Abu dhabi: The Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) has announced the 14 winners of its Falcon Awards for Disease Elimination Integration Edit. These awards recognize organizations that are advancing innovative research and advocacy efforts aimed at accelerating the elimination of infectious diseases through integrated approaches.
According to Emirates News Agency, the winners were selected from a competitive global pool and form a diverse cohort spanning regions such as Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. This collective effort is focused on dismantling silos across disease programs and enhancing the interplay of research, policy, advocacy, and implementation to hasten disease elimination.
The Falcon Awards are designed to foster innovation and collaboration by supporting projects that demonstrate the impact of integrated approaches across diseases, sectors, and systems. The Integration Edit emphasizes bridging research and advocacy, strengthening surveillance and diagnostics, advancing vector control, and embedding elimination efforts within national health systems.
Dr. Farida Al Hosani, CEO of GLIDE, stated, 'The Falcon Awards catalyse evidence-driven action to advance disease elimination through integrated, real-world solutions.' She highlighted the power of collaboration across borders and disease areas, as well as the importance of locally-grounded leadership in driving sustainable progress.
GLIDE will collaborate closely with each awardee throughout the project duration to support design, policy alignment, monitoring, and outcome dissemination. This model ensures that evidence generated through the Falcon Awards contributes to national, regional, and global elimination agendas.
The latest cohort of awardees includes a mix of advocacy-focused and research-driven initiatives targeting diseases such as malaria, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, polio, dengue, and other neglected tropical diseases. The projects, which vary from AI-enabled diagnostics to integrated vector control, collectively represent an investment of approximately US$2.6 million, all aimed at generating actionable evidence and accelerating progress toward disease elimination through integration.
