institute and Case Western University. This initiative is supported by the Takeda Pharmaceuticals LTD Corporate Social Responsibility Program. Despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple catastrophic climate events, the team has collaborated to ensure communities receive the promised healthcare interventions. Project activities are anticipated to complete by the end of 2024.

The PINE project aims to control or eliminate a group of NTDs, including soil transmitted helminths (STH), yaws, lymphatic filariasis (LF), scabies, and leprosy, through

innovative integrated community-wide campaigns (mass drug administration or MDA), skin screening and referrals, sero-prevalence surveys, and health system strengthening

in Vanuatu and a province of PNG. The project supports the WHO integrated MDA policy and improves alignment with national health systems reporting and medication supply. Integrated skin disease training has resulted in increased confidence among health workers in diagnosing and treating skin diseases, leading to more sustainable interventions. Acknowledging the limited resources and challenges throughout the health system in both countries, our focus on integration enables countries to maximize limited resources available to address multiple NTDs.

2020 – 2025

RBM Partnership
to End Malaria

Since 2020, Bridges has provided strategy development and governance support to the global malaria partnership, strengthening its strategic direction and ensuring broad engagement across multiple stakeholders, most notably through a new representational Board with more than half its members from malaria-affected communities and countries.

In 2022, Bridges coordinated a consultative process leading to the redesign of the RBM Partnership’s governance to give greater voice to the countries most affected by this disease. In 2023, our work focused on supporting a smooth transition to a new, more representative Board. The new 23-member Board term was successfully initiated in May 2023 through a retreat managed by Bridges and followed by an inaugural Board meeting.

Bridges’ strategic advisory support extends beyond governance, including updating operational policies with improved ways of working related to the various operational arms of the Partnership and supporting with realignment, prioritization and recommitting to the implementation of the remaining 2024-2025 years of the current partnership strategy.

This work has improved the functionality of the RBM partnership across all its governance mechanisms (Board, Secretariat, Partner Committees and Working Groups) and has brought a renewed trust of the Partnership, a more promising funding outlook, and more vibrant engagement across the malaria community.

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Strategic alignment:

Strategic alignment:

2021-Present

The Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) Integration Group (FIG)

Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a hidden disease caused by the Schistosoma parasite which affects millions of girls and women in Africa with limited access to safe, clean water. This disease can greatly increase the risk of HIV and cervical cancer, and cause infertility, miscarriage and stillbirth. FGS is easily treated and preventable. But it is often unrecognised and misdiagnosed as a sexually transmitted infection.

In 2021, with Frontline AIDS, Bridges co-founded the FGS Integration Group (FIG) as a multi sectoral partnership bringing together organizations working across sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and NTDs. Bridges held the co-chair position until 2024 and remains an active and committed member in the group. FIG raises awareness of FGS with the aim of improving FGS diagnosis, treatment and prevention with and for women and girls through sustainable integration of FGS into SRHR and NTD programmes at scale. The group has successfully helped establish a UNAIDS/ WHO taskforce team working to integrate FGS into sexual and reproductive health and cervical cancer programmes and has held several high-level advocacy activities including at AIDS 2023 and 2024, the World Health Summit, and Women Deliver, bringing in new resources and increased attention to this neglected disease. You can read more about the work of FIG here.

2020 – 2023

FGS Competencies and Training Programs

Since our launch, Bridges has worked to build competencies for FGS, train health workers and create a minimum service package for this disease. Initially, Bridges planned and facilitated a workshop that brought together health professionals from many backgrounds and endemic countries to establish training competencies for FGS in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The competencies then became the base of novel, online training packages targeted at health workers at all levels of the health system in endemic countries. So far, we have carried out 2 training courses in French and one in English training over 700 health workers directly. The courses are structured around peer learning where health workers learn core competencies for FGS management, integrating FGS into health programs, and fostering community engagement, and each participant creates a tailored action plan for FGS in their work setting. By the end of the most recent FGS Francophone course, participants reached 49,000 through awareness campaigns and trained over 2,600 colleagues. You can read about our most recent FGS training course here.

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Strategic alignment: