Tiny Patients, Big Breakthroughs

Novartis is one of a handful of major pharmaceutical companies developing new medicines for malaria and neglected tropical diseases, and does so through a dedicated Global Health unit, operating on a largely not-for-profit basis. Yet, few Novartis employees are directly involved in this work, and the role of the Global Health unit was poorly understood. In 2024, nearly one in four employees (24%) did not believe global health supported the company’s overall innovative medicines strategy, and fewer than half (49%) thought it communicated effectively about global health. In September and October 2025, we created the first-ever global health employee campaign, aimed at increasing staff understanding and inspiring pride by leveraging a major development milestone: the approval of Coartem Baby, the world’s first malaria treatment for newborns and young infants. Using a brilliant creative across the company’s physical spaces and digital channels, including the world’s first mosquito QR code, the campaign reached at least 83% of employees and inspired participation from 1 in 3. So excited were employees that it drove unprompted spontaneous activity – from cake baking in Slovenia (with the campaign creative as icing!) to a celebration party in India. The impact was huge: scores for employee understanding and communications effectiveness jumped significantly. Almost all members of staff expressed pride. There was also a large impact on positive word of mouth: three in four employees said they shared positive news about Novartis’ global health work, on average seven times, the equivalent of nearly 550,000 positive conversations.