Takeda is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, dedicated to discovering and delivering life-transforming treatments, guided by their commitment to patients, people and the planet. Their focus on Global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) underscores their purpose – Better Health for People, Brighter Future for the World.
In 2020, the company selected the World Food Programme (WFP) as one of three UN agencies to receive major pandemic-focused CSR donations aimed at strengthening health systems, improving access to care and supplies, and addressing food insecurity for vulnerable populations — made even more vulnerable by COVID-19.
The five-year partnership between Takeda and WFP is helping make health systems more resilient by enhancing public health supply chains.
The key role of public health supply chains
Public health systems rely on sophisticated supply chains to provide medicines and other health commodities to billions of people around the globe, including some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
The scope, reach, and complexity of these supply chains, however, mean they can be particularly exposed to shocks – such as those witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WFP has nearly six decades of experience working in some of the world’s most challenging operating environments, establishing a strong supply-chain presence across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. We are now using this experience to help governments and health partners strengthen public health supply chains and better prepare them to respond to emergencies.
Takeda is contributing approximately US$14 million (JPY1.5 billion) to WFP’s efforts in this space. In 2020, nearly US$3 million was put towards the Global Humanitarian Response Plan to COVID-19. The remaining contribution is now being used to strengthen public health supply chains and support long-term pandemic preparedness within several countries in Africa.
Partnership impact
So far, the partnership has supported the Global Humanitarian Response Plan to COVID-19 through:
The development of an online visibility platform called a Control Tower, that facilitated the monitoring and dispatch of large amounts of life-saving humanitarian and health cargo, including personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and other critical items across the globe, as the pandemic spread. Thanks to this platform, almost 50,000 tons of COVID-19-related cargo was dispatched through WFP’s network, on behalf of the whole humanitarian community, reaching frontline health workers in 171 countries.
The creation of an Isolation and Treatment Centre in Accra, Ghana, in October 2020. This centre is used to treat humanitarian workers affected by COVID-19, as well as to enable access to critical medical supplies, equipment, and training.
The COVID-19 Control Tower platform, supported by Takeda among other donors, contributed to WFP being awarded the prestigious Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and Management Science in April 2021.
