Sanofi today launches Foundation S – The Sanofi Collective, its philanthropic endowment fund aiming to create healthier futures for generations. Using donations, partnerships and collective action, Foundation S will focus on three critical areas: childhood cancer, the health of communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and pollution, and access to lifesaving medicines and vaccines.

Serge Weinberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sanofi and President, Foundation S said, “As a global healthcare company, we must take part in tackling some of the challenges our society faces. We are proud of what the Sanofi Espoir Foundation has achieved this past decade and the legacy it leaves. The world changes at an incredible pace and numerous new systemic challenges emerge. Now is the right time to go one step further and Foundation S is the right structure, more focused, more agile, to better help vulnerable populations across the world. ”

Foundation S will incorporate as its cornerstone initiative the former Sanofi Espoir Foundation’s ‘My Child Matters’ program in childhood cancer. Launched in 2005 to give every child an equal chance of survival, ‘My Child Matters’ provides financial support and expertise so that all children can access diagnosis and treatment. The program has helped more than 120,000 children, trained over 50,000 healthcare professionals and been credited with increasing survival outcomes. Additionally, Foundation S will fund awareness and research for childhood cancer in various countries. Together, these initiatives support the World Health Organization (WHO) objective of achieving at least 60% survival for all children with cancer by 2030, saving an additional 1 million lives over the next decade.

Fighting for healthier futures requires addressing today’s challenges and anticipating growing crises. To that end, Foundation S will work to increase the health resilience of vulnerable populations most impacted by climate change and pollution. Foundation S will begin by collaborating with the international NGO Friendship, Bangladesh-based, focused on that nation’s hard-to-reach, climate-vulnerable islands of Gaibandha. There, Foundation S will help train healthcare workers, and fund satellite clinics and a floating hospital in a region outside mainstream healthcare services.