The Hummingbird. Unitaid News – August 2019
Rwanda and Unitaid to collaborate on health innovations including screen-and-treat tools to prevent cervical cancer
Kigali – The Ministry of Health of Rwanda, Unitaid and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) launched a project aimed at preventing cervical cancer in Rwanda at an event led by the Minister of Health Dr. Diane Gashumba.
“Rwanda is a leading early adopter of innovation. Unitaid is delighted to bring affordable and innovative solutions to prevent cervical cancer cases in Rwanda, empowering girls and women to lead healthy lives,” Unitaid Executive Director Lelio Marmora said.
Unitaid recently signed a $33 million grant with CHAI to develop screen-and-treat solutions for preventing cervical cancer in low-resource settings for less than $1. Rwanda is among the first countries where these innovations are being implemented; the project complements Rwanda’s human papillomavirus vaccination efforts that have reached 93% of girls aged 12 years old.
“Cervical cancer can be prevented if caught early. The Government of Rwanda is pleased to join forces with Unitaid in bringing affordable screen-and-treat innovations to girls and women in Rwanda,” Dr. Gashumba said.
Unitaid and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health further signed an agreement to collaborate on better and more affordable health solutions for the people of Rwanda and beyond. The memorandum of understanding positioned Rwanda as a “champion of innovation acceleration in health” and provides a framework for the country to continue to increase access to affordable and effective health innovations that tackle the most pressing public health problems.
The visit to Rwanda also included a meeting with H.E. Mrs. Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda and Chairperson of the Imbuto Foundation, where fruitful discussions were held about future collaboration.
Unitaid grants are directly supporting Rwanda’s health landscape through projects inside the country, and indirectly, through many other investments that develop health innovations and create the conditions for them to be widely introduced.
Examples:
- Unitaid’s project with Innovative Vector Control Consortium is new-generation bed nets and insecticides to Rwanda’s fight against malaria. In 2018 alone, more than 800,000 Rwandans were protected with the new insecticides, including nearly 12,000 pregnant women and 118,000 children under five. Introduced at full scale, the new insecticides could avert more than 2 million cases of malaria in Rwanda between 2020 and 2024.
- Unitaid’s project with Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation was the first to introduce integrated point-of-care early infant HIV diagnosis into national laboratory networks in Rwanda. The project allowed thousands of HIV-exposed infants to be tested, initiating lifesaving treatment within two days for 98 percent of those who tested positive.
- Unitaid accelerated access to paediatric TB medicines by helping countries update their treatment policies, promoting demand, and creating incentives for drug companies to develop new products. In 2018, Rwanda began procuring the child-friendly formulations, which are now available in all 30 districts.
- Unitaid’s investment in the Self Testing for Africa (STAR) project helped shape the first WHO guidelines on HIV self-testing in 2016. Rwanda now includes self-testing in its national guidelines.
For more examples please refer to the following URL: Rwanda impact note
For more information: Priyamvada CHUGH, chughp@unitaid.who.int
Unitaid’s investment in tuberculosis hits record levels with new grant for diagnostic technologies
Geneva – The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Unitaid signed a US$ 14.5 million grant Thursday to deploy a powerful new technology in the diagnosis of drug-resistant tuberculosis.
The Seq&Treat project will pilot next-generation genome sequencing, an innovation that provides fast, accurate diagnosis of drug-resistant TB. Better diagnosis enables patients to get the right treatment earlier, and could help raise the world’s very low cure rate for the disease.
The technology also has the potential to be an effective weapon in the fight against drug-resistant superbugs, which develop when medicines are misused.
The new investment is part of a dramatic expansion in Unitaid’s TB portfolio, which has nearly doubled over the past few years and is on track to hit US$ 300 million in 2020.
“New technologies offer a phenomenal pathway to test and treat more people for tuberculosis, including drug-resistant TB, while strengthening health systems,” said Lelio Marmora, Unitaid’s executive director.
The three-year Seq&Treat project will be implemented in Brazil, China, Georgia, India and South Africa. FIND will work closely with civil society organizations in those countries to make communities familiar with the project and its aims, and to facilitate transition and scale-up. FIND will also leverage relationships with global civil society organizations to advocate for improved access to diagnostics.
In 2017, only a quarter of the estimated 558,000 people with drug-resistant TB started treatment, and less than 14 percent were cured.
Sequencing-based tests can produce results in 48 hours, a vast improvement over culture-based tests that require up to eight weeks. The technology could also yield large savings in treatment costs, because it enables clinicians to prescribe the right medicine to patients from the outset of their treatment.
Sequencing devices also support integrated approaches to health care; they can be used to diagnose multiple diseases at the same time, which can lead to a cure for more patients.
“Integrated approaches are a strategic priority for Unitaid and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. With this type of project we are seeking to invest in products that impact health systems,” Unitaid Board Chair Marisol Touraine said.
Unitaid’s is the largest multilateral investor in TB research and development, a reflection of the organization’s commitment to confront the world’s leading infectious killer.
For more information: Carol MASCIOLA, masciolac@unitaid.who.int
Unitaid’s Board welcomes new leadership and acknowledges strong achievements
Seoul – The Unitaid Executive Board elected a new leadership, reflected on its midterm strategy review and discussed ways to increase impact until the end of its strategy in 2021 and beyond.
The Board’s 32nd meeting opened with remarks from Korean Vice-Minister Kim Ganglip of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Kang Jeong-sik of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Board thanked the outgoing Board Chair Ambassador Marta Maurás Pérez and Vice-Chair Ms. Sarah Boulton for their strategic guidance over the past years and elected its new leadership. The new Chair Ms. Marisol Touraine, former French Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Women’s Rights will lead Unitaid’s Board through an exciting new period. “The key to Unitaid’s future lies in facing up to new challenges in global health, with confidence in our capacity to rally partners around shared goals,” said Ms. Touraine. The Board also welcomed Ambassador Maria Louisa Escorel De Moraes as its new Vice-Chair. Ambassador Escorel is the Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva.
Adopting the midterm review of Unitaid’s 2017-2021 strategy, the board acknowledged that Unitaid is on track towards its mission to maximize the effectiveness of the global health response by catalyzing equitable access to better health products. The review confirmed that Unitaid’s investments support highly innovative health products such as medicines and diagnostic tools, which can save lives of millions of people and create greater impact for the global health response.
“Unitaid’s portfolio is robust and well aligned to global health priorities. Unitaid focuses on bringing highly effective innovations to those in need, which is critical to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals,” Executive Director Lelio Marmora said.
The next Board meeting will take place in Geneva on 20-21 November.
Read the Executive Board’s Resolutions and Minutes
Read the Executive Board’s e-Resolutions
Republic of Korea renews its commitment to Unitaid to promote innovation in global health
Seoul – The Republic of Korea today reiterated its commitment to support Unitaid in fighting major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and malaria in lower-income countries.
The funding, a 25 percent increase to be provided over three years (2019-2021), will ensure access to health products such as high-quality drugs and diagnostics, objectives central to Unitaid’s mission.
“The Republic of Korea will continue to actively support Unitaid and its key strategy of promoting innovation in the global effort to achieve healthy and sustainable world,” said Oh Hyunjoo, director-general of development cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Republic of Korea has been an active partner of Unitaid since 2007,” said Ambassador Marta Maurás Pérez, Unitaid’s Executive Board chair. “I would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs both for the financial commitment that has been made today and for their positive contribution and engagement with us.”
Unitaid Executive Director Lelio Marmora and Oh Hyunjoo signed the memorandum of understanding outlining the country’s support following a discussion with Lee Tae-ho, second vice minister of foreign affairs, and Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on creating synergies between Unitaid’s activities and South Korea’s international development goals.
Present at the signing were Ambassador Marta Maurás Pérez, Unitaid’s Executive Board chair, and Ms. Marisol Touraine, the incoming chair for the period 2019-2022.
The support of South Korea will be used to promote innovation, improve equitable access to better health products and to work toward scale-up of Unitaid global health projects.
Medicines We Can Trust Campaign Rallies Mekong Governments and Leaders to Improve Access to Quality Medicines
PHNOM PENH, 7 November 2018 – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other leaders from the Greater Mekong Subregion joined hands as part of a global campaign to improve access to quality medicines. The announcement was made during the Phnom Penh Regional Conference on the fight against falsified, substandard and unlicensed medical products.
The Medicines We Can Trust campaign is a global movement advocating for access to quality medicines and stronger health regulatory systems.
“The world wastes approximately US$30 billion each year on poor-quality medicines,” said Dr. Phillip Nguyen, Director, International Regulatory Policy & Programs, USP, a committed partner of the campaign. “Substandard and falsified medicines give patients false hope, erodes trust in health systems and fail to protect people from the devastating impact of diseases. Despite the scale of this issue, it is rarely prioritized – or even discussed outside of expert circles. The Medicines We Can Trust initiative is a multi-stakeholder effort focused on raising awareness on the impact of poor-quality medicines on peoples’ lives.”
At least one in 10 medicines are copied illegally with substandard manufacturing practices in low- and middle-income countries, including many countries in Asia Pacific. In Southeast Asia alone, an estimated 30% of antimalarial drugs are of poor-quality contributing to an alarming rise in antimalarial resistance across the region. Anti malarials is just one of a broader range of drugs that are becoming in-effective; antimicrobial resistance already accounts for 700,000 deaths every year, could cause up to 10 million deaths per year, and cost US$100 trillion by 2050.
“In the Greater Mekong Subregion, cross-border collaboration between countries will be critical to stop the ongoing distribution of poor-quality medicines through trade channels. Cambodia’s leadership in convening a regional and multisectoral meeting to address the issue is a great start,” said Ruby Shang, Chair of the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance (APLMA) Board.
“Momentum is building. Apart from the Cambodia conference, positive leadership on this issue is evident through existing platforms like Medicine Quality & Global Health conference, and Regional Regulatory Partnership (RRP). This global campaign will further strengthen this leadership as it engages the regional community, including policymakers, civil society, regulators, health professionals, and researchers to act against substandard and falsified medicines.” added Dr. Sivong Sengaloundeth, Deputy Director General, Food and Drug Department, Ministry of Health, Lao PDR.
“Ensuring that all people can access quality medicines to effectively fight infectious diseases is crucial. Unitaid is proud to support the campaign against poor-quality medicines to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance,” said Dr. Philippe Duneton, Unitaid’s Deputy Executive Director. “These superbugs are threatening the global health community’s gains against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and jeopardizing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.” Unitaid invests half of its portfolio – US$ 500 million – in innovative grants to combat drug resistance and is a committed partner of the campaign.
Visit Medicines We Can Trust to get involved and learn more. #MedsWeCanTrust
Global health organizations commit to new ways of working together for greater impact
Berlin – Eleven heads of the world’s leading health and development organizations today signed a landmark commitment to find new ways of working together to accelerate progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Coordinated by the World Health Organization, the initiative unites the work of 11 organizations, with others set to join in the next phase.
The commitment follows a request from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, with support from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to develop a global action plan to define how global actors can better collaborate to accelerate progress towards the health-related targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
“Healthy people are essential for sustainable development – to ending poverty, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and protecting the environment. However, despite great strides made against many of the leading causes of death and disease, we must redouble our efforts or we will not reach several of the health-related targets,” the organizations announced today at the World Health Summit in Berlin. “The Global Action Plan represents an historic commitment to new ways of working together to accelerate progress toward meeting the 2030 goals. We are committed to redefine how our organizations work together to deliver more effective and efficient support to countries and to achieve better health and well-being for all people.”
The group has agreed to develop new ways of working together to maximize resources and measure progress in a more transparent and engaging way. The first phase of the plan’s development is organized under three strategic approaches: align, accelerate and account.
Align: The organizations have committed to coordinate programmatic, financing and operational processes to increase collective efficiency and impact on a number of shared priorities such as gender equality and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
Accelerate: They have agreed to develop common approaches and coordinate action in areas of work that have the potential to increase the pace of progress in global health. The initial set of seven “accelerators” include community and civil society engagement, research and development, data and sustainable financing.
Account: To improve transparency and accountability to countries and development partners, the health organizations are breaking new ground by setting common milestones for nearly 50 health-related targets across 14 Sustainable Development Goals. These milestones will provide a critical checkpoint and common reference to determine where the world stands in 2023 and whether it is on track to reach the 2030 goals.
The Global Action Plan will also enhance collective action and leverage funds to address gender inequalities that act as barriers to accessing health, and to improve comprehensive quality health care for women and girls, including sexual and reproductive health services.
The organizations that have already signed up to the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All are: Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global Financing Facility, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, Unitaid, UN Women, the World Bank and WHO. The World Food Programme has committed to join the plan in the coming months.
The final plan will be delivered in September 2019 at the United Nations General Assembly.
For more information, www.who.int/sdg/global-action-plan
Media enquiries
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance : Frédérique Tissandier; +41 79 300 8253; ftissandier@gavi.org
Global Fund: Ibon Villelabeitia; +41 79 292 5426; ibbon.Villelabeitia@theglobalfund.org
UNAIDS: Sophie Barton-Knott; +41 79 514 6896; bartonknotts@unaids.org
UNDP: Adam Cathro; +19179159725; adam.cathro@undp.org
UNFPA: Omar Gharzeddine; +1 212 297 5028; gharzeddine@unfpa.org
UNICEF: Sabrina Sidhu; +1 917 476 1537; ssidhu@unicef.org
Unitaid: Andrew Hurst, +41795616807; hursta@unitaid.who.int
UN Women: Maria Sanchez Aponte; +16467814507; maria.sanchez@unwomen.org
World Bank Group: Maya Brahmam; +1 202 361 2594; mbrahmam@worldbankgroup.org
WHO: Christian Lindmeier; +4179 500 6552; lindmeierch@who.int
Unitaid seeks to reduce child mortality with better fever diagnosis
Geneva – Unitaid’s Executive Board approved a plan to focus investments on childhood fever management to prevent deaths and address the overuse of antimalarial drugs and antibiotics that is fueling antimicrobial resistance.
Better fever management has the potential to save more children from dying from malaria and other diseases.
Unitaid will initially fund activities in two key areas: new diagnostic tools to distinguish between bacterial and non-bacterial infections in low-income countries; and better tools to identify severe disease in primary health care. Both target healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries where children with fever most often seek care. Calls for funding proposals will be issued in due course.
Better childhood fever management requires new and improved diagnostic tools. Once malaria has been ruled out, misdiagnosis of fever is common. Children may receive the wrong treatment, sometimes leading to continued illness or death.
A wrong diagnosis can also result in misuse of antibiotics, which may increase resistance to the most commonly used antibiotic drugs. A recent study has shown that 69 percent of people who tested negative for malaria received antibiotics.
“There is an urgent need for new technologies to improve diagnosis of childhood fever in low-income countries and reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance,” said Celso Amorim, Unitaid’s Board Chair. “The Board’s decision reflects Unitaid’s commitment to a more integrated approach to health, a key component of its five-year strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In 2016, an estimated 5.6 million children died before their fifth birthday. Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria remain the leading causes of death in children, and malnutrition is associated with 45 percent of under-five deaths.
Fever, the main symptom of malaria, has many different causes, and many children who have fever also present other non-specific symptoms such as coughing, a sign of pneumonia, and diarrhea.
More than 75 percent of children seeking care at healthcare facilities and in the community have fever, according to estimates. But only a fraction of them require a specific treatment that includes an antibiotic or antimalarial drug. However, many children are unnecessarily put on treatment, increasing the risk of resistance and causing drugs to go to waste.
“We hope that new diagnostic tests will help us to better identify children needing buying antibiotics and antimalarials,” said Lelio Marmora, Unitaid’s Executive Director. “Investing in childhood fever management is a highly promising area which will fight drug resistance, boost the malaria response and ultimately save children’s lives.”
New tests are in the pipeline to identify bacterial infections in low- and middle-income countries, and some tests are already in late-stage development. However, evidence on their potential use and impact in low- and middle-income settings is lacking. If these tests are found to be highly effective and reliable, they will address a critical unmet need.
The board therefore adopted a resolution supporting the development of better tools for childhood fever management.
The decision to invest in childhood fever management will contribute to goals set out in the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, and the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.