Novartis Social Business, a newly formed unit at Novartis Pharmaceutical, works together with governments, private companies, NGOs and other players to offer commercial solutions to support public health needs and increase patient reach. It includes the pharmaceutical’s most important access-to-healthcare programmes against infectious and chronic diseases: Novartis Access, the Novartis Malaria Initiative, the Healthy Family programmes (Arogya Parivar, Familia Nawiri, Cùng Sông Khòe), SMS for Life and NGO supply. These programmes each provide a unique approach to different aspects of the challenge of access in the developing world. All of them generate value by building local, sustainable capabilities to increase the health and well-being of patients in lower-income countries. They also address societal problems that impact access to healthcare, including the need for education, infrastructure and distribution.