Access to healthcare
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Our approach to access to healthcare
Science can transform healthcare to help secure equitable access
We are working to identify barriers to access to healthcare resources and services – such as economic and supply barriers – and innovating to deliver our life-changing medicines in a sustainable and equitable way, including through global, regional and local public-private partnerships.
Central to this is our commitment to promoting preventive measures, increasing access to diagnostics and treatment, and strengthening health systems sustainability and resilience.
Our focus areas
Equitable access
Driving equitable access to healthcare services across the product portfolio, through digital health, clinical trial diversity, patient centricity, investing in rare diseases, open innovation and intellectual property (IP) sharing arrangements.
Affordability and pricing
Increasing accessibility of medicines for diverse, equitable and inclusive patient groups, through company policy and programming, including core pricing principles and access programmes, while addressing barriers to access and affordability.
Health system resilience
Strengthening health systems by partnering with stakeholders in the development of research-based recommendations, advocating for health system policy reform and building capabilities to strengthen the delivery of health services, including through community investment. We also support continuity of healthcare in communities affected by humanitarian emergencies.
Our ambition by 2025:
Reach 50 million
Train 170,000
Increase collaboration
Our achievements
66.4 million
127,384
13.6 million
*as at December 2023. Source: Sustainability Report 2023
Our access to healthcare highlights
Click below to learn more about our sustainability initiatives:
Healthy Heart Africa
Healthy Heart Africa (HHA) was launched to address the growth of cardiovascular diseases in Africa, with the goal of reaching 10 million people with hypertension by 2025, achieved in 2024. Partnering with governments, healthcare providers and local communities, HHA now helps to address the growing social and economic burden of heart and kidney diseases in Africa.
Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience
The PHSSR is a non-profit, multi-sector, global collaboration established in 2020 by the London School of Economics, the World Economic Forum and AstraZeneca, with a unified goal to improve global health by building more sustainable and resilient health systems. It is now active in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Young Health Programme
Since 2010, our Young Health Programme has worked to empower young people aged 10-24 to manage their health, to help prevent long-term conditions like cancer, diabetes, respiratory and heart diseases – often called non-communicable diseases - and their associated health needs. Through community programmes, research, advocacy and developing generations of young leaders, we are supporting young people make better health choices, for brighter life chances for themselves and for future generations.
