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EDITORIAL we could all, respectively, go further in our missions, dovetailing, pooling and enhancing our efforts to be of even greater service to the Global South’s most vulnerable peoples. Many key figures from the medical, scientific and institutional realms honoured us with their presence, including Dr Denis Mukwege and French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian. This emergency initiative again demonstrates how strength lies in numbers and networks, exponentially increasing the number of projects that can be undertaken while accurately addressing specific needs. by Pierre-Yves Revol President of the Fondation Pierre Fabre In 2019, new advances were made that serve to illustrate the Fondation Pierre Fabre’s determination to develop its programmes across multiple countries and coordinate with the main public health entities, be they institutional or civil society, to do so. Examples of such advances are many and relate to every area of intervention we pursue, from healthcare access to teledermatology to treating sickle- cell disease. This model was celebrated in Lavaur on 12 September 2019 when we marked the Foundation’s 20th anniversary. We invited those who benefited from our work, as well as the partners who make our work possible, to share their views and give thought to how This day will remain an important event in the Foundation’s history, standing as a reaffirmation of our mission, our values and our ceaseless desire to be aware of, and effectively address, local concerns. The year 2020, however, brought a fearsome and very real threat. That of a pandemic caused by an emerging virus that undermined and overwhelmed our healthcare systems. With the help of the Laboratoires Pierre Fabre – of which the Foundation is the majority shareholder – we have been able to assist many partner health centres in sub-Saharan Africa and Lebanon, sending hand sanitiser and protective masks. At the same time, and for the first time in its history, the Foundation intervened in France, as permitted by its statutes in the event of an exceptional crisis, to support the staff and residents of nursing homes in the Occitanie region. Our assistance entailed primarily supplies of hand-care and hand-hygiene products and masks. This emergency initiative again demonstrates how strength lies in numbers and networks, exponentially increasing the number of projects that can be undertaken while accurately addressing specific needs. On the global level, this health crisis underscores the need so many countries have for reliable, robust and resilient health systems, an objective that the Fondation Pierre Fabre will continue to pursue through the initiatives it supports worldwide. Fondation Pierre Fabre – 3