Medact

What Medact does

Medact is a UK-registered health charity (Registered Charity No. 1081097, Company No. 2267125) founded in the early 1990s out of its predecessor MCANW (Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons). It is a membership-based organization of health workers — including doctors, nurses, and public health specialists — that campaigns on the political, social, ecological, and economic determinants of health. Its active workstreams include nuclear weapons abolition, Palestine solidarity, Homes for Health (housing and health), Patients Not Passports (migrant healthcare), abolitionist approaches to health, economic justice, climate/energy and health, and NHS data privacy (notably a 2026 rapid-response briefing on Palantir's Federated Data Platform). The organization operates from a single London headquarters (Pelican House, Cambridge Heath Road) and sustains a UK-wide footprint through local member groups in the North East, London, and Yorkshire, plus an active event, training, and conference program including the Health Through Peace series. (Note: founding year is inconsistently reported as 1990 in legal data and 1992 in firmographic data; the 1992 date is used as the primary reference.)

Medact generates no commercial revenue. Its business model is that of a UK nonprofit: income derives from individual donations, membership contributions, and grants from charitable foundations (the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is explicitly named). Distribution and audience reach are delivered through a hybrid of digital channels (medact.org, email lists with engagement tracking, Facebook/X/Instagram), earned media, in-person events and masterclasses, and coalition campaigns with peer organizations (Good Law Project, Privacy International, Amnesty International, Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, Homes for Us Alliance, Faculty of Public Health, Kill The Bill Coalition). The organization does not sell software, platforms, or services; its 'product' is advocacy output — research reports, campaign toolkits, briefings to NHS trusts, and member mobilization actions.

The management team is small and includes a Research Manager, Communications Manager, Campaign Leads, Movement Organisers, and a Project Manager, alongside former Director Professor David McCoy (now Professor of Global Public Health at Queen Mary University London). Medact is governed as a non-profit foundation with no parent company, no private equity involvement, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed institutional investors.

Name

Medact

Legal name

Medact

Website

https://medact.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Medact is a UK-registered health charity (est. early 1990s) that mobilizes doctors, nurses, and public health workers to campaign on the political, social, and economic determinants of health. It operates London-headquartered with UK-wide local groups and runs research, advocacy, and coalition campaigns on issues including housing, NHS data, and nuclear weapons.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Medact is a UK-based registered charity that brings together health workers (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, public health workers, and medical students) to campaign for systemic change on the political, social, and economic determinants of health. The organization conducts research, publishes reports, runs campaigns on issues including housing, NHS data privacy, Palestine, nuclear weapons, and economic justice, and coordinates member-led advocacy through local member groups and educational events.

Product overview

Medact is a UK-based health justice charity organization, not a software product company. Its activities focus on advocacy campaigns (nuclear weapons abolition, Palestine solidarity, homes for health, economic justice, abolitionist approaches to health, Patients Not Passports), publishing research reports, hosting educational events and conferences, and coordinating a membership network of health workers. Medact does not offer commercial software products, platforms, or digital services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Medact Membership Annual membership subscription for individual UK health workers (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, public health workers, and medical students) that provides access to the network, advocacy resources, campaign participation, and member communications.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50,000 patients wrote to trust boards urging them not to adopt Palantir's Federated Data Platform
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Good Law ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 March 2026Coalition of campaign groups including Medact, Good Law Project, Privacy International, Just Treatment, Corporate Watch, United Tech, Allied Workers Union, and Amnesty International released joint report warning about Palantir's NHS Federated Data Platform data risks.
• Docs Not CopsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2021Joint coalition in the Kill The Bill movement; joined the Kill The Bill Coalition to oppose the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
• Alliance to Save Our AntibioticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2016Joint conference in April 2016 bringing together multi-disciplinary stakeholders to explore practical steps to reduce farm antibiotic use. Medact part of this coalition of health, medical, environmental and animal welfare groups.
• Faculty of Public HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedact partnered with the Faculty of Public Health to co-host a Health and Fracking Masterclass in June 2016, providing education on hydraulic fracturing impacts to public health professionals.
• Homes for Us AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition of tenants and health workers including Medact, London Renters Union, and Pathways. Produced documentary 'Mould is Political' and campaigns for housing justice.
• Harrow Law CentreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Harrow Law Centre to organize the Harrow Healthy Homes Assembly, bringing together tenants and residents to campaign for better housing.
• Taylor & FrancisminorOthersTaylor & Francis provides journal subscription benefits for eligible new Medact members as publisher of Medicine, Conflict and Survival journal.
• Kill The Bill CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition of organizations standing in solidarity against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, united in fighting harmful policing policies.
• Compassion in World FarmingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition focused on reducing antibiotic overuse in animal farming.
• Soil AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition; partners on sustainable food systems and organic farming advocacy.
• Sustain (UK food and farming alliance)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition focused on sustainable food and farming policy advocacy.
• Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint reading group on Coronavirus and the Arms Trade; shared educational events on arms trade impacts.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• People's Health Movement: Global network advocating for health justice and universal healthcare through civil society organizing. Closely mirrors Medact's health-worker-led advocacy model.
• Global Health 50/50: UK-based initiative producing research and advocacy on health equity and global governance. Comparable in evidence-led, UK-rooted health justice advocacy.
• Health Poverty Action: UK-based charity tackling the social and political determinants of health globally. Comparable in mission, membership-style mobilization, and health justice framing.
• Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI): UK think tank producing research and analysis on the political economy of health. Comparable for evidence-led UK health policy advocacy.

Emerging players

• Privacy International: UK charity focused on data privacy and surveillance, named co-author on Medact's Palantir FDP briefing. Directly comparable in NHS data-privacy advocacy.
• Good Law Project: UK litigation and campaigning NGO, coalition partner on the Palantir FDP report. Adjacent in UK advocacy tactics and frequently co-campaigns with Medact.
• Just Treatment: UK health-justice campaign group advocating for patient access to medicines. Coalition partner of Medact on NHS-related campaigns.

Broad incumbents

• Royal Society for Public Health: UK membership body for public health professionals. Overlaps in public-health workforce engagement and educational events, though more establishment-oriented.
• Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders UK: Larger UK arm of a global medical-humanitarian organization with health-worker mobilization. Comparable in medically-credentialed advocacy tradition though oriented toward crisis response.
• Faculty of Public Health: UK professional body for public health specialists. Existing training partner (fracking masterclass) and credentialed UK health professional body analogous to Medact's audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/medacter
• Xx.com/Medact
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/medact-charity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Medact