 Good morning, bon dia. My name is Giovanni Bruna and I am program manager at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network We're thrilled to reconvene again in person after a couple of successful Editions in the past of the Global Solutions Forum that were held hybrid or entirely virtual for reasons that we are all well aware We want to welcome you all who are joining in person today and online as we celebrate this fourth edition of the Global Solutions Forum Which brings together experts Sustainable Development Experts from across the SDSN network to showcase how they are implementing local initiatives that are advancing the 17 SDGs This edition will showcase five transformative and scalable solutions focusing on health and door sustainable development challenges that intersect with health related issues as in alignment with this priority theme Established by the G-Stick Conference Without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce my colleague directly from Paris Eve de la Mothe-Carroubi Head of the Networks program at SDSN where she leads our team and its efforts to build a global network of universities research centers civil society organizations That pursue sustainable development innovation through research, public education, executive training, scalable projects Convening of multiple stakeholders and incubation of solutions such as the ones that we will all learn about today over to you Eve One second Eve. We are trying to hear you. I can hear you now Perfect. Thank you Okay, great So good morning Rio and good afternoon from Paris My name is Eve de la Mothe-Carroubi and I am head of Networks at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Thank you for joining us for the fourth edition of the Global Solutions Forum One of the sustainable development solutions networks flagship annual events For those of you who might not be familiar with us the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network known as SDSN Was launched in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary General We started off with 10 thematic groups with experts from around the world working across a range of environmental social and economic topics Who contributed to the debate and ultimately the adoption of what we know as the sustainable development goals the SDSN grew quickly and Founded its global networks program a membership based alliance of top-tier knowledge generating institutions focused on sustainable development organized at the national and regional level as of this year the SDSN has nearly 1800 member institutions organized in 53 networks across 145 countries we are the largest network of its kind and growing quickly The global solutions forum demonstrates the power of this network by bringing together Experts from around the world to showcase how they are implementing local initiatives that are advancing the 2030 agenda In particular the concept of innovation and scalability lies at the heart of the global solutions forum We are seeking to inspire and connect by presenting clear opportunities for action within the framework of the latest available science Thanks to our renewed partnership with the global sustainable technology and innovation community This addition of the global solutions forum hosted at the sixth G stick conference Focuses on solutions that address health or unsustainable development challenges that intersect with health related issues Given the global context. We all appreciate the centrality and cross-cutting nature of this important topic Today, we will see diverse presentations by SDSN members from Canada Italy on behalf of our Mediterranean regional network Mexico Panigale for our Sahel regional network and South Africa I particularly want to thank our presenters not only for their excellent work But also for having traveled to Rio to be there with you today as well as our moderator and our solutions committee Who are connecting remotely like me and of course? I want to extend gratitude to our partners at G stick for co-hosting this event with us as well as our other partners Panorama solutions for a healthy planet, which is an online repository Where these projects will be featured and where you can also explore a number of other innovations from around the world As well as the German corporation for international cooperation giz, which supports our program Thank you all for attending and for tuning in without further ado It's my pleasure to introduce the president of SDSN and University professor at Columbia University Jeffrey sacks for some opening remarks. Thank you Greetings friends. I'm Jeffrey sacks University professor at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and you can see on the back. I'm here with my friends I'm in Nairobi just at the edge of the Nairobi National Park and the zebras are here to say hello to you but I'm thinking of Rio and the wonderful event that G stick the global sustainable technology and innovation community and SDSN the Sustainable Development Solutions Network are hosting together in the magnificent city of Rio and This conference, which will have participants from all over the world is on health and well-being for a sustainable future absolutely central For our global mission of achieving the sustainable development goals This is the sixth edition of the G stick Conferences and I must say how Utterly appropriate it is that it is being held in Rio Rio, of course was home to the Earth's summit nothing less than the place in 1992 where the world's governments committed for the first time clearly to a pathway of the future based on sustainable development and And they committed at that time to three critical Multilateral environmental agreements the UN framework convention on climate change which till today guides the global efforts to address the climate crisis second the convention on biological diversity and third the UN Convention to combat Dessertification so relevant for where I am in Kenya today because the convention to combat desertification Is the convention to face the crisis of the dryland regions? And even as I speak millions of people in northern Kenya, especially on the border with Ethiopia are Facing a severe drought The kind of climate disturbance that is of course visiting Essentially all parts of the world in different forms droughts floods heatwaves extreme storms rising sea levels All of the reasons why we are gathered. We won't have a healthy Sustainable future unless we get to the core of the challenges that the real earth summit first faced and Rio became the site 20 years later in 2012 when the government's realizing that despite the three Multilateral environmental agreements despite a legal framework. We were not Turning the tide and when the government's assembled in 2012 in Rio at the Rio plus 20 summit they took a decision that I think is of inestimable Importance and that is to put the issue of sustainable development in front of all of the people of the planet by adopting Sustainable development goals. Well, we know that coming out of Rio plus 20 governments Deliberated and negotiated for three years and in September 2015 adopted the 17 sustainable development goals and we are now exactly midway in the 15-year SDG period and we know we face massive crises who were going to speak about the COVID-19 pandemic and it's continuing Aftermath we're not out of that pandemic yet, but it also taught us many lessons about How we need to respond Pro-socially how we need to have our innovation systems work for all we're in the midst of war which is the Devastating Destructive force right now on our planet and also the force that blocks us from the kind of global cooperation That is so essential to face the truly Monumental challenges to achieve the sustainable development goals So as we meet midway in the 15-year period Not all as well. We need to be even more innovative. We need to be more proactive you're going to hear many solutions put forward many Innovative approaches to achieving the sustainable development goals I want to conclude just by emphasizing that there are multiple pathways to SDG innovation and I want to mention Three very quickly one is innovation in data I'm coming now from Dubai from the World Government Summit I'm in Kenya today and on my way to the African Union Annual meeting in Otis in just a couple of days at the World Government Summit in Dubai one of the core themes was mobilizing real-time data especially digital data a heavy use of remote sensing and satellite data so that we have powerful G geographic information system GIS based data in order to address the challenges that we face whether environmental or for Social planning such as where to place new schools or For planning the energy transformation to a green economy now Brazil has long been one of the countries in the lead of deploying space-based data for example the Brazil Space Agency monitoring The state of the Amazon using satellite readings I want to appeal to our whole community that we emphasize the collection and processing of Smart real-time digital data so that we can get ahead of the crises that we face whether it's monitoring potential disasters or policy planning for public investments in health and education or enforcing The edicts against deforestation or illegal fishing by being able to Monitor the illegal activities and then taking enforcement measures So innovation in data collection and management is one area that I want to quickly mention a second innovation that I want to mention is using digital technologies for Community-based services Just today my wife Sonya and I were together with one of the great heroes of community health at Miriam wear a a champion of community health in African villages and we know from her work and from The work that we've been engaged in with many of you at this conference community health services are a Powerful way to reach people often in remote areas often Living at very low income levels with highly effective Life-saving measures. I would emphasize that with smart digital devices now with the possibility of remote monitoring of patients with the possibility of telemedicine of remote reading of x-rays and other data imaging with the use of direct communications on smartphones we can greatly empower community health workers and turn community-based health care into a cutting-edge life-saving tool and I think that this kind of Approach Miriam wear his community health approach strengthened by new And rapidly advancing digital technologies is absolutely essential for us to achieve Sg3 health for all and especially Target 3.8 Universal health coverage and the third area of innovation that I'd like to just mention very briefly is also Near and dear to Rio's heart and that is innovation in finance Rio is home to BNDES the Brazilian Development Bank now BNDES is the lead institution in Brazil for innovative funding of the core Infrastructure that is needed for the energy transformation that is needed for Climate adaptation and resiliency that is needed for upgrading the business environment with modern smart transport And other infrastructure, especially zero carbon green Infrastructure and so we know from our work in SDGs together there are so many solutions at hand that are not being deployed Currently because they don't have an effective Funding mechanism when I was in Rio recently and I had the opportunity to meet with the leadership of BNDES it was clear to me that BNDES and similar institutions around the world have a True innovation role to play by bringing new forms of finance new forms of resource Mobilization to support all of the solutions that You will be speaking about in this conference So whether it is data management or new forms of community Engagement or new forms of finance these are examples of the wide range of Innovation that is possible indeed that is underway and that will be needed to achieve The sustainable development goals. I'm very excited that the Leadership of the G20 in these years This is the group of the 20 largest economies of the world that have the means to take Tremendously important SDG based decisions, especially around finance But also about the deployment and sharing of technology that the G20 leadership is in the hands of the major developing countries in 2022 the G20 was led by Indonesia in 2023 the presidency is with India and in 2024 the presidency will be with Brazil Followed by 2025 in South Africa. So this is just to say we have the focus of the Really a key emerging economies the dynamic centers of thinking and a changing global leadership In the hands of the countries who know what is important for future Development, so we have a wonderful opportunity colleagues to put forward new solutions that can be Scaled and adopted worldwide once again. Thank you so much to G-Stick for your leadership over the years on Promoting new innovative solutions. Thank you to my colleagues at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which now has more than 1,800 organizations worldwide mainly universities in networks all over the world Dedicated to the sustainable development goals and thank you to our colleagues in Rio You've been in the forefront of this wonderful global effort of health and well-being for all For so many decades and we count on you and know that we can count on you for your Leadership in the critical crucial years ahead. Thank you so much I'm sure there will be many many breakthroughs in today's conference, and I'm absolutely thrilled that SDSN and G-Stick together coming together to help promote these new breakthroughs in Ideas and in approaches for the sustainable development goals a successful conference to all of you And I look forward to seeing many of you in person In the very nearest future all best wishes A huge thank you to our president of SDSN Professor Jeffrey Sachs for such inspiring remarks and valuable insights as we work to accelerate progress on the 2030 agenda in This most pressing decade of action SDSN is really honored to also introduce Clara Marine policy coordinator at IED global and physician specialized in public health in Barcelona Spain Clara will moderate the following presentation of five solutions and the subsequent discussion between the solutions committee members Which are all online and the presenters SDSN is thrilled to count with the participation of Michael shank director of engagement at Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance Maria Elena Botatsi who is professor of pediatrics and co-director at the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine and Suzanne Grimm senior advisor of competent center health and social protection at GIZ as today's solution committee members For those tuning in online Please do feel free to submit your questions and comments via the chat function And we will relay them to the presenters at the end of their presentations Clara. The floor is yours Thank you, Giovanni Because we do not have much time and we want to just Have all the time in the world to hear our speakers and our team solutions committee I'm just going to kick off and I am going to present our first speaker who is joining us online from Canada He's John Labis. Do we have John Labis online already? Yes, good morning. Okay, right great So John Labis is the co-lead of the Global Commission evidence to address societal changes Challenges sorry at McMaster University, and he is the director of the McMaster Health Forum He is going to tell us about an evidence support system for decision-makers John that floor is yours Great. Thank you, and I'm hoping it's okay if I share my slides. Are you able to see the shared slides? Yes Great, so thank you very much for having me SDSN Canada This represents our work, but also the work of our collaborators across a number of other SDN networks So I've got just four slides first one is about the problem Which we framed as we're generally not responding to decision-makers questions with the right mix of forms of evidence And you'll see on the left of this slide Four steps that are commonly Undertaken in decision-making understanding a problem and its causes Selecting an option to address it working through implementation and then monitoring and evaluating Jeff sacks mentioned data analytics Absolutely critical at the front end with the problem definition critical at the back end with monitoring but other forms of evidence and Specifically other forms of domestic evidence are absolutely critical if we're going to understand the current way of the land and where the Opportunities are in future. We also need to be combining that domestic evidence with the best evidence from around the globe Including understanding how it varies by groups and contexts, but often we're not even responding with evidence We're responding with other things than best evidence We respond with single studies that haven't been appraised for quality or placed alongside other studies addressing the same question We hear squeaky wheel experts who don't speak in a way that make it possible to judge their accuracy We see lots of what we call old-school expert panels Using an approach that we refer to as gobsat good old boys sitting around the table No pre-circulated evidence no people with lived experience no evidence Methodologists around the table and no effort to ground their Recommendations in what we know from best research evidence, but also people's lived experiences And finally we have many citizen and stakeholder engagement processes that don't provide ways in for evidence I have two slides about the solution one is focused on the what? strengthening domestic evidence support systems and you'll see on this slide the types of infrastructure that we think are key Structures and processes on the demand side to incorporate evidence into routine processes Efforts to build an evidence culture efforts to build capacity for evidence use But also mechanisms at the interface between the demand and supply side to Identify those evidence needs and then to package evidence from multiple sources Into inputs that align with advisory and decision-making processes and then finally evidence support units on the supply side That are timely and demand-driven often nowadays We're having to respond within days at most weeks with the best evidence and focused on Contextualizing the stock of existing evidence both domestic and global for a given decision in an equity sensitive way And we would distinguish that domestic evidence support system from the world that most of us in universities work in a Research system focused on creating generalizable knowledge where we're measured with grants and publications And an innovation system more focused on Commercialization so we think it's critically important to differentiate this evidence support system My other slide about this solution is the how we think it's critically important to be conducting rapid Evidence support system assessments and then systematizing and scaling up what's working Looking across central agencies like ministries of finance line departments like health and climate action parliamentary or legislative bodies Asking how they coordinate the many questions and prioritize those that most urgently need answers Do they have a win one window request mechanism for complex questions? Do they have a way of coordinating the multiple different units that can bring different forms of evidence like data analytics Like evaluations and so on and do they have Substantively focused units like those focused on SDG 3 that can bring together multiple forms of evidence And are they connected to the global evidence architecture? So when we received a request in three days to say what can public health units do in Canada? In the area of climate action in the past we would not have been able to do very much But we now have a living evidence synthesis with more than 17,000 studies already identified in appraise so within three days we could produce a very high level a very robust answer Some of what we're finding from our peer countries Many countries have few of these features even fewer of these features are working optimally We hear many countries say we have several leading edge groups, but we have a hollowing out of policy capacity We don't keep up with new developments in evidence use We hear a lot of countries say we mostly rely on in-house staff and management consulting firms We don't have a way to get these questions to best in class service oriented evidence support units And a lot of groups saying we do well with data analytics fairly well with evaluation Not very well with other forms of evidence 12 countries currently Doing this work some focus nationally China and South Africa some at the sub-national level some with a sectoral focus and learning from one another Teams are systematizing and scaling up these innovations both ones on the demand side And you'll see an example in brackets on the supply side this ultra rapid evidence support within days But also things like one-stop shops every evidence synthesis in the world about the SDGs sitting in a database called social systems evidence But also filling gaps with solutions adapted from other contexts So if you're interested in leading a rapid evidence support system in your country, please get hold of us We see a lot of reasons for optimism But also a lot of reasons why we really need to double down on efforts to power SDG efforts with country-level best evidence. Thank you very much Thank You John brilliant presentation. We are now going to turn to our esteem solutions committee for feedback Susan are you there? Yes, I am and I hope you can hear me all Go ahead Susan. Yes Thank you very much well, thank you very much professor levels for your inspiring presentation and I think it is unquestionable that The need for more evidence-based policy decisions is there Yet existing evidence is too often ignored resource for decisions which concern all of us as a global society And more than ever the future of our planet as well So paying attention to this yet missing bridge between available evidence and policy decisions and suggesting a Systematic approach is really a great initiative and I think really might become a game changer I'll take it as an inspiration for our work in international development corporation Where we actually advise partner governments in low and middle-income countries not only on health but also how to use evidence in their policy decisions and I will have two questions and the one Results from taking the inspiration to my world of development corporation Are you also planning to address Beyond or in addition to national governments and and CEOs or managers of great big organizations Are you also planning to address? big players donor government development agencies etc to To mainstream the message to mainstream the approach and to That way enlarge the impact of it and the second question if I'm allowed It's a bit more tricky. I should say I'm always interested in the last mile and in this case If a domestic evidence support system is established and evidence is on the table and provided in a better way to decision-makers Often these policy makers are in the dilemma around the world because they have to take decisions which The majority of people may be even voters or I should say voters not necessarily Appreciate do you factor this in in in the approach of the support system? Is there a way to factor this in so that the evidence is also guiding policymakers towards? The way of taking decisions. Thank you very much John you can go ahead and answer the question All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for the kind comments and we are Absolutely hoping to move to some of these other organizations that you've mentioned donor agencies and so on our initial focus is Working with governments where COVID-19 was such a dramatic wake-up call So many things didn't go well in terms of how evidence was used to support decision-making but also so many innovations emerged so many of our Peer countries feel that now is the time for a concerted push with governments But the types of organizations that you mentioned as Suzanne we agree are absolutely critical. It's just it's a big Bite to bite off to do what we're doing already But we do hope to move to some of those other ones and then my my background is political science and many of our collaborators in the other countries are as well and so we're very much aware that people are Democratically elected in many countries to make very tough choices on our behalf Evidence is one input into many But we do have mechanisms like deliberative dialogues that put the evidence alongside all of those other political Considerations and we have citizen panels that allow citizens themselves to engage in these very tough Conversations with the trade-offs that are inevitably involved in making these very tough decisions about societal challenges So we're not aspiring to a Technocracy we're aspiring to a robustly evidence underpinned Set of societal and government level conversations about how we do better So the politics is front and center for us We're just trying to be much more efficient in how evidence is surfaced within those kinds of political deliberations. Thank you very much Thank You John Maria Lena Michael Yes, I can go next John congratulations, it's really amazing all the work that you all are doing and My only comment is always, you know that yin and yang Eventual hopeful harmonization But taking into the account that we all in the world are also very different, you know culturally and socially, right? And so it's how the envision eventually also sustainability especially due to the nature of the political instabilities and shift that you know tend to Move one foot forward and then move to backwards because of course of the changes in the political will or the political contributions or supports, but you know, I Congratulate for this great great attempt and idea and and wish you good luck Michael John if you're weighing in your meat, and then I'll follow you. Yeah, I do want to add and then I'll go I I do very briefly just to say We're trying to harmonize the approach to the rapid evidence support system assessments But each one is about uncovering what in a given Political context is working well that needs to be Systematized and scaled up and where the gaps are and then encouraging people to look at other countries But adapt them to their context because as you said, Maria Elena these are just such different environments and what works well in one environment may or may not be Transferable, but we think there's lots of lessons learned and then the sustainability issue is a very big one And so we're always looking for windows of opportunity given you're in Rio I'll just point out that our Latin American colleagues are saying Brazil Chile, Colombia three countries under going big political shifts Now is an obvious time to move while there's the political interest try and institutionalize new approaches and then hope that during periods where times aren't as Pro evidence that some of those institutions can survive the more difficult times But points very well taken Hey everyone, I'll just weigh in quickly here I am not the health expert that Suzanne or Maria Elena are But I am not in Rio right now But wish I was Rio is one of our members at the carbon neutral cities Alliance so greetings to everyone We are big fans of what Rio is doing as a city on the sustainability front What I think about in this space is behavior change and how we get people to do things differently How do we change systems? How do we change behaviors? And John some of the stuff you talked about you talked about people's lived experience You talked about how evidence is surfaced when I hear that I think of stories and I think of all of us using our hold on Let me see if I can hold up my yep my smartphone there to tell those stories to surface that evidence and A phrase that I love a lot that I want us to think about throughout our time together today is the proof of the Putting is in the eating and so how do we tell stories of how life is better? Doing the things that all of us are recommending in the solution space today And so encouraging all of us to get outside our comfort zone and tell some of those stories because that is that is the data That is the evidence that John is talking about and how do we surface those invisible ways in visual ways Using video and image to really convince people and bring people on board this solutions movement So that's me from for now and John keen to Offline with you about how you are surfacing some of that evidence through story Fantastic points and you know one of the eight forms of evidence that we really zoom in on is that behavioral and implementation Research it because we see it being absolutely critical because as you say Michael behavior change underpins so much of what has to change And and I think we have a lot of lessons to learn about story telling We we think it's critical to be able to tell stories about a compelling problem of viable policy And that conducive politics because you need all three of them if you're going to spur change at the political level But we would love to learn from others who are many steps ahead of us in the storytelling business because that is essential for driving change. Thank you Thank you. Thank you, Susan Maria Elena and Michael and congratulations John for a brilliant presentation And now we are going to our next speaker Jan Luca breggi Welcome Jan Luca is the director of the Achilles Club of Foundation, which aims to develop vaccines for forgotten diseases and make them available in low and low and middle income countries at reasonable prices and His presentation is going to tell us a bit about that about developing and making vaccines Accessible, thank you. Let's see first this first technical further here. So here we have both the pointer and Okay, thank you to the organizers and to give us the opportunity to be here today and to present the work that we have done Haven't touched anything Okay, we should be there. So my talk today will be on targeted partnerships that we have implemented to accelerate availability of vaccines against neglected diseases of poverty So this is really our our main challenge that we have Faced but not the only one as you guys know Low income countries are still plugged today by infectious diseases Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is an area with still the highest mortality rate in the world if you notice the The graph over here the number of deaths has really not been decreasing in Sub-Saharan Africa in the last 10 years And therefore the percentage of under five children dying in Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa versus the rest of the world has been increased substantially in the in the last years There are few incentives to develop vaccines with little economic return like the ones that be used in Developing countries And the diseases remain neglected because there is a market failure essentially in in developing these tools But today technology is available to develop this vaccine a sustainable way And we were lucky enough to find the technology that could be scaled up But the structure collaboration to mobilize funds are needed The target This target that we have been that we chose because we have been Trying to get hold of a way of fighting this disease for over 10 years is invasive non-typhoidal Salmonellosis is most common invasive bacteria infection in Africa is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa claiming over 75,000 lives here mainly children under five With a very high mortality rate From 15% up to 25% this because it often is associated with HIV and malaria And it's difficult to diagnosis. So since it's difficult to diagnosis is also treated with an appropriate antibacterial Drug and therefore it has been developed Has developed antimicrobial resistance no vaccines are available here You can see the countries that are mostly affected and this is part that's come out of part of our research It are mostly affected by these by these disease so How did we go about? Financing these vaccines. So we started as I said in 2012 and the first question the first answer was like, you know What is I nts? But we did manage over the year to put together collaborations that are collective impact collaborations that is every partner brings what it can bring to the to the to the effort Without having necessarily to do all of the work. And so here we have Not for profit organizing Organization, which is the discover leading scientifically and doing the fundraising We had academic partners to increase disease and scientific knowledge and industry partners to effectively in family develop the vaccine so we started from local funding in Tuscany in Italy because actually the technology was developed in Italy so in Tuscany so through local funds We managed to scale up this technology Since the technology is very promising for Producing low-cost vaccines. We then applied to the European Commission. We got the second large European project H-2020 and from the EDC DP that still uses you funds. We got the second grand in 2021 that also Allowed us to bring the product from preclinical studies, which was here to phase one to phase two So What is the most innovative aspect about this in this solution I We believe that they're not for profit entity being the fundraiser, but mostly the scientific Leader has been important because you had to deal with two different realities academia on one side and industry on the other and both of them Individually may not be able have the time be allowed or have the capacity to develop these vaccines But you need to take from them what is necessary and let them have something While you they're hurting with this so that the project can continue and go on There is also this strategy where Are clearly shown by data the company independent policy cure research institute So in Europe the average investment on vaccines against is a vaccine against the NTS went from about half a million and With the start of the other project Increased tenfold. So this is very clearly as we introduced the vaccine that they started the project the Funding really came in and it's still we still be going for another Three years over there. So we think we're gonna have something really good at the end of this What we had to face we had to challenges so the first challenge was to advance a vaccine That has been neglected until then and this was obtained with two major EU Funds That brought 12.6 million euros and we have two very good partnerships with living institutions mainly academia, but also industrial from four continents and Second we had to increase the knowledge of a and yes because this was really something that was missing People did not appreciate did not have the knowledge that I and yes had that kind of impact on Especially on children in the low in the poorest area of the world So that something that has been really sort of left on the side and I'm glad that through all of the work that we have done in epidemiology epidemiology disease models we managed to participate WHO's expert meetings that we had in 2021 and 22 and now we are still contributing to WHO full value of vaccination assessment and We really hope to take help take this vaccine to the People who need it as soon as possible. Thank you for your attention Thank You Jan Luca brilliant presentation important work and now please. I know Maria Lena wanted to Start with this round of feedback. So Marilena. Just go ahead Yes, thank you salvage and Lucas a Lutida Houston Thanks, everybody. This presentation is a very close and dear to me being also a Vaccine developer for neglected tropical diseases. So I want to commend the sclavo foundation and that the Partnership the product development partnership approach that they use which is of course Something that many of us have been advocating for at least a couple of decades And so it's amazing to see how we have many Groups that have been slowly moving along maybe at the pace of the turtle, but still moving the turtle to move from the basic discoveries from, you know, academia research laboratories to seeing things really translating into clinical Testable interventions and ideally of course moving them towards the last mile Which would be to finally see them not only License and deployed scalable produced, but also of course Delivered and accessible to the populations in need. So thank you for for the presentation I think you may you you raise various very important Points, so I'm going to start first with Leveraging that academic creativity to trying to shift the paradigm that you know in you know discoveries from the academic Settings are important and more and more we are adapting our knowledge our that creativity to become more business adapt Talking about, you know, the value propositions of how do you move through the Values of death, right, you know from R&D to clinical trials and then ideally clinical trials to deployment So that is very important Learning also how to do the regulatory sciences so that we can meet the quality and the rigourness of the designs of the safety trials and certainly Efficacy trials, but I think what you raised is this concept of very trusted and sustainable partnerships Including the funders Partners the Leveraging the resources to try to really bring like you said, you know, everybody brings to the table as much as they can what they can their capabilities, but Incorporating also the concept of Decolonizing and really Translating also the empowerment of some of these solutions being Reversely innovate Innovated within the countries that they need and you showed clearly an example Using the consortium in Africa, you know in our work, for example And I have to say because we are speaking to Brazilian audience, you know, we have Our hookworm vaccine initiative and our schistosomiasis vaccine initiative similar to the sqlub initiative have relied on academia and Operations organizations in Brazil like you manguinos and butan than and we're replicating that model So I will end with the fact that it can be done I think the challenge that you we all have and you all have is that again last mile What happens after you reach the phase one phase two stage which would require? heavy involvement by the developing country vaccine Manufacturing networks so that they can be producing the vaccine locally indigenously with innovation that can be considered local and and empower the local producers You mentioned very clearly the engagement of the Society and the community because they need to demand and they need to be the ones receiving such Interventions, so we still have a long ways to go especially in sustaining the financial model and coming up with innovative financial model, but again, I congratulate you and I wish you and as us to try to push more the agenda, especially the the United Nations and the global goal agenda so that entities and neglected diseases of poverty really can sustain and survive And hopefully we can we can see many of these interventions reach the people in need. Thank you Thank you You have any comment and look at you want to yes a couple of questions here. I think the Technology was what really? helped start this process, so There was this technology that is it's called Gemma so general modules Are out of mind when vesicles that are hyper producing antigens? I'm not saying anything secrets is public. It's published and has very very high heels so It was a technology that was fit For a product for developing countries because the cost of goods there will be very very low. This is what interest that the local funder The region at Oskana also because they said this is a local technology We want to develop this technology locally and we did and The evidence that came from the first Financing was crucial for having the European first European Grant That appreciated this even more because at the point to develop a technological development had go on and so at The point to get the financing for face for the second for phase two essentially was as simple What is some how to me reassuring is that at the same time? wcho started with the full value of Vaccination assessment, which is the beginning of the recommendation for a vaccine Hopefully will go into the Gavi strategic plan Together with other vaccines. There are many vaccines that are needed This is one of them. We have to see how it goes But once get through that that analysis that's done Very in a very meticulous way by wcho Hopefully to get the financing also to finish the trials will be important production We have also collaborated in the past on the on a typhoid vaccine that has been now produced in India because that's disease that that's more Common in the in the Asian continent Hopefully this is something that may be brought forward in Africa We hope it's not in our hands, but you know, this is a disease that it's clearly Sub-Saharan Africa and somehow northern and southern Africa So I would really hope that somehow production at least part of the production is done over there Thank you, Jan Luga up. We don't have much time So I would ask Susana Michael to just give their feedback very quickly in a couple of minutes, please Yeah, well, I'll do that and thank you very much. Maria Elena for your clearly experts speaking to experts Jan you got congratulations To your initiative and also to your success I mean the value of the vaccine really lies in the fact that it prevents a disease before it starts and comes with all the Consequences on societies individuals and economies and what that can mean. We just all painfully experienced But with COVID it was of such a scale that in almost no time there was a number of vaccines available and and neglected disease really means that Because there is hardly any market and hardly any economic incentive Diseases are neglected and the vaccine development is neglected and that is really a sad state of affairs And this really adds value to your to your initiative and which I truly believe is transformative It's a different approach than the traditional R&D approach of the pharmaceutical industry and I really commend you to move to that Concerning the last mile that was also my point We work together with Africa CDC with the African Union They have great plans to increase manufacturing capacities on the continent because they have hardly any Capacities to produce vaccines for African people. So in Senegal South Africa, it's on the Yeah, it's it's to be set up I'm happy to be in contact with you Bilaterally if if there are contacts which can be of any help But yes, of course the production issue is important and the distribution issue as well And the new Africa CDC has a keen interest in producing vaccines on the continent for their people So perhaps I can support you with context. Thank you very much and congratulations over to Michael Yeah, quick add John Luca. Congratulations on this work I want us to look very briefly at the social science component of this Maria Elena already talked about this how to build trusted Partnerships the how here and John Luca. You've already mentioned some of it some component of it when I teach Sustainable development at NYU every year. I encourage my students to look at how do we build political will private sector? Will and public will for this work. We generally know what the problems are We know what the solutions are. How do we build the will for this work and John Luca? You mentioned something here briefly about local Local local local and I'm inferring I'm interpreting what that local meant and the weight of that local in terms of pride Identity leadership that that helped in building some of those trusted partnerships and some of that political will and private sector Will but I'd be keen to hear more in terms of the how how we move people together in a trusted way in a Partnership in way to get this work done. That's some of what I'm thinking through here in this particular approach Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, sure Yeah, look, unfortunately, we don't have much time. So if you could like answer very very quickly, you will remain with this doubt Just very quickly have 30 seconds. Okay 30 seconds. So it was important to start there you know, I we started higher and We were told if know if somebody in your country in your area doesn't trust you and funds you Don't come to us to ask for money. So it was also a way of starting say, okay, let's look locally first for funds But the key was this is local technology will be developed here With people from this area and we have the industrial development of this area And this is really what was a pretty project that arrived forward on it You know on 120 projects exactly because was an innovative project with a novelty technology carried out in Tascani with Tascan technology Thank you, Jan Luca. I It's a pity that we don't have much time for more discussion over these very interesting topics But we need to move to the next speaker round of applause for you and Luca, please Now we are moving on to our next speaker Ali Ruth Coronel She's an anthropologist and a researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico And she's going to tell us about the open door initiative open door clinic initiative First of all, I want to thank you for the invitation. It has been an amazing experience being here And I also love Rio so it's nice to be here again And I'm really lucky to be talking about about this after Dr Jan Luca because I think I could start with a question like Once we have the vaccines, how can we guarantee that all people have access to these vaccines? And in my country where I come from it's a very unequity society So people were not getting the vaccines and we had less very sad experience During the COVID-19 pandemic because the vaccine was available but not for them. So Just I mean obviously, you know and you can imagine that homelessness and health are very closely related and that homeless people Usually had very bad health But I am just showing you this data to show how bad it is No, and so these are data from the National Council for Homelessness and they say that people who are homeless have higher rates of illness and die on average 12 years sooner than the general population and street children they They die within the first four years of their street life In other words a child who ends up in the street at age 8 has 50% chance of dying before the age of 12 So this is how bad the situation for them is and beyond this we still had something worse Which was COVID? So the homeless people in Mexico City didn't even know or had information about what COVID was or what they could do So we were really worried that having already this bad health they would still be like infected and died So we decided to do the opposite we Instead of unlocking ourselves in our houses like everyone did I'm a university professor So I conveyed my students to volunteer. It was again the rules of the university But still I think that education has not only to do with the knowledge the scientific knowledge But also with empathy and with the responsibility that you have as a medical doctor with patients So we opened the clinic outside in the streets We provided information about what COVID is and how people could get treatment and Yeah, I mean have some follow-up and all that and After COVID we decided that it was a very good idea. It is a small thing. It is very community-based Local, but it was everything that people have so it was it's a small thing It's a very little thing, but at the same time it's the only thing available So what we do is before all the the persons who are members of this clinic are volunteers and we all belong to the National Autonomous University of Mexico the School of Medicine and also anthropology I teach medical anthropology and Then we obviously have some Training for them and we listen to the expert NGOs So they tell us where to place the clinic when what are the dynamics of the Street people so which is the right moment to doing it And we also do field work to invite people and tell them that everything is going to be free and that We're going to treat them very well with respect and dignity and then During the clinic we provide healthcare information, which is very challenging because most of people are illiterate So it's difficult to make medical students who have like middle-class upper-class Communication with homeless people so that itself is a challenge But we managed to do it and we will provided vaccines the test of COVID and now we do more things we have like a very primary medical consultation and here we are also We are also getting a data from an invisible population in Mexico We don't even know how many they are what are their illnesses how they relate to homelessness We always think that they are only a drug consumers But for example, they don't sleep at all they cannot sleep eight hours like we all do so We have like very specific projects on health like that for example What is the impact of not being able to sleep eight hours on a chronicle? Basis we also are doing some studies of microbiome and well some more interesting things and I think The second thing is if someone needs something we also accompany them But a company means really going to the street look for the person go all the way to the clinic and Talk to the medical doctors who are supposed to treat them. So I think that This solution tackles two problems first with a lack of access to help her for homeless people but also a lack of education for the medical professionals on empathy and I think that's one of our Important things here Thank you. Thank you Ali. Keep the microphone because we are going for the feedback So Suzanne do you want to start? Yes, sure. Thank you very much for your presentation What I wanted to say is that the value of this approach I really see and first of all you you help People in their day-to-day struggle, but you also collect information which are highly relevant To change the underlying frame conditions and to improve access To health services for those people not only in Mexico City, obviously But around the world we have the same problems if there was time I was about to ask you What would be your main recommendations looking at maybe initial results to your government to change the situation for? this part of our society, but I hand over to Maria and Anna and if there's time I'm keen to hear you I'm actually gonna send it to Michael because I think this is very relevant to your work And then I may be if there's time I comment Yeah, I'll just weigh in here on the social science component I love that you are taking it to the people the open-door clinic the movable tent being in the streets making it as Easy as possible to gain access To this support and this healthcare so bravo to take it to the people in so much of our work We don't often take it to the people. We expect the people to come to us So thank you for taking it to the people I want to also draw out some things that I really appreciated you talked about Against the rules of the university and that you were leading in this way way to walk the talk way to lead for your Students what an experience for them to see you lead in this way even if it was against the rules of the university So way that way to lead way to walk the talk there two other things I appreciate the before during and after there seem to be a real commitment to sustained care and Sustaining that behavior change both in terms of the services You're providing and the response that you're hoping to get from the people you're working with and for So much of our work is often one-off and not this kind of sustained thinking around whole ecosystem So that we're really on ramping people to better lives rather than just a one-off So I love the sustained care and then lastly you said it and then you finished your presentation But thinking about empathy. Wow. Yes to more empathy. I'd be very keen to hear how you're Creating a culture and cultivating that empathy across your colleagues and industry and the university a lot of necessary work there too But thank you for the work you're doing here Thank you Maybe I can just close up with just again the congratulations very pleased to see that also you're doing this in Mexico Of course, I'm from Honduras originally so all the mess American region for me is very also important And then I wonder indeed how much the culture like, you know, the concept of you know, the Apology of who we are right where we come from and in our in our history and our roots also contribute to the success of these types of projects because we you know of the of Like you said like, you know, where we come from right and our background and how we as people also want to contribute to society and Mexico has some very interesting Health systems and programs and I wonder if that also contributes to the success to showcase That it can be done. So congratulations I'm really not sure if those were questions. So that's why I didn't answer much. Thank you for your comments Look, I Don't think that that The problem in Mexico is that homeless people are not part of the policies so We thought that Yeah, it's it's like During the COVID-19 pandemic something that was always there just became more visible so even if in our culture if it is like Part of it to take care of others. I don't think the commas are part of our main concerns So I don't know if that answers what Thank you. Thank you so much. I leave very important word where you're doing with people facing homelessness in Mexico I want to go to our next speaker But before that I just want to say that I'm very sorry that we don't have much time This is all very interesting I would like to have hours to talk to you and our steam solutions committee But unfortunately we are on a tight schedule So we only have four minutes maximum for our speakers and then ten minutes maximum for the conversation With the committee But now we are going to welcome Ibrahim a campo He is the network manager of SDS sense a hell and he is going to tell us about the Maybox initiative the floor is yours Thank you Good morning and good afternoon everyone today. I'm here to talk about To talk to you about an exciting project that our network is working on It is a digital health project that aim to revolutionize the way that we keep People healthy and informed in the rural area in the sale region the sale region The sale is the region whose health and the gutter are some of the lowest in the world Can you imagine that for 100,000? Life births an average of 600 women and girls lose their life and for 1000 life births around 28 Infant diet due to a limited access to health care. It is therefore urgent to profanely Improve the health care Access for those population To do this We need to address such issues as health education and still standard of living as They are all interconnected and need to be improved in order to improve quality life of individuals and Societies This where our project come in recreating a medical agricultural and Educational digital solution called my box which will use the multi-dimensional priority and its MPI as a level of to strengthen the public health system in local community and their ecosystem My box is a total Vocal digital solution in local African languages accessible on different terminals like TV Cabin and mobile phone With or without internet connectivity Israel health population with low literacy Income and internet access in strengthening public health system to an integrate an interactive approach of health education and agriculture as I say these These innovative express is Accessible for the local population through terminal like TV mobile application and Cabins This approach will provide a concrete impact in the rural area a better understanding and Ownership of sustainable development by the rural communities with the support of qualified experts the project with Facilitated access to health education and agricultural services through three adapter digital tools Medibox, which will provide access to health information and awareness Training content and connection to health professional Agri-box already on these experimental stage which provide access to training and market information as well as connect farmers to buyers and trainers and Agri-box, which will provide access to literacy content and peer-to-peer learning The design of the platform content is based on the need of the population collected by the server those Modifiable over time through a bottom up information system this last square data Collection and first processing platform will provide chance and anonymized data that will facilitate with scrolling a process and export the my box approach This project will be a game changer not only in the field of public health But also in the field of unemployment gender and social and social inequality and inequality We believe that everyone deserves to and should have access to a better resources and information They need to take control over their well-being. We are committed to make it This a reality to leave no one behind. Thank you Thank you, Rahima Our solutions committee is ready for feedback. Please Suzanne Maria Lena Michael Let me start Well, congratulations dr. Kampu and thank you very much for your presentation And you're absolutely right with your solution and your approach because access to health information to health Starts actually with access to information, which is evidence-based and which is trusted And this is for most of us around the world a very normal easy day-to-day business and matter But for millions of others, it's actually not and and so this is a true great initiative You are you're taking here and your solution goes the last mile So you are providing first-hand information evidence-based trusted to millions of people and this may be a game changer for those people Indeed with regards to to health Linking this information with consultation of specialists with this possibilities. That's really a significant value in my view and Indeed provides especially in remote settings or fragile settings a Huge improvement with regards to access to to health What I particularly also appreciate about your initiative is that you promote the use of local Therapeutic plants. They are really often effective remedies. They are affordable and they are locally available But the impact of promoting them is much greater in my views You keep also valuable traditional lot knowledge about health alive for generations to come and Using those local resources You also contribute to better health of our planet and you may even trigger small-scale market Developments and income opportunities in doing so so over all congratulations with this approach and And I'm sure it's a transformative I Initiative thanks over to Maria and I know yes, sure Again, congratulations. This I mean I have to say all of the teams have been amazing but this this project is also very important because not only you use the power of digital but Very Comprehensive not only by focusing on of course health with the medibox but also touch The interface between human health and certainly also, you know, I guess our our Planet health with the agri box and then put in context with how you're also providing literacy The comment that Suzanne made with regards a little bit about, you know the informal markets of advancing local, I guess Medical solutions, you know, maybe my my comment is It's always hard to ensure that it also meets all the regulatory and the quality standards So you of course don't want to give the perception that these solutions go outside of the of you know of the strict safety and assurance guidelines that you know Certainly, you know, you have to to ensure that are there we know with the regulators and so maybe my question is how much is how you involve in these platforms the Government and agencies that really support the Assurance of you know that the information of course is not only truthful, but at the same time meets all the the assurance and quality Considerations, thank you Hey, Ibrahim I'll just add a couple things and perhaps this will be no surprise for the audience in the room From a social science perspective or behavior change perspective But I work for an organization named the carbon neutral cities alliance of which Rio is a member and we're speaking to a crowd that is part of the sustainable development solutions network and my Affiliate employer is the urban sustainability directors network and we deal a lot with carbon neutrality and deep decarbonization and retrofit accelerators all to say Then we need to let go of that and use language that most people are using and I love how you package this I love it's a my box I love it's a meta box and an agribox and an edgy box and it's got a mobile application Love love love how you package this in ways that are digestible easily to access by anyone in terms of concepts So bravo because that is that is so necessary in all of our sustainability work And I just it became obvious to me how you packaged it and I love how you packaged it. So thanks Ibrahim now great work Thank you For the regulatory part, you know, we have already a good box which is on its experimental stage so We are working on it To find a way to how much it possible as some as some possible to to have all the Regulary to rules and To to make a first pilot phases of the Agribox first Thank you. Thank you so much Congratulations for a brilliant presentation Well, now you can welcome our last speaker that elfan going in from CSI distinguished professor at the Nensu Mandela University And she will tell us about an initiative to improve teachers health. Thank you Daryl Thank you very much more when you know, okay as said I'm from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa the University that Sets out to change the world through Being in service of society so it is my pleasure today to present to you one of The solutions that is part of a suite of health digital health solutions in community health services Literally where we cover from cradle to grave so the focus of today is How do you guide teachers and ordinary citizens to make healthier lifestyle choices and decrease health risks? So the aim is to take this and put the self-management of behavior change In the hands of the people so how do we manage our own health and our own lifestyles So in order to do that We created some smart solutions This was co-created with our beneficiaries and the five steps that you see here Are part of what they thought would work for them? I have to say that this is a project that brings together all the different disciplines ICT is just the glue that brings together the different Social sciences and health sciences, so we created a mobile app That integrates lifestyle interventions physical activity healthy eating stress sleep management Those are everyday topics that we can all identify with and that we all need help with So part of the five steps were then derived in collaboration with the beneficiaries So how does this work? It's based on a traffic light system So the aim was to create an opportunity for any person in any space to take this app on their mobile phone and Goed into a very basic health care facility keeping in mind in Africa Often we are very far removed from health care facilities so if you can get to someone that can take your blood pressure your cholesterol your blood glucose and BMI if you enter your height and weight it automatically calculates your BMI it generates a risk profile for you and This then helps you to set your own personal goals as to how you wish to achieve these and Through this you can self monitor and actually act on this This particular project was done for teachers, but of course as you can see from this It's relevant to any person in society so How do we on board people? How do we get them to do this? So part of what we've included in the solutions are all these nice information sheets then interactive videos we've included Some gamification elements there's digital storytelling. I know there was talk about digital storytelling earlier today And then obviously it focuses on the topics that impacts each and every one of us so when you think about we spoke yesterday about The time before covert and the time post covert if you look at the the topics on the screen They're they very relevant in a post covert society So how do we do that to touch the lives of every single person that we interact with? We put a tool in their hand and say you become part of the behavior change that you want to see in your life finally to ensure that we have Continuity and sustainability we working with the different ministries of health and Education we've introduced some short learning programs with professional development Components as well and this then obviously on boards people to also participate in this initiative so with this I want to say this is the Key to managing your own life and to bring about behavioral change in your life. Thank you very much. Thank you Dorel Susan Marilena Michael comments Thank you very much Professor Grunen and congratulations for for your Initiative Kasi held What I liked a lot about this was that you are actually addressing the leading cause of death globally with 32% cardiovascular diseases are the cause of death and It's on the on the rise and it's all preventable by a healthy lifestyle and with your elements of the App you actually address all of them almost all of them And what I also like was that you have chosen teachers as a target group I'm not sure how you you came about it, but Teachers are one part of a increasingly inactive society. That's true but teachers teach our generations to come and And it's absolutely important that they start with their behavior change and then they transmit this hopefully effectively effectively to to the next generations to come and this will truly change and transform millions of lives, but it will hopefully also have a significant impact on the reduction of The cause of death of cardiovascular diseases prevalence in on the globe Again, the first step to to a healthier lifestyle is Access to information and using a digital application I appreciate that you have always the possibility to continuously add New information which reaches out And here is a question or maybe only a comment because of the time limit I would wish in future if you could possibly if not yet done also add information About the interlinkages of our health and healthy lifestyle healthy diet physical exercise, etc With the health of our environment of our animals around us plants, etc Etc. Pretty much linked to a healthy diet and how this contributes actually to Planetary health and if this is being taught to the next generation, this has even a greater impact Thank you so much and congratulations. I appreciate it To be part of it and listen to your presentation and I hand over to Marie Elena Thank you, Suzanne. And again, congratulations. I think the digital world and using these types of Tools, it's I mean certainly the new generation has adopted these more than maybe all all of us older generation But we're learning right and so I think maybe a comment slash question or consideration is There are so many now the of these tools, you know rings and fit bits and you know other things that you know Maybe they can be integrated, you know, some of them, of course are more accessible in the LMIC settings Some may be less Some may need a little bit more like you like Suzanne said, you know the education So just a consideration of how in the world of eventually having a lot of competition in this field How how you can maintain a true to the intent and certainly contribute to To giving tools that then can be managed by the individual right or by the community As per their needs based on their settings and their their location. So congratulations. This is amazing work Yeah, I'll just quickly add in the social science space as we think about behavior change the sustainability field has a lot to learn from the health field and this is a great example of all that the Sustainability world can learn from in the climate space our cities at the carbon neutral cities Alliance have for years Produced a hundred page reports detailing their climate action plans and they put them on their website That was years ago and they've since realized that few people are reading those a hundred page reports and they've moved Towards gamification they've moved towards Mobile apps for sustainable lifestyles, etc. They've moved towards visuals and videos That is the direction we need to go and what I love about what you've done here professor von grunen is that it's very visual It's bite-sized because people can get overwhelmed with what they need to do whether it be health for their body or sustainability and health for the planet and That overwhelm often creates inaction and so how do we give people? How do we offer up visually and with video these bite-sized accessible approaches so that people can start to change their behavior? See how life is better and continue doing it So I really like how you put in in both the brochure and what I'm sure is the app and the Gamification really bite-sized efforts here How do we on-ramp behavior that gets people away from procrastination away from status quo bias that gets them doing things? So they don't feel overwhelmed by the choice here So again bravo and just encouraging everyone here in this conversation to think about how we can do better in Visualizing the solutions in providing bite-sized on-ramps for people because that is that is the answer That's where we need to move. So thank you Thank you very much for those comments. Maybe if I could just comment briefly Just to say that the target audience that we started with were teachers with the aim of them influencing both society but also then the younger generations and Because of time I could not show that but there are Specific targeted interactions for children as well at different age groups And then currently we are working at expanding into the general society beyond teachers Teachers have often a very sedentary lifestyle within the African context but high levels of stress Poor nutrition etc. So that's how they were identified as the initial target audience and I have to say this is research that has gone on over a period of 10 years and Culminated in all of this health environment. Obviously. Yes, that is the next part that we will be adding very very important and Very relevant to our continent at this point in time the beauty of the app that we have and That relates to the Fitbits and all the other solutions that are out there We're not reinventing the wheel. We know that there are millions of apps out there. So what we tried to do was to create modular approach and Bring the best of the best into this So we did not go and write new fitness apps and things like that that would be silly Based on the multidisciplinary research team that we have they selected the best for mental wellness Look the following five solutions would really support the cause So what this app does is it's modular and it takes you out to Existing very good solutions that other people have already developed and then it allows you to interact and record All in one space where you can then interact with your targets that you wish to set so bringing in other Components like environmental health, etc. Becomes a very easy thing to do So the way in which the app was developed caters for all of that and thank you very much for your kind words It's really appreciated Thank you very much for the Solutions committee panels for joining us taking the time from their busy schedules and for contributing such valuable feedback Inputs and commentary that I'm very sure that today's presenters will carry on the discussion with them bilaterally Again, we would also like to thank our moderator for today for her support and contributions Clara Marine from IS Global and As we bring this year's global solutions forum to a close as DSN would like to express its gratitude to the organizers Our partners GIZ Vido G stick and of course field crews for partnering with us to bring this edition of GSF 2023 to life Please visit the forums website its global solutions forum.org and its related social media channels For all the information of today's solutions and also those from previous editions Also today's recording will be available on SDSN's YouTube channel many. Thanks for joining us and we hope to see you at the next edition Thank you all You