How Unitaid is supporting Brazil’s G20 health agenda with innovative solutions

The Group of Twenty (G20) convenes the world’s major economies to influence international policies on key issues such as trade, health, climate, and more. Led by Brazil this year, and within the G20 framework, specialized Working Groups made up of experts and officials from relevant ministries facilitate discussions on these topics as part of the collective decision-making process. The G20 health working group focuses on pressing global health issues and fosters international collaboration and collective action. Unitaid actively participates in the G20 Health Working Group, contributing expertise and resources to help shape effective health strategies and policies. 

Discussions at this year’s G20 health working group meetings are focused on innovative approaches to today’s global health challenges while charting a path toward more resilient health systems. Under its G20 presidency, Brazil is steering the health agenda toward expansive and inclusive policies with an emphasis on four key priorities:

  • Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response with a focus on local and regional production of medicines, vaccines and strategic health supplies
  • The expansion of digital health technologies
  • Equitable access to health innovations
  • The integration of climate considerations into health policies

These four priority areas for the G20 come at a crucial moment, as the global health infrastructure buckles under post-pandemic realities on top of emerging threats like climate change and antimicrobial and insecticide resistance. Unitaid’s core work—with support from many G20 countries and observers—aligns well with Brazil’s key priority areas in addressing today’s challenges. By accelerating access to innovative health products in low- and middle-income countries, Unitaid is helping to create a more resilient global health system and stands ready to work with G20 members and the broader international community to advance these vital health priorities.

Concrete results expected of the G20 health working group this year include establishing a multilateral alliance for access, innovation and regional production. Unitaid welcomes the initiative of the Brazilian presidency to emphasize health equity in this proposal, recognizing that access is not an afterthought and that the needs of patients must be addressed from the research and development phase to product delivery. Equitable access to health innovation is the cornerstone of the Unitaid strategy and is a founding principle. Without specific intervention to ensure access, medical innovations typically take 10 years to reach the most vulnerable people. By the time key health products and medicines arrive in low- and middle-income countries, they lack market incentives and are maladapted to the needs of the population.

Equitable access to a lifesaving product requires that the product is developed in the first place, and collaborative research and development with a targeted agenda can address gaps in the public health response against key diseases where the market fails. As Brazil’s G20 presidency prioritizes local and regional production in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, Unitaid reiterates its dedication to supporting an equitable innovation agenda that can fast-track the development of new treatments and diagnostic tools that are fit to serve the populations in need. Likewise, dedicated efforts are ongoing at Unitaid to accelerate access to transformative new technologies, such as long-acting injectables and monoclonal antibodies, which may enable access to much-needed products today while equipping us for new threats in the future, including pandemics or climate-induced health crises.

Unitaid’s strategy extends to boosting regional production capabilities to ensure these vital resources are available to respond to major persistent health issues and crises, especially in low—and middle-income countries. We have seen that sustainable and competitive production of key quality-assured and price-competitive products at the regional level is viable.  For example, with Unitaid support, the first African manufacturer attained the required WHO prequalification status to become a global supplier of lifesaving antimalarial medication. Thanks to a technology transfer from the UK and the Republc of Korea – facilitated by Unitaid and partners – regional production for COVID-19 rapid tests began in Senegal during the pandemic, and shifted to produce tests for other diseases beyond the crisis phase. There is now an opportunity to embrace dual-purpose investments that have a viable demand during inter-crisis periods and can pivot to producing pandemic products during health emergencies.

Regional manufacturing has been one of the tools in Unitaid’s market-shaping toolbox for access. To succeed, the following four elements must be met:

  • First is the financial viability of regional production, which hinges on market prospects and sufficiently funded demand. Sustained efforts and collaboration are needed to foster demand aggregation and build regional markets large enough to benefit from economies of scale. G20 countries’ purchasing power is a key element to render such efforts viable, as very few countries are large enough to do this independently.
  • Second, attaining global quality-assurance standards will enable regional manufacturers to rise as global and regional suppliers. There is a limited pool of manufacturers with sufficient production capacity and experience to meet the requisite quality assurance standards requested by domestic regulations and large purchase funds, undermining market viability.
  • Third, creating more efficient regulatory processes across regional and global levels, particularly for new technologies. The complexity of overlapping and often conflicting regulatory processes across multiple mechanisms at the regional and global levels is a barrier.
  • Fourth, building strategic plans built on robust analyses to ensure end-to-end viability of value chains, from the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients and other critical inputs, to the final formulation of finished pharmaceutical products(or diagnostic tests).

Regional manufacturing can also enable regions to customize and adapt health products to local contexts where global innovation is not adapted or insufficient; it can enhance local expertise, support knowledge transfer and capacity building, bridge the gap between innovation and manufacturing capacity, and strengthen regional regulation.

Embracing regional manufacturing also has the potential to support another priority under Brazil’s G20 presidency: the adoption of climate-resilient value chains. As an organization focused on access to optimized health products for LMICs, Unitaid already works with a wide range of partners who develop, manufacture, procure, and promote the use of key health products, and has a strategy in place to advance “climate-smart” healthcare solutions that are more resilient to climate change and involve green manufacturing and distribution models.

Supporting equitable access and boosting innovation targeting patients’ needs is also key when addressing antimicrobial resistance. Resistance to critical medicines and insecticides threatens to stall – or reverse – progress in the fight against infectious disease. Unitaid welcomes the reinforced efforts under this presidency to advance the pipeline of tools to improve the AMR fight, given the widening gaps in innovation, market entry, country adoption, and adequate use of new regimens for antimicrobial resistance. Through a diverse portfolio, Unitaid addresses current market failures by supporting access to adapted therapeutics and diagnostics to prevent, monitor, and contain resistance. This includes better formulations and new-drug delivery technologies that can help promote adherence and protect existing therapeutics for infectious diseases.

Finally, and in line with Brazil’s emphasis on digital health, Unitaid actively supports optimizing the integration of digital technologies in healthcare. Our projects leverage digital technology like smart pillboxes, video-supported treatments, and medication labels to support adherence and referral to care in tuberculosis, using artificial intelligence for diagnostics in tuberculosis or cervical cancer, and digital innovations in maternal and child health. These efforts are essential in enhancing data integration within national health systems and expanding telehealth services in low- and middle-income countries.

Unitaid’s alignment with Brazil’s G20 health priorities underscores our shared commitment to enhancing global health security and equity. Our efforts to support equitable innovation, facilitate regional production capabilities, integrate climate-resilient solutions, expand digital health innovations, and prevent antimicrobial resistance are well-positioned to help G20 countries build a more robust global health system. As we continue to support these initiatives, Unitaid remains dedicated to advancing collaborative solutions that respond to today’s urgent health needs while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.

Media Contact

Kyle Wilkinson, Media Officer, Unitaid

wilkinsonk@unitaid.who.int

+41 79 445 1745

Unitaid and ANRS MIE forge stronger collaboration to combat infectious diseases

On April 18, 2024, Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, and Prof. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Director of ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANRS MIE), solidified their partnership by signing a strategic collaboration framework. This alliance aims to expedite the translation of scientific breakthroughs into tangible health solutions, with a focus on safeguarding vulnerable populations from infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. The signing ceremony took place at the research and coordination center within Yaoundé Central Hospital, the hosting institution for ANRS MIE’s partner site in Cameroon.

This strengthened strategic partnership between Unitaid and ANRS MIE underscores their mutual dedication to overcoming global health challenges. By pooling their resources and expertise, the two organizations are confident in their ability to expedite access to vital health products, thus advancing the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

ANRS MIE, as an autonomous agency of Inserm, plays a pivotal role in spearheading and financing research aimed at eliminating HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and other emerging infectious diseases. The agency will mobilize its extensive network of researchers and experts to bolster this collective endeavor. Meanwhile, Unitaid focuses on accelerating the introduction and uptake of cutting-edge healthcare innovations. By removing barriers that impede their market entry and scale-up, Unitaid ensures that these transformative products reach those in dire need rapidly and efficiently.

“Unitaid draws on research findings to pinpoint the most promising healthcare products for wide access to those who need them most. Our deepened collaboration with ANRS MIE will enhance our synergy, enabling us to expedite the deployment of the most effective healthcare solutions and ultimately save more lives,” said Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid.

“By combining ANRS MIE’s pioneering research with Unitaid’s pragmatic approach to fast-tracking the adoption of health products, we fortify our stance in advancing the fight against infectious diseases,” said Prof. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Director of ANRS MIE.

In Cameroon, Unitaid and ANRS MIE have a track record of successful collaboration, notably co-funding the NAMSAL trial (New Antiretroviral and Monitoring Strategies in HIV-infected Adults in Low-income countries). This trial was instrumental in the efforts to optimize antiretroviral treatments, leading to the revision of national and international recommendations by the World Health Organization in 2019. The ANRS MIE partner site in Cameroon played a pivotal role in this research under the coordination of Pr. Eric Delaporte and Dr. Charles Kouanfack. Today, thanks in part to Unitaid’s investments and the insights gained from such studies, over 22 million people across 110 low- and middle-income countries have access to the most effective HIV treatment.

The new partnership agreement between Unitaid and ANRS MIE is aligned with the strategic objectives of both organizations for the period 2023-2027. It will be realized through an action plan outlining joint activities to be undertaken by the two institutions in the coming years.

Media contact:

For more information and media requests:

Kyle Wilkinson

Communications Officer

wilkinsonk@unitaid.who.int

+41 79 445 17 45

About Unitaid:

We save lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries. We work with partners to identify innovative treatments, tests and tools, help tackle the market barriers that are holding them back, and get them to the people who need them most – fast. Since we were created in 2006, we have unlocked access to more than 100 groundbreaking health products to help address the world’s biggest health challenges, including HIV, TB and malaria; women’s and children’s health; and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Every year, these products benefit more than 300 million people. Unitaid is a hosted partnership of the World Health Organization.

For more information: https://unitaid.org

About ANRS MIE :

ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases is an autonomous agency of Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale). Its mission is to facilitate, evaluate, coordinate and fund research into HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

For more information: https://anrs.fr/en

Unitaid and Expertise France announce the launch of Phase II of the SUCCESS program for the elimination of cervical cancer in ten low-resource countries

Yaoundé – Unitaid and Expertise France announce the launch of Phase II of the SUCCESS program – Scale Up Cervical Cancer Elimination with Secondary Prevention Strategy, for the elimination of cervical cancer in ten low-resource countries.

Co-funded by Unitaid and Expertise France through L’Initiative, a French facility that complements the Global Fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the SUCCESS project aims to reduce morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer through an effective secondary prevention strategy, notably through HPV screening and the treatment of precancerous lesions by thermal ablation for the most vulnerable women, with a priority for women living with HIV.

After a successful first phase that enabled the screening of 182,093 women, 8.2% of whom are living with HIV, in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guatemala, and the Philippines, SUCCESS 2 is scaling up and will roll out until April 2026 by integrating six new countries: Guinea, Benin, Burundi, Togo, Cameroon, and Ghana.

This innovative project adopts an integrated approach, deploying effective screening and treatment tools, integrating these services into existing healthcare systems, and strengthening awareness and community engagement to increase demand for cervical cancer prevention. By leveraging the lessons from the first phase, SUCCESS 2 aims to extend its impact to contribute significantly to the elimination of cervical cancer on a larger scale.

Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, emphasized the importance of this program: “Cervical cancer represents a preventable burden. Through an initiative like SUCCESS, we can not only save lives but also pave the way towards the eradication of this disease.”

With a total funding of $35,870,767, the contributions from Unitaid and Expertise France illustrate the importance of international collaboration in developing a secondary prevention model for cervical cancer, and advocating for financial and political support at all levels.

Eric Fleutelot, Technical Director of the Health Department at Expertise France, added: “With SUCCESS 2, and thanks to the support from Unitaid and collaboration with our strategic partners, we are strengthening our commitment to women’s health and the fight against cervical cancer. It is another step towards global equitable health and the elimination of this disease by 2030.”

The SUCCESS 2 program is a promising model of international collaboration, blending innovation and community engagement for women’s health. The project will be implemented in close collaboration with local and international partners to maximize the program’s impact and reach. Jhpiego will operate in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, the Philippines, and Guatemala. Médecins du Monde will support efforts in Ivory Coast, Solthis in Guinea, the National Cancer Control Program (PNLCa) will act in Ivory Coast, the PNLNMT in Benin, ANSS in Burundi, and PNLS in Togo.

Contacts for the media:

Unitaid | Hervé Verhoosel, Head of Communications and Spokesperson | +33 6 22 59 73 54 | verhooselh@unitaid.who.int

Expertise France | Dr Lisa Peiching Huang, SUCCESS project director | lisa.huang@expertisefrance.fr

About Unitaid

Unitaid saves lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid works with partners to identify innovative treatments, tests and tools, helps tackle the market barriers that are holding them back, and gets them to the people who need them most – fast. Since it was created in 2006, Unitaid has unlocked access to more than 100 groundbreaking health products to help address the world’s greatest health challenges, including HIV, TB, and malaria; women’s and children’s health; and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Every year, these products benefit more than 300 million people. Unitaid is a hosted partnership of the World Health Organization.

For more information: https://unitaid.org

About Expertise France

Expertise France is France’s public agency and interministerial actor in charge of international technical cooperation, the second-largest in Europe. As a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), it designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Expertise France works in key areas of development: governance, security, climate change, health, education, and more. Alongside its partners, it contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Know-how in common.

For more information: https://expertisefrance.fr

About L’Initiative

Launched at the end of 2011, L’Initiative is a French facility that complements the Global Fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It provides technical assistance and support to catalytic projects in around 40 Global Fund recipient countries to improve the effectiveness of grants and strengthen the health impact of the programs funded. As such, it contributes to ensuring the effectiveness of the response to pandemics.

L’Initiative’s recent evolution has demonstrated its catalytic effect through building the capacity of health stakeholders, including civil society and research organizations, improving institutional, political and social frameworks, supporting innovative approaches to respond to pandemics and strengthening systems for health.

It is implemented by Expertise France, the international technical cooperation agency, and is fully funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, which is its supervising body.

For more information: https://linitiative.expertisefrance.fr

Overlooked no more: Access to TB innovations for children and pregnant women is a must

Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Optimization, CHAI, Institut Bouisson Bertrand (IBB), University of Liverpool, University of New South Wales On behalf of Kirby Institute, Wits Reproductive Health (Wits RHI) on behalf of Ezintsha, Portfolio-Level End-of-Grant Evaluation, Final Report

Unitaid to support access to monoclonal antibodies in low- and middle-income countries with new call for proposals

The deadline for proposal submission is 1 March 2024.

Monoclonal antibodies are manufactured versions of proteins that mimic those generated by the immune system to defend ourselves from diseases. They can be developed to treat or prevent a range of diseases and are already transforming modern medicine in high income countries. With their potential to provide faster, more tolerable and highly efficacious protection, they also hold great promise for addressing public health needs in low- and middle-income countries – but there is a stark global inequity in access to these products.

Very high prices, insufficient production capacity and limited visibility on demand and users’ perspectives are amongst the key barriers that limit the use of monoclonal antibodies in low- and middle-income countries. This perpetuates the lack of interest in infectious disease markets and does not incentivize innovation to simplify and reduce the cost of production and delivery.

Unitaid seeks to support efforts to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of business models that could reduce the cost of production and delivery and enable sufficient production capacity of monoclonal antibodies, to render the most promising products – including those already approved or in the development pipeline – accessible in LMICs.

The ultimate goal is to establish models for widespread and equitable access to monoclonal antibodies so they can deliver the greatest impact as they emerge from the pipeline, to complement other tools and improve the global health response to major public health needs in low- and middle-income countries.

Read more about this latest call for proposals and how to apply here.

Unitaid announces new funding opportunities to support the elimination of vertical (mother-to-child) transmission of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and Chagas disease

Proposals are welcomed until 12 March 2024

Women who have HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis, or Chagas can pass these diseases to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth, or while breastfeeding, making early detection and linkage to lifesaving treatment critical. Yet, in many low- and middle-income countries, there is limited access to vital tools and services to reach pregnant women with screening and treatment and prevent onward transmission.

Syphilis is the second leading cause of preventable stillbirth and a greater cause of child mortality than HIV. Hepatitis B can cause serious life-long illness if left untreated, and it is estimated that by 2030, 50% of all new chronic hepatitis B infections globally will be the result of vertical transmission. In Latin America where it is endemic, Chagas disease often goes undetected until it flares up later in life, causing serious heart or digestive complications. And despite reductions in HIV infections passed from mother to child, an estimated 740 children become infected with HIV every day – nearly 85% of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

An integrated ‘triple elimination’ approach is grounded in evidence demonstrating that linking interventions for HIV with services for other sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and hepatitis B improves uptake and is an efficient use of limited resources. However, there is limited evidence to guide optimal strategies for integrating services and, though tools and interventions are available, there are critical gaps in their use and implementation.

Unitaid is calling for proposals to drive the adoption of comprehensive and integrated programs to eliminate vertical transmission. This includes efforts to address the factors that limit access to new and underutilized diagnostic tools, effective treatments, and vaccines, and integrate these services within existing healthcare platforms, such as antenatal and postnatal care as well as at the community level.

Proposals should seek to:

  • Support countries to design and deploy integrated elimination programming and generate evidence for effective and scalable implementation models in diverse settings
  • Overcome market barriers that limit access to critical products, including availability and affordability challenges impacting tools for testing and treatment
  • Build demand for integrated elimination programs through people-centered and locally tailored roll-out approaches, including strong community engagement, advocacy and literacy activities

Through these programs, Unitaid aims to enable widespread access to a comprehensive package of care for women and newborns in low- and middle-income countries that improves health outcomes and advances disease elimination.

Find out more about this latest opportunity for funding here.

Convocatoria de Propuestas: Acelerar la demanda y adopción de herramientas y estrategias integradas de entrega de servicios para la eliminación de la transmisión vertical del VIH, sífilis, hepatitis B y Chagas en áreas endémicas.

World AIDS Day: Let communities lead!

Geneva – Each year, World AIDS Day offers the global health community a chance to reflect how far the world has come in the fight against HIV. A disease that once was a death sentence is now a manageable chronic health condition if people living with HIV can access the life-saving tools required to keep the virus under control.

These tools are increasingly available and affordable in low and middle-income countries, thanks in part to Unitaid’s work with our implementing partners to drive down prices, increase supply security and accelerate the introduction of the most suitable and effective new tools. However, remaining gaps in access and uptake create an uneven response; nearly 39 million people in the world are living with HIV, yet 14% do not know their status, and 24% still do not receive treatment.

This year, the theme for World AIDS Day is letting communities lead. Empowering communities to drive the response through community engagement is critical to breaking down the remaining access barriers to HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

How does Unitaid engage with communities?

Community engagement places people living with and affected by disease at the center of health responses. Our work has been delivered in partnership with communities since our creation in 2006, who help guide our interventions,  promote well-being, and work to address the social determinants of health. Our community engagement framework involves building trust-based relationships to develop more effective health interventions, programs, services, and policies. Through community engagement, individuals and communities are empowered to take an active role in their own health and participate in the decisions and structures that build healthier societies.

The Communities Delegation on our executive board represents people living with and affected by HIV, common coinfections, and other diseases central to our work, like tuberculosis and Malaria. The delegation represents the views, voices, needs and interests of communities at the highest level within the organization. 

Demonstrating impact: an example from communities in Nigeria and Uganda 

Communities lead a key role in our work, voicing their needs and preferences through  community advisory boards, community-led monitoring, service delivery and consultations, as well as providing valuable insight into product preferences.

Community advisory boards consist of representatives of affected communities who meet locally to share information with civil society, site investigators and medical research staff to provide a community perspective into research plans and studies. They have a role to play at each research stage—from setting the research agenda and determining priority questions to reviewing protocol, overseeing trial contact, and disseminating results across the community. The advisory board members provide a robust understanding of their community, ultimately leading to more effective programs.

We partnered with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and AfroCAB under a grant to increase access to world-class antiretrovirals and other relevant health products for people living with HIV in low and middle-income countries. Under this grant, we utilized community advisory boards to strengthen the rollout of new products and enhance treatment literacy, including:

  • In Nigeria, the community advisory board organized national stakeholder meetings to translate findings on the effects of antiretroviral treatments into national policy, and trained community members in seven states to serve as leads to scale up engagement at health facilities.
  • In Uganda, community members participated in the national advanced HIV disease technical working group, contributing directly to national-level implementation and hosted two community trainings that helped make advanced HIV disease a priority within communities of people living with HIV.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, our partners, under the same grant, launched a community consultation webinar series to inform community members about how to continue accessing HIV care and treatment during the pandemic through a forum for people living with HIV to share their experiences and help each other identify solutions to access challenges.

As we reflect on the progress made thus far in the global fight against HIV and AIDS, it’s essential to take stock of the gaps that remain in ensuring people living with HIV have access to the treatment they need to live a long and healthy life. The path toward closing these gaps lies in collaboration, understanding, and a genuine commitment to amplifying the voices of those most affected. Through a united and community-led global effort, we can create a future where the AIDS epidemic is not only controlled but eradicated.

Media contacts:

For more information and media requests:

Hervé Verhoosel

Head of Communications and Spokesperson

M: +33 6 22 59 73 54

verhooselh@unitaid.who.int

Kyle Wilkinson,

Communications Officer

+41 79 445 17 45

wilkinsonk@unitaid.who.int