Following the fourth high-level meeting of the United Nations on NCDs and mental health, or HLM4, the global community is renewing its focus on noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, and momentum is building around how to turn commitments into lasting health gains. Beyond political declarations and policy targets, the real test lies in whether health systems particularly in low- and middle-income countries, or LMICs — can deliver equitable care that endures.
For Cynthia Cardona, vice president of social impact at Eli Lilly and Company, meeting that challenge will require a new level of collective action. “The real opportunity for us as a global community is to bring our collective strengths across governments, private industry, and civil society to close the gaps that remain,” she told Devex.
Speaking to Devex, Cardona reflected on how Lilly and the organizations Lilly supports, such as UNICEF USA, are advancing sustainable, community-centered models of NCD care — and what lessons they have learned so far.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
From your perspective, why is multisectoral collaboration so critical to advancing sustainable NCD care, especially in LMICs?
Health challenges are rarely isolated. They’re influenced by social, economic, and environmental factors that intersect. By bringing together government, the private sector, civil society, and communities, we can leverage diverse expertise, resources, and perspectives to address these very complex drivers of noncommunicable diseases. This kind of coordinated action fosters innovation and ensures that solutions are more tailored and responsive to local contexts.
How is Lilly integrating community-driven solutions into its NCD work? Why is it important that interventions are designed with and for the communities they aim to serve?
At Lilly, our approach is to support organizations that are strengthening health care access in resource-limited settings across LMICs. Through the work of organizations we support, we have seen how integrating community-driven solutions creates sustainable change.
When solutions are developed by and with the community, they naturally reflect local priorities, cultural contexts, and lived realities. That, in turn, builds trust, encourages adoption, and improves health awareness, literacy, and outcomes overall.
Could you share some examples of how this support for organizations is helping to create scalable, lasting models for NCD prevention and care in resource-limited settings?
Since 2022, Lilly has committed $20 million to support UNICEF USA in advancing UNICEF’s efforts to improve health outcomes for 10 million children and adolescents living with or at risk of NCDs in resource-limited settings across LMICs, including Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and India.
What makes UNICEF’s work effective is how their global and local teams work hand in hand with national health authorities to integrate NCD prevention and care at the community level. This includes workshops, training, and ongoing support for frontline and community health workers — equipping them to return to their communities, raise awareness, and deliver trusted, locally relevant care.
This approach helps address existing challenges in LMICs, while building resilient frameworks that can be scaled over time.
Many LMICs are facing the compounding challenge of managing NCDs while addressing other pressing health needs. How can philanthropic and corporate players such as Lilly help local health systems balance these competing demands sustainably?
The private sector can play an important role by supporting efforts that strengthen health systems beyond short-term interventions. This means going beyond one-time financial or product donations to support programs that build capacity and resilience over time.
At Lilly, one example of this is our long-standing support of efforts related to the Life for a Child program, which helped more than 60,000 children and young people living in resource-limited settings in LMICs just in 2024. The program improves access to quality care for children and adolescents living with diabetes in LMICs by providing free insulin, delivery devices, monitoring supplies, and education. Beyond individual impact, initiatives like this help support local health systems, enabling them to better manage both NCDs and other pressing health challenges.
You’ve emphasized the importance of empowering community health workers. What strategies have proven most effective to support and sustain this critical workforce, particularly in underresourced health systems?
Community health workers are often the first point of contact for people seeking care in resource-limited settings. Because they’re trusted members of their communities, they can better connect with the people there.
That’s why empowering them is so important for building long-term, sustainable health solutions. Through Lilly’s support of UNICEF USA, for instance, we’ve seen UNICEF equip community health workers with the tools and training they need to better serve their communities, including providing workers with practical resources to help them deliver essential care and services in rural and remote areas. As a result, community health workers can respond to immediate needs while also laying the foundation for stronger disease prevention, education, and management in the future.
UNICEF teams are also on the ground, working closely with government agencies, local partners, and community leaders to enhance the support health care workers can provide.
Lilly’s ‘30x30’ program, launched in 2016, aims to strengthen access to quality health care for 30 million people a year by 2030. What progress have you seen so far, and how are lessons from this initiative shaping future strategies for NCD response?
In our 2024 sustainability report, we announced that we had reached 24 million people in resource-limited settings through Lilly 30x30 — a milestone we’re proud of. But what we’re most proud of is that lives are being positively impacted through this work.
Along the way, we’ve learned that sustainable change requires supporting organizations that build community-rooted, scalable programs; making long-term commitments that strengthen systems, not just short-term projects, and working across sectors to leverage diverse expertise and resources.
That’s why multistakeholder collaboration remains central to our approach. Lilly participates in multistakeholder initiatives, including Access Accelerated, the NCD Alliance, the Access to Oncology Medicines Coalition, and the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations.
As someone with experience across both corporate and nonprofit sectors, how do you see the role of private sector innovation evolving in addressing inequities in NCD care?
The private sector has a unique role to play in driving innovation, and that’s something our industry does particularly well.
Innovation can take many forms: digital health tools, new treatments, technology transfer, or knowledge sharing. Each of these can help strengthen health systems and improve access to care in LMICs.
Bringing that innovation into the context of NCD care in LMICs is hugely important, especially when combined with strong governance and equity-focused, outcomes-driven metrics. These are frameworks the private sector is already familiar with. Applying them here can help advance more equitable, sustainable solutions.
But the greatest impact happens when private sector innovation is paired with the expertise and reach of other stakeholders. That kind of collaboration is where we see the potential for truly transformative change in NCD care.
Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for new types of collaboration to accelerate progress toward equitable, sustainable NCD care worldwide?
First, integrated care models are becoming increasingly effective. They help make sure that efforts aren’t happening in silos and that limited resources are used more efficiently to address multiple health needs simultaneously. Second, innovative financing and business models are creating new ways to sustain and scale impact, bringing more stakeholders and ideas into the space.
But to make this work, these efforts must happen in lockstep with communities. Empowering local players to shape decisions, identify priorities, and design solutions ensures that new approaches remain relevant, effective, and sustainable for the people most affected by NCDs.
UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, organization, product, or service.
Visit Accelerating Action — a series highlighting pathways for funding NCD prevention and control, spotlighting innovative financing models and cross-sector collaborations.
This content is sponsored by Access Accelerated as part of our Accelerating Action series. To learn more about this series, click here.