Resolve to Save Lives was created in 2017 by Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Through his work in government and with philanthropy, Dr. Frieden pinpointed a unique problem: no one is thinking about how to systematically combat the world’s leading killers. Heart disease carries the distinction of being the world’s #1 cause of death. And few organizations raise their focus from one disease to look at epidemics as a whole—and how they can be prevented. Resolve to Save Lives is committed to saving lives from these preventable causes by partnering with government and civil society to implement scalable, proven strategies.
We prioritize partnerships with national and local organizations in low- and middle-income countries to co-create, advocate for, and scale up activities in heart disease prevention and epidemic preparedness. We work with global organizations to produce and promote policies that maximize health gains. Our funders include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gates Philanthropy Partners, which is funded with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. We are resolved to save lives.
Erin SykesWe have the most mission-motivated, big-hearted, well-intentioned people working at this organization. I learn something new from our team every day.
Vice President, Communications
Jobin AbrahamWe play a unique role of bridging global, regional, and national public health systems. What does it mean to prevent epidemics around the world? We start by accompanying in-country experts to innovate around wicked problems, enable learning between countries, and then amplify these perspectives to advocate for equitable and strategic reforms in global guidance and policy.
Director, Learning and Capacity Development
Dr. Tom FriedenMy favorite thing about working at Resolve to Save Lives is the opportunity to think creatively and collaboratively with a great team on how to maximize our impact. It’s been very satisfying. We’re limited only by our creativity, imagination, and effectiveness.
President and CEO
Bolatito OgbeideOur team does not build abstract tech but applications that positively affect real humans across continents, making a difference in their quality of life. This is what makes every day at Resolve to Save Lives simply amazing.
Technical Project Manager, Simple
Dr. Renu Garg, MD MPHI am beyond thrilled to be a part of Resolve to Save Lives and its mission to save 100 million lives from cardiovascular disease. We must not lose focus on ending preventable deaths from heart disease. It is so impactful that we apply our best practices and insights gained from our CVH work around the world.
Senior Vice President, Cardiovascular Health
Our Impact
Epidemic preparedness
Improved infectious disease preparedness in 4 countries covering more than 25% of Africa’s population. Provided strategic and on-the-ground guidance for effectively spending $60 billion in multilateral funding.
Covid response
Provided public health expertise and rapid financial support to 60+ countries, trained 40,000 healthcare workers who care for over 122 million people. Media outreach seen/heard by billions of people across the world, making RTSL a trusted voice.
Cardiovascular health
Supporting programs in 55 countries. 105 countries participate in our online community.
Hypertension control
Policies and programs protect over 236 million people with hypertension to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Trans fat elimination
Launched global elimination initiative with the World Health Organization and supported regulations in 31 countries that will protect 2.4 billion people from this toxic, artificial substance.
Sodium reduction
Created global action to pressure governments to only buy healthy foods that meet their nutrition standards and helped set WHO sodium targets.
Our Approach
Simplicity
We promote and create simple, innovative, user-centered programs. Our technology is open-source and interoperable.
Speed
We are incredibly motivated by the challenges of today.
Scale
We catalyze nationwide, regional, and global improvements to support policies and interventions that result in sustained progress.
How we work
Technical rigor to develop and implement culturally competent and data-driven solutions.
Operational excellence to improve and sustain strong systems and institutions.
Policy action to create environments that improve health outcomes, save the most lives and advance health equity.
Our Values
Justice
We strive to create and sustain a culture of justice and inclusion among our staff and in our programmatic work.
Data-driven
Timely and accurate data, sound science, and technical rigor guide our decision-making so that we can maximize health protection and improvement.
Partnership
We strive to partner with integrity, compassion and humility, deeply valuing our colleagues, partners, and the communities we serve, and we eagerly seek advice on where and how we can be more effective saving lives.
Read more in our Strategic Framework (PDF)
Our latest work
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Sri Lanka’s trans fat ban will save 50,000 lives in the next 25 years
With its new best-practice policy banning industrially produced trans fat, Sri Lanka joins neighbors India and Bangladesh and 52 other countries in the World Health Organization’s REPLACE Initiative to eliminate this toxic food additive from the global food supply.
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Celebrating trans fat elimination on the global stage
Co-hosted with the World Health Organization, our side event at the World Health Assembly celebrated progress in removing trans fat from the global food supply.
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Four epidemics that weren’t—New Ted-Ed video explains
A new video from TED-Ed—developed with support from the Skoll Foundation and technical insight from Resolve to Save Lives —explores how four communities implemented strategies for effective outbreak response ad why investing in epidemic preparedness and prevention matters.