Abu Dhabi, UAE, February 10, 2026: The Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) today announced the winners of its Falcon Awards for Disease Elimination Integration Edit, recognizing fourteen organizations advancing innovative research and advocacy to accelerate progress toward infectious disease elimination through integrated approaches.
Selected from a highly competitive global pool, the 14 winning projects form a single, yet diverse cohort spanning Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. Together, they represent a collective commitment to breaking down siloes across disease programs and strengthening how research, policy, advocacy, and implementation intersect to accelerate disease elimination.
Fourteen projects. One global cohort. A collective step forward in disease elimination.
The Falcon Awards are designed to catalyze innovation and collaboration in disease elimination by supporting projects that demonstrate how integrated approaches across diseases, sectors, and systems can deliver greater impact, sustainability, and resilience. The Integration Edit places a deliberate emphasis on bridging research and advocacy, strengthening surveillance and diagnostics, advancing vector control, and embedding elimination efforts within national health systems.
“The Falcon Awards catalyse evidence-driven action to advance disease elimination through integrated, real-world solutions,” said Dr Farida Al Hosani, CEO of GLIDE. “This cohort reflects the power of collaboration across borders and disease areas, and the critical role of locally-grounded leadership in driving sustainable progress.”
Throughout the duration of the projects, GLIDE will work closely with each awardee to support project design, policy alignment, monitoring, and outcome dissemination. This collaborative model ensures that evidence generated through the Falcon Awards contributes to national, regional, and global elimination agendas.
This latest cohort includes a portfolio of advocacy-focused and research-driven initiatives, addressing malaria, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, polio, dengue, and other neglected tropical diseases. Projects range from AI-enabled multiplex diagnostics and integrated vector control to domestic financing advocacy and community-driven resilience models.
Collectively, the projects represent an investment envelope of approximately USD 2.6 million. While diverse in geography and methodology, each project contributes to a shared objective: generating actionable evidence, strengthening policy and advocacy pathways, and accelerating progress toward elimination through integration.
Further details on the winning projects, including project summaries and geographic focus areas, can be found here. https://glideae.org/glide-the-integration-edit-projects-2026/
ABOUT GLIDE
The Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) is a global health institute based in Abu Dhabi that envisions a world free of eliminable infectious diseases by 2030 and beyond. An affiliate entity of Erth Zayed Philanthropies, GLIDE works across three strategic pillars: operational research, capacity strengthening, and advocacy to advance its mission. GLIDE seeks to promote integrated solutions to help partners go further and faster to achieve sustainable infectious disease elimination.