Foto/ill.: Dalberg Media/Gates Foundation
Harvard professor and BCEPS researcher Ole F. Norheim has been awarded the newly created award Goalkeepers Nordic Champion from the Gates Foundation for its work on global health and equitable prioritization.
Ole F. Norheim received the award at the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Nordic event in Stockholm on January 22. The award is being presented for the first time and highlights Nordic leaders who contribute to progress towards the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Norheim is the Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Ethics and Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and one of the founders of the Bergen Center for Ethics and Prioritization (BCEPS) at the University of Bergen, where he remains a researcher.
Recognition for global impact
The Gates Foundation highlights Norheim's "influential contributions to advancing global health equity and leadership in developing evidence-based approaches to prioritization in health systems." The foundation emphasizes that his work "plays an important role in advancing gender equality, innovation, and sustainable development throughout the Nordic region."
The Goalkeepers initiative was established to inspire action and innovation related to the Sustainable Development Goals. This year's event in Stockholm was the first in the Nordic region and brought together leaders and change agents under the theme We Can't Stop at Almost.
Among the participants were Bill Gates, Ole Rosling (Gapminder Foundation) and Gunhild Stordalen (EAT Foundation). The program was hosted by Swedish journalist Jenny Strömstedt.
A presentation that made an impression
During the ceremony, Norheim gave a powerful and visually innovative presentation on child mortality globally. Instead of graphs and numbers, he shared the stage with a children's choir, each child representing one million children. The choir moved backwards when he spoke about lives lost – and forwards when he described lives that could be saved.
“Children are dying, and we know why – and we know how to stop it. We have reason to be hopeful. If we reinvest in health and scale up essential innovations in maternal, newborn and child care, by 2045 we will have saved 13 million more children’s lives,” said Norheim.
Six Nordic award winners
Norheim is one of six who received the award. Goalkeepers Nordic Champion in 2026. The other prize winners are:
- Gunhild Stordalen, physician and chairman of the EAT Foundation and Stordalen Foundation (Norway)
- Jesper Theil Thomsen, co-founder of SOUNDBOX and founder of Sagaorg (Denmark)
- Nagin Ravand, Danish-Afghan football coach and founder of GLOBALL (Denmark)
- Asabea Britton, midwife and influencer (Sweden)
- Martin Blomberg, founder and CEO of Agteria Biotech (Sweden)
The award winners were nominated and selected by the Gates Foundation's Nordic Advisory Board, consisting of leaders from, among others, Maternity Foundation, Norrsken Foundation, Generation Pep, Laerdal Global Health and Novo Nordisk Foundation.