From Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis:

A worldwide clinical trial aimed at finding treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has expanded to include investigational drugs targeting a harmful form of the brain protein tau. The trial, known as the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU) and led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, launched in 2012 as the first prevention trial for Alzheimer’s disease. Originally focused on amyloid-based therapies, it was funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2013.
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“As a platform trial, DIAN-TU plays a critical role in Alzheimer’s prevention by testing a variety of mechanisms,” said Fred Miller, GHR Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer and Alzheimer’s program lead.  “We are excited to join public and private partners in supporting the expanding scope of DIAN-TU as it begins testing tau therapies. Together with DIAN-TU families, we are reimagining what’s possible in our shared goal to prevent dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease.”

Read more...

Imagine a development sector fueled by the power of those with the least, a world where the people and communities most impacted by global decisions have a role in remaking the system to best serve the common good. Inspired by Pope Francis, the Global Solidarity Fund is a network of partners supporting innovative public-private partnership among and beyond Catholic networks that place the most vulnerable at the center of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

With support from GHR Foundation and others, GSF is connecting people, ideas and networks to build an inclusive economy, to amplify the leadership of Catholic sisters, and to shine a light on the development contributions made by the Catholic Church. One initiative, representing Catholic sisters around the world, is the work of International Union of Superiors General (UISG) in bringing the unique voice of sisters into the global dialogue, strengthening not only programs led by sisters, but other efforts supporting those most vulnerable. As an initial effort, GSF is working with UISG to tell the compelling story of sisters’ leadership in leading community-based solutions to COVID-19.

Additionally, through support provided to the Vatican COVID-19 Commission and to partners in the field, GSF has lent its support to the Church’s role in the response to coronavirus. Moving forward from 2020 and beyond, GSF will use its network and voice to tell the powerful story of the Catholic experience and call to action – not only in recent times, but over the long term — to the broader development community and public. GSF also provides support for other Church initiatives to promote development that is sustainable and inclusive and works for the benefit of all.
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Learn more at: https://www.globalsolidarityfund.org/
 

From the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda:

With 9.9 million new cases of dementia globally each year, the type of collective action witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic is urgently needed.

What policies, practices and partnerships can help to develop new diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer’s?

This session is associated with the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, convened by the Global CEO Initiative (CEOi) and the World Economic Forum.

Speakers:

Ali Velshi, Anchor, NBC News

Michel Vounatsos, Chief Executive Officer, Biogen

Jeff Huber, Chief Executive Officer, Home Instead Inc.

​Amy Goldman, Chief Executive Officer and Chair, GHR Foundation

As representatives of nonpartisan philanthropic institutions, serving rural, urban, and suburban communities across the nation, we condemn the violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol this week. The events in Washington are a stain on our nation’s history and a painful break in the peaceful transition of power that has been a defining hallmark of American democracy for more than 200 years.

The shameful events are the result of actions by President Trump and other political leaders who have recklessly fanned the flames of grievance. Those responsible for this deadly violence and insurrection must be held to account, and we call on Republican leaders, in particular, in government and media to unequivocally reject conspiracy theories and the actions of extremists who use violence. After hard-fought campaigns, extraordinary voter turnout, and the resolution of more than 60 election-related lawsuits, it is long past time for our nation to accept the results of the 2020 election so that our duly elected leaders — President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris and members of the 117th Congress — can move forward with addressing the nation’s pressing challenges.

Our organizations donate hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable causes each year to advance the common good. While we have different funding approaches, vary in our areas of focus, and are ideologically diverse, we share a belief in the importance of finding common ground to solve problems and serve people and communities. And while we may vary in our views on the size and scope of government, we share a belief that safeguarding the health, security, and rights of people and communities requires a government whose leaders can accept the election results, bridge divisions that have roiled our nation, work in good faith to forge solutions, and stand up for democracy.

As the U.S. faces the most dire global health emergency in 100 years, the worst economic crisis in modern history, and a racial reckoning overdue for centuries, it is time to move on from last year’s election, cease further delays in the transition of power, and turn to governance. To our duly elected leaders, we urge you to follow facts and let science lead the way toward solving the COVID-19 crisis. We encourage you to listen to diverse voices — including those of people who have been overlooked, forgotten, and excluded, and who are facing persistent threats to their lives and livelihoods. We call on you to repair our tattered social fabric and help our democracy live up to its ideals. And we stand ready to work with you to move our country forward and increase opportunity for all who call it home.

https://democracyletter.medium.com/philanthropies-condemn-political-violence-call-on-leaders-to-protect-democracy-and-get-back-to-242aaf86f253

Through our deep partnerships, GHR has come to learn that racism is prevalent and
persistent both in the U.S. and global contexts. Our organization is committed to pursuing
racial equity across our work to better support Black, Brown, Indigenous and people of color
communities and accelerate the change they seek.

As part of our shared commitment to racial equity, GHR and Devex co-hosted the Devex World 2020 workshop: ‘Dismantling systemic inequity in development through racially conscious collaboration.’ 
Led by Tony Hudson, president & founder of Racially Conscious Collaboration™, the highly interactive workshop advanced the conversation on race within the global development and aid sector through an in-depth examination of how race and racism are present and active in development spaces.

Race takes different forms in different cultural contexts, but racism remains persistent and pervasive in every community, country, and continent in which the global development sector works. If injustice and racial inequality are to be tackled effectively, they must first be named and acknowledged. Only in doing so can systemic barriers to the inclusion of marginalized groups be addressed, in global development organizations and the diverse communities they serve.

The event engaged a multi-racial, multi-level audience across the global development sector. Participants had the opportunity to learn from each other, sharing lived experiences and ideas, as well as insights on how race and power are present and active in their work, and implications of the same. 

GHR looks forward to sharing what we learn alongside sector leaders and advancing this critical work together.

GHR partner, Zambia-based Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE), along with Christian Alliance for Children Zambia, have published a comparative study out of Lusaka highlighting positive outcomes for children when family-based care is prioritized over recourse to institutional care. Evincing how family-based care results in improved childhood development outcomes, the study also illuminates how such a model is operationally more effective for organizations implementing the same. Offering a working model of family-based care in Zambia, the study supplies a replicable framework that can be modified for other regions and circumstances.  
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Drawing on over twenty years of experience in family-based care, Alliance for Children Everywhere seeks to apply their experience in Zambia to support a transition to family-based care among other organizations serving vulnerable children within Southern Africa and beyond. ACE and GHR share a collective vision of a world where all children—especially those at risk of losing or without parental care—are living in a stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environment. 

Find the study here:

C2N Diagnostics’ Alzheimer's blood test has been introduced into the clinic, a breakthrough healthcare innovation for patients, advocates, and physicians who have long awaited an easy to administer test that can help them better understand Alzheimer’s disease.

C2N developed this groundbreaking test based upon longtime GHR partner Dr. Randall Bateman’s initial discovery of how to measure amyloid proteins in blood, validating its results in a clinical trial of 686 patients. Earlier this year, GHR made a Program-Related Investment (PRI) in C2N to provide the resources necessary to develop and launch this innovation. 

The test is a highly sensitive blood test using mass spectrometry and is performed in C2N’s CLIA-certified lab. While the test by itself cannot diagnose Alzheimer’s disease — which is a clinical diagnosis made by a health care provider — the test is an important new tool for physicians to aid in the evaluation process. 

Joel B. Braunstein, MD, CEO of C2N says, “Our mission is to translate exceptional science into unique diagnostics that can help as many people as possible. This blood test introduces a new option for patients, families and the medical community that have eagerly awaited innovative tools to address Alzheimer’s troubling problems.” 

GHR Foundation is partnering boldly with a consortium of government, industry, academic research and other philanthropists on a game-changing undertaking – the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more here.  

From the World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Summit:
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Speakers:
Andrew Morley, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Vision International
Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Amy Goldman, Chief Executive Officer and Chair, GHR Foundation
Azza Karam, Secretary-General, Religions for Peace
Niels Lund, Vice-President, Health Advocacy, Novo Nordisk A/S

Faith leaders and actors play a crucial role in response and recovery during crises and are essential partners in reaching and caring for the vulnerable.

Discover and debate how to scale up:
1. Health literacy in crisis
2. Emergency healthcare delivery
3. Humanitarian response
4. Multistakeholder partnerships

This session supports the ongoing work of the Social Determinants of Health Project and the Forum’s Civil Society Community.

• Even before COVID-19, global progress towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals had fallen behind.
• Social entrepreneurs and other front-line actors have a key role to play and need to be given greater prominence and support at this time.
• Collaborative movements and alliances in the social enterprise sector are critical to building a sector wide agenda with collective messages to influence key stakeholders

Just as the COVID-19 healthcare worker is at the front line for the protection of human life, so the social entrepreneur is at the front line for the protection of socio-economic wellbeing. As such, they have their work cut out for them. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical flaws in our social and economic systems, with particularly devastating consequences for the billions who are marginalized.

Global goals to reduce poverty and curb climate change have stalled or gone backwards in the face of COVID-19. Even before the global pandemic, few countries were even close to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the target date of 2030, with the Social Progress Index estimating last year that this date had been pushed back to 2073. The pandemic is likely to set progress back even further, unless drastic action is taken. The World Bank projects that the global economy will shrink by 5-8% predicting that over 100 million people are at immediate risk of slipping into poverty. Already, education inequality and food insecurity are rising due to the lack of resources and widespread school closures. And glaringly, healthcare systems are being overwhelmed, erasing the hard-fought gains in public health. Now is the time to do things differently.

If there are rays of encouragement that reflect the resilience of the human spirit, it is in the collective actions that are arising as the world reacts and responds to the pandemic. One such response is the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset initiative, a commitment to jointly and urgently rebuild the foundations of our economic and social system for a more fair, sustainable, and resilient future. International organizations, such as the IMF and UN, have been joined by private corporations, like Microsoft and Mastercard, to support the Forum’s call to reevaluate global social and economic systems.

But to achieve the Great Reset, it will be necessary to bridge the gap between public and private interests and institutions. This is where the social entrepreneur and the social enterprise sector can make an impact – they have already been active in this space for decades, although their work is not often recognized or supported. Social entrepreneurs serve as a crucial social safety net for the systemic weaknesses, inequalities and market failures that are now apparent. In recent months they have repeatedly demonstrated that, as first responders in this crisis, they have been able to adapt at speed and share their knowledge and assets where they are needed most.

While governments enact policies and launch national-scale initiatives with multilateral partners and donors, corporations and impact investors funnel resources to address a variety of challenges, it is social entrepreneurs who often have the trust of those in vulnerable communities required to bring about lasting change on the ground. After all, they have been delivering significant progress on challenges like food security, employment, gender equity, sanitation and health in those communities for many years already.

Top-down ecosystem players must recognize the role of these front-line leaders and empower and align resources to reinvigorate progress towards the goals of economic inclusion, health, education and social cohesion.

In mobilizing these important actors at this critical time, initiatives such as Catalyst 2030 – an international consortium of more than 200 NGOs, social enterprises, intermediaries, funders, and other social change innovators that have pledged to collaborate to help countries achieve the SDGs by 2030 – are doing critical work. In its recent report, “Getting From Crisis to Systems Change,” Catalyst 2030 outlined the central role that social enterprises must continue to play in achieving the SDGs.

The COVID-19 Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs, hosted by the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation, is also fostering collaboration across impact-focused companies and global leaders. Comprising more than 60 global organizations – collectively representing over 50,000 social enterprises globally and touching the lives of close to 1 billion people – the Alliance has set itself a dual goal of supporting social enterprises during COVID-19 and its aftermath, and of injecting their voices and expertise into the ‘great reset’ agenda. Its belief: The decades of experiences of these social entrepreneurs are vital in supporting vulnerable communities and in forging a ‘new normal’ in how capital markets and international development actors operate.

To achieve the Great Reset, we will need more than just the actions of the those considered powerful. The proximity of social entrepreneurs to the needs of communities as well as their unique innovative power of social entrepreneurs, may just be what we all need to achieve a shift-change in our ability to transform our world and to guarantee a sustainable future for generations to come:

Through support and recognition of their critical role, social entrepreneurs can be the bridge to recovery and the adoption of new models in education, workforce participation, gender empowerment, expanded access to life-saving products, and digital livelihoods, providing the socio-economic equality that our world needs. The time to get behind social entrepreneurs and let them play their part is now.

To join in action with us, visit and share your commitments with the COVID Response Alliance.

Janet Longmore, Founder and CEO, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)
Jonathan Jackson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dimagi
Carolien de Bruin, Lead, COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs, World Economic Forum
Amy Goldman, Chief Executive Officer and Chair, GHR Foundation