L’Oréal Groupe launches €20 million “Act For Dermatology” programme to increase global access to skin health initiatives
Engages strategic partners to help support billions living with skin disease worldwide through knowledge, education, advocacy and best practice
L’Oréal Groupe today announced L’Oréal Act for Dermatology, a €20 million, five-year programme spearheaded by its Dermatological Beauty Division that aims to democratize access to skin health in support of the 2.1 billion[1] people in the world living with skin disease. As part of the programme, the Groupe is embarking on a partnership with the WHO Foundation, to support the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) efforts to combat common skin diseases, as well as those caused by neglected tropical diseases, and contribute to increasing awareness of the impact of skin diseases globally.
“L’Oréal Act for Dermatology represents our unwavering commitment to helping improve the lives of billions of people suffering from the physical, mental and emotional burden of skin diseases, by addressing the challenges they face in accessing skin health services for their condition,” said Myriam Cohen-Welgryn, President, L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty. “As leaders in dermocosmetics, we have a responsibility to take action. By working closely with dermatologists and healthcare practitioners, scientific bodies and global organizations like WHO, we can begin the monumental mission of ensuring skin health accessibility for everyone, everywhere, leaving no community behind.”
‘Dermatological Deserts’: A Growing Crisis
Preliminary results from the 194-country Global Access to Skin Health Observatory, a first-ever study[2] initiated by L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty (LDB) in partnership with the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS), reveal staggering insights. Over a third of countries have one dermatologist or fewer per 100,000 people, which translates to at least 3.5 billion people living in a place with severely limited access to skin health services. The study was launched in October 2024 to investigate the global distribution of dermatologists, patient barriers to accessing dermatologic care in each country, and access to 'surrogate' skin health providers in dermatological deserts. The study is currently ongoing, with published results expected in 2025.
“We are facing a crisis with access to healthcare, especially for people with skin diseases. A shortage of dermatologists and frontline healthcare workers trained in skin conditions has led to dermatological ‘deserts,’ leaving millions of people without diagnosis or treatment for their skin disease. This leads to severe or even life-threatening consequences,”said Esther Freeman, Director of Global Health Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Vice Chair of the ILDS' International Foundation for Dermatology (IFD)[3], and Skin Observatory Lead Investigator. “We face an urgent call to action: to empower and equip frontline healthcare workers, collaborate with governments to prioritize skin health on the public policy agenda, and champion locally sourced best practices globally.”
Closing the Skin Health Access Gaps
The €20 million, five-year L’Oréal Act for Dermatology fund is structured around four distinct pillars, representing targeted investments designed to close the gaps in skin health access:
- Pioneering Knowledge: Investing in cutting-edge research to deepen understanding of skin health, including the main barriers to skin health access, knowledge gaps for skin of color, the impact of climate change, and the profound effects of stigmatization linked to skin pathologies.
- Raising Awareness: Elevating skin health to the forefront of public discourse, engaging both the public and private sectors, and collaborating with NGOs to drive meaningful policy change.
- Empowering Education: Committing to train healthcare workers worldwide to diagnose and treat skin disease and investing €2 million to facilitate open access to scientific publications for low-to-middle income countries. This will ensure knowledge reaches those who need it most, while providing dermatologists with financial support to access or publish critical research.
- Scaling Solutions: Investing in a “Do Tank” to expand access to skin diagnosis and treatment, through the rapid scaling of best-in-class, locally relevant solutions. Such solutions include the rollout of high-impact, winning projects from the International Awards for Social Responsibility in Dermatology, launched in 2011 by L’Oréal and the ILDS, which paved the way to recognizing leading dermatologists across the world.
WHO Foundation x L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty (LDB)
This landmark partnership between LDB and the WHO Foundation will, for the first time, enable the global surveillance of skin health, including common skin diseases such as acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and vitiligo, as well as skin-related neglected tropical diseases (skin NTDs), significantly broadening WHO's capacity to monitor and combat these critical health challenges. The partnership comes at a pivotal moment when skin health is gaining recognition on the global health agenda, with the 78th World Health Assembly (May 2025) expected to discuss a resolution on skin diseases as a global public health priority.
“The WHO Foundation brings together funders and high-impact health initiatives to support the mission of the World Health Organization,”said Anil Soni, CEO of the WHO Foundation. “This a fantastic, collaborative project which addresses an under-resourced area of health. A shortage of trained specialists has added to the burden experienced by people across the world; one this project seeks to address through dermatological training, health worker education and awareness raising, among others. I’m particularly pleased that this initiative cements the relationship between the WHO Foundation and L’Oréal, which brings such expertise and passion to the partnership.”
For more information on the Global Skin Health Observatory, please visit https://skinobservatory.org/.
About L’Oréal
For 115 years, L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty player, has devoted itself to one thing only: fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world. Our purpose, to create the beauty that moves the world, defines our approach to beauty as essential, inclusive, ethical, generous and committed to social and environmental sustainability. With our broad portfolio of 37 international brands and ambitious sustainability commitments in our L’Oréal for the Future programme, we offer each and every person around the world the best in terms of quality, efficacy, safety, sincerity and responsibility, while celebrating beauty in its infinite plurality.
With more than 90,000 committed employees, a balanced geographical footprint and sales across all distribution networks (ecommerce, mass market, department stores, pharmacies, perfumeries, hair salons, branded and travel retail), in 2024 the Group generated sales amounting to 43.48 billion euros. With 21 research centers across 13 countries around the world and a dedicated Research and Innovation team of over 4,000 scientists and 8,000 Digital talents, L’Oréal is focused on inventing the future of beauty and becoming a Beauty Tech powerhouse. More information on https://www.loreal.com/en/mediaroom
About ILDS
The ILDS has 217 member organisations from 104 countries and represents more than 215,000 dermatologists worldwide. It represents dermatology at the highest level through its ‘official relations’ status with the World Health Organization (WHO) and champions the importance of skin health to ensure its inclusion in global health policy. It works to raise awareness, cooperation and communication within the global dermatology community to promote high quality education, clinical care, research and innovation that will improve skin health globally. https://www.ilds.org
About WHO Foundation
The WHO Foundation is an independent global organization working to improve health equity around the world. It connects donors with those on the frontlines of health challenges to create lasting change. The Foundation’s goal is to inspire private support and build strong partnerships that advance WHO’s mission to provide, promote and protect health for everyone. For more information, visit: https://who.foundation.
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[1]The Lancet Global Health MetricsVolume 392, Issue 10159 p1789-1858 November 10, 2018.
[2]Complete results to be published in second half 2025.
[3]The International Foundation for Dermatology (IFD) was created in 1987 by the ILDS to improve skin health in areas of low resource.
