Everyone in health has watched it happen. A program that worked dies when its funding cycle ends. An analysis that was right sits in a drawer because no one was resourced to act on it. A community that carried the work never sees the data it generated. The knowledge was real. The system for holding onto it was not. Metli was built to be that system.
Why Metli exists
The organization we kept wishing existed.
Who we are
Metli’s team and collaborators work across the United States, Europe, South Asia, and the MENA region — in the languages, health systems, and communities where our work actually lands. We are researchers and former public officials, epidemiologists and strategists, people who have led national responses and people who have been on the receiving end of systems that failed. That range is not a value we hold. It is how the work gets done: the person in the room has, more often than not, lived some version of the problem on the table.
The name
METLI comes from Arabic and means "like me". We chose it because we believe that we are all equal and our systems and frameworks are designed to make sure that everyone's interests are considered.
Our Mission
To close the distance between what is known and what is done in health — and to prove, publicly, whether it worked.
Our Vision
A field where no lesson is paid for twice. Where evidence travels to the decisions that need it, data answers to the people who provided it, and every major investment in health can show who it reached — and who it missed.
01
Own the outcome, not the deliverable.
We measure whether it worked, publish the answer, and take responsibility either way.
02
Proof over promise.
Claims carry their evidence. Where we cannot prove something yet, we say “yet.”
03
Design with, not for.
Patients, clinicians, community leaders, and local institutions shape the work from the first day — not at the review stage.
04
Equity is a measurement, not a mention.
Every evaluation answers the same questions: who benefited, who did not, and what the difference was worth.
05
The field before the firm.
What we learn becomes public through the Commons, so the next organization starts further ahead than we did.
What we hold ourselves to
The questions coming
Every institution in health is about to be asked something it cannot answer yet.
Six examples. Open one to see why it is coming, and which part of the ecosystem answers it.