Medact
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.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1990
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
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.
Medact firmographics
Firmographics- 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
Where Medact is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Medact business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Medact product offering
Product offeringCore 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
Companies that use Medact
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Medact technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Medact partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Good Law ProjectcoreCoalition 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 CopsminorJoint 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 AntibioticscoreJoint 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 HealthcoreMedact 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 AlliancecoreCoalition of tenants and health workers including Medact, London Renters Union, and Pathways. Produced documentary 'Mould is Political' and campaigns for housing justice.
- Harrow Law CentreminorPartnership with Harrow Law Centre to organize the Harrow Healthy Homes Assembly, bringing together tenants and residents to campaign for better housing.
- Taylor & FrancisminorTaylor & Francis provides journal subscription benefits for eligible new Medact members as publisher of Medicine, Conflict and Survival journal.
- Kill The Bill CoalitionminorCoalition of organizations standing in solidarity against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, united in fighting harmful policing policies.
- Compassion in World FarmingcoreCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition focused on reducing antibiotic overuse in animal farming.
- Soil AssociationcoreCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition; partners on sustainable food systems and organic farming advocacy.
- Sustain (UK food and farming alliance)coreCo-founded Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics coalition focused on sustainable food and farming policy advocacy.
- Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)minorJoint reading group on Coronavirus and the Arms Trade; shared educational events on arms trade impacts.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Medact competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect 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
Medact social profiles
Digital presenceMedact financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Medact leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Medact funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Medact M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Medact
What does Medact do?
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.
Is Medact a public or private company?
Medact is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Medact founded?
Medact was founded in 1990. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Medact based?
Medact is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
Who are Medact's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are People's Health Movement, Global Health 50/50, Health Poverty Action and Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI). Emerging players are Privacy International, Good Law Project and Just Treatment. Broad incumbents are Royal Society for Public Health, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders UK and Faculty of Public Health.
Does Medact have an API?
No public API is recorded for Medact.