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Soap and water dispensers have been installed across Mexico City to encourage passers-by to wash their hands and listen to information about how to prevent contracting Covid-19.
Infectious disease
Wellcome is focusing on preventing and stopping future escalations of infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases are estimated to cause around a quarter of all deaths in the world and the risk of new pathogens emerging and escaping out of control is rising.
Science has created vaccines, drugs, diagnostics and other measures to contain many infectious diseases but global connectivity, climate change and the over-use of antibiotics are putting more people at risk.
Acting as early as possible in an outbreak – or even before an infection starts to escalate – is the most effective way to prevent illness and save the most lives. But the Covid-19 pandemic is a stark reminder that the impacts of infectious disease are not felt equally, and that existing structures and systems limit global access to solutions.
We’re working alongside people in areas that are disproportionately affected and most vulnerable to future threats. Our work will bring together our diverse expertise across science, innovation and society to prevent the most illness and save the most lives.
"Our ambition is to ensure the world is protected against different types of infectious disease, and the threat of disease escalation now and in the future."
Over the next 30 years, we want to prevent and stop future escalations of infectious diseases.
To understand what causes outbreaks and drives their escalation, we will support research into infectious diseases that are already on the rise and those with the potential to become future outbreaks. We will focus on communities at greater risk, ensuring sustainability and equity are considered throughout.
Our work will also inform how infectious diseases are mapped and measured to better predict outbreaks and intervene earlier.
Wellcome also funds discovery research into a broad range of disciplines, including infectious diseases. Insights and tools from this research will contribute to solving this health challenge, as well as increasing broader understanding of life, health and wellbeing.
Funded CEPI
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations – to help fill critical gaps in vaccine funding and research
Funded CARB-X
to accelerate research and development for products against antimicrobial resistant pathogens including antibiotics, vaccines and diagnostics.
£50m investment
in the AMR Action Fund to advance new antibiotics to the market by filling the investment gap in the antibiotics pipeline.
Research funding opportunities
To help deliver our vision across three key health challenges, we support research through a combination of open calls and direct funding approaches.
We work with and fund a diverse group of people who can bring innovative and creative insights to these urgent health challenges.
This page will be updated regularly with the latest infectious disease funding information and the opportunities we have available for discovery research.
Digital Technology Development Awards (Climate-Sensitive Infectious Disease Modelling)
Develop digital tools that will catalyse the next generation of climate-sensitive infectious diseases research.
Cheryl Moore, Director of Research Programmes, shares how Wellcome plans to spend £16 billion over the next ten years to advance scientific discovery and take on the world’s most pressing health issues.
What we've done so far
Effective research and coordinated action can stop infectious diseases from spiralling into global health emergencies. Wellcome has led the research response to Covid-19, as we did for Ebola outbreaks in 2014 and 2018, and advocated for policies built on scientific evidence.
We’re working with organisations, including the ACT-Accelerator, and the scientific community to make sure that vaccines, tests and treatments are mass-produced quickly and safely to reach everyone who needs them. We also support the Wellcome Sanger Institute in their efforts to sequence the virus and identify variants with COG-UK.
We’ve collaborated with the private sector and philanthropic partners to develop CARB-X, and the AMR Action Fund to find new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections.
We are funding CEPI – the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations – to help fill critical gaps within vaccine funding and research and development. We also support the Hilleman Laboratories to bridge the gap between discovery and clinical proof of concept for affordable vaccines.
