IKEA Foundation Supports UN Campaign for Equitable, Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access
Today, the IKEA Foundation announced its support for the United Nations' new "Only Together" campaign, which calls for fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
"Scientists believe vaccination offers the best hope for the world to emerge from this pandemic, but only if everyone, everywhere has vaccine access. Unequitable distribution of vaccines risks further widening the inequality gap and endangering millions of lives," said Per Heggenes, IKEA Foundation CEO.
"Only Together" asks governments, businesses and philanthropies to support a global vaccine rollout that prioritises healthcare workers and ensures the poorest countries don't get left behind.
The pandemic is wreaking havoc on the world's most vulnerable communities. Over 130 million people sank below the poverty line in 2020, many of them from marginalised communities, according to UN data. Inequitable vaccine distribution could reverse decades of progress on poverty, healthcare and education.
"This isn't just an issue of morality -- it's an issue of global health," said Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. "Viruses don't respect borders. Leaving parts of the world unvaccinated could lead to even deadlier variants of COVID-19 emerging, prolonging the pandemic and delaying the global economy from recovering."
"Only Together" is part of the Verified initiative, launched in 2020 to counter disinformation on COVID-19. Verified is a collaboration between the UN and Purpose, a social mobilisation organisation. Supported by an IKEA Foundation grant, the campaign helps volunteer "digital first responders" and collaborators disseminate accurate COVID-19 information.
Through its partnership with Purpose, the IKEA Foundation aims to cement public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and rally funding for fair global vaccine distribution.
"Over the past year, we've all missed out on things we love. Millions of people have lost their loved ones and livelihoods to this deadly virus. Over the coming months, we have an opportunity to put the world on a path towards ending the pandemic, but only together can we ensure no one is left behind," said Jeremy Heimans, Purpose CEO.
About the IKEA Foundation
The IKEA Foundation is funded by INGKA Foundation, owner of the Ingka Group of companies. The IKEA Foundation is independent from the retail business with a sole focus on creating brighter lives on a liveable planet through philanthropy and grantmaking. www.ikeafoundation.org
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005179/en/
Contact information
Radu Dumitrascu, radu.dumitrascu@ikeafoundation.org, +31 655 69 85 70
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Galderma Welcomes Increased Equity Investment From L’Oréal8.12.2025 08:05:00 EET | Press release
Galderma Group AG (SIX:GALD), the pure-play dermatology category leader, today announced that L’Oréal Groupe intends to increase its equity investment in the company, acquiring an additional 10% stake from Sunshine SwissCo GmbH (a consortium led by EQT, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and Auba Investment Pte. Ltd., acting as sellers). Following the transaction, which is subject to customary approvals, L’Oréal’s total shareholding in Galderma will rise to 20%, building on its initial investment made in August 2024. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2026. In connection with this increased investment, Galderma will consider nominating two non-independent board candidates from L’Oréal, replacing the board members representing the consortium led by EQT, at the 2026 Annual General Meeting. Additionally, Galderma and L’Oréal aim at exploring additional scientific research projects of mutual interest. This ongoing collaboration brings together Galderma’s scientific leadership i
Ant International Wins Champion of NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection8.12.2025 05:37:00 EET | Press release
Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, has won first place at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207210856/en/ Ant International’s solution takes top spot at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection, emerging first among over 2,100 submissions from 162 teams globally. AI Fairness enhances Financial Security Studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) show that many commercial facial recognition algorithms have significantly higher error rates for women and people of colour largely due to underrepresentation in datasets AI algorithms are trained on. Biased algorithms lead to unfair denials of service and create security vulnerabilities. The competition at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, among the world’s most prestigious AI con
Sonrotoclax Data at ASH 2025 Confirm Foundational Potential Across B-cell Malignancies8.12.2025 01:00:00 EET | Press release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced new data on sonrotoclax, a next-generation investigational BCL2 inhibitor, demonstrating meaningful clinical benefit as monotherapy and in combination across B-cell malignancies. These data were featured at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, Florida. The five presentations highlight durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and additional studies showing deep, rapid, and sustained undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) rates with sonrotoclax-based combinations in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), highlighting the foundational potential of this medicine. “The data we’re presenting at ASH 2025 are redefining what physicians can expect from sonrotoclax as a next-generation BCL2 inhibitor,” said Amit Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical
Hemato-Oncology Trials: AOP Health Presents New Results at Top Congress ASH7.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
AOP Health continues to advance its clinical research program in myeloproliferative neoplasms, a special group of rare blood cancers. The company, specialized in rare diseases, presented the results of two scientific investigations at the 67th American Society of Hematology Association (ASH) Annual Meeting 2025 held in Orlando, FL, USA. The results provide new insights in treatment strategies. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207587915/en/ Dr. Martin Steinhart, CEO AOP Health; Photo credit: AOP Health/Studio Koekart ROP-ET and BESREMI PASS One of the clinical studies, ROP-ET, examined the use of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in people with essential thrombocythemia (ET), a disease in which the body produces too many platelets. The trial, a prospective, multicenter, single-arm phase III study, investigated the safety and efficacy of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in ET patients unable to receive available cytoreductive th
CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 Launches in Riyadh: Global Mobility Leaders Unite in Saudi Capital to Chart Urban Future7.12.2025 14:00:00 EET | Press release
Riyadh is rapidly becoming one of the world's most ambitious urban mobility laboratories, where next-generation technologies move from blueprint to real-world deployment on city streets at unprecedented scale. CoMotion GLOBAL 2025, the world's most influential gathering of urban mobility leaders, opens today in Riyadh for a three-day summit bringing together innovators from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Running December 7-9, the event will explore how electrification, autonomy, AI-enabled transport, and giga-project urbanism are reshaping cities worldwide. The summit will spotlight everything from high-performance EVs and breakthrough autonomous fleets to emerging-market transport solutions and new mobility models, demonstrating how the Kingdom is opening new pathways for global mobility leadership. Strategic Partnerships Powering the Summit CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 is hosted by the Saudi Conventions & Exhibitions General Authority (SCEGA), supported by key Saudi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom