Science, Cooperation and Impact in Uncertain Times

In a year marked by geopolitical instability and climate-related health threats, ISGlobal generated evidence for action and strengthened its societal impact.

[The following text is the foreword to ISGlobal's 2025 Annual Report, written jointly by Quique Bassat, Director General, and Denise Naniche, Scientific Director.]

2025 was a year of intense geopolitical tension, eroding the multilateralism and cooperation that global health depends on. Ongoing conflicts, a fragmenting global trade system, a global decline in development aid, and the rise of AI-driven disinformation strained trust and international collaboration.

At the same time, environmental and climate-related threats intensified, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya and West Nile virus, and extreme climate events -heatwaves, floods and wildfires- affecting millions.

But despite these challenges, there were positive developments: the Seville Commitment reaffirmed support for development cooperation, the WHO Pandemic Agreement marked a step forward in global preparedness, and COP30 advanced the Belém Health Action Plan to strengthen health systems’ adaptation to climate change.

Generating Evidence for Action

Within this landscape, ISGlobal’s research continued to generate robust evidence to inform policy and practice. Our researchers estimated the lives saved through international development aid, and warned of the consequences of its defunding. A series of studies deepened our understanding of how air pollution during pregnancy affects early brain development, while new analyses quantified the mortality burden associated with the record-breaking summer heat of 2024, highlighting its disproportionate impact on women and older populations and reinforcing the value of early warning tools such as forecaster.health.

In uncertain times, the contribution of our staff, collaborators, students, and partners to rigorous science and collective action remain more important than ever.

Further contributions include research showing how the efficacy of malaria vaccines may depend on the timing of administration within the transmission season, as well as the validation of rapid tests to expand access to Chagas disease diagnosis in low-resource settings.

Overall, our dedicated team of over 600 people contributed 672 scientific papers and 14 policy documents, developed innovative diagnostic tools and software, and secured 156 newly-funded projects.

Driving Engagement and Impact

2025 was also a year of continued institutional engagement. ISGlobal assumed the leadership of the Planetary Health Hub alliance secretariat, organised a webinar on the growing threats to scientific integrity and research freedom as part of the SPHERA consortium, and led the Voices for Health workshops in collaboration with “la Caixa” to promote dialogue and action on health and climate change. We also reached a record number of participants in LMICs through our online Spring School, and were selected to organize the 2027 European Congress of Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH) in Barcelona, a leading event in global health.

A key priority this year has been to strengthen how our research translates into societal impact.

A key priority this year has been to strengthen how our research translates into societal impact. To this end, we created an Impact Unit to embed impact across all programmes and support researchers in planning and documenting the impact of their work.

None of this would have been possible without the commitment of our staff, collaborators, students, and partners, as well as the continued support of our funders and institutional allies. In uncertain times, their contribution to rigorous science and collective action remains more important than ever.