Multi-disease testing offers new ways to streamline disease management, Unitaid report says
Geneva – Innovators are responding to the world’s growing co-infection crisis by developing devices that can quickly, accurately diagnose multiple diseases at a time.
Unitaid’s new landscape report, launched today, profiles more than 95 such devices, already on the market or in development, all of which address at least one of Unitaid’s key disease areas—HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
“The abundance of new, multi-disease technologies is poised to streamline the way diseases are diagnosed,” said Unitaid Executive Director Lelio Marmora. “Global health is moving away from the long-used strategy of separate tests for separate diseases, separate clinics and separate testing labs.”
An estimated 2.3 million people are living with HIV/HCV co-infection, and tuberculosis causes one of every three HIV-related deaths. Alarmingly, the true prevalence of these co-infections is unknown, as many cases are left undetected.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), meanwhile, is fueling co-infection by gradually stripping drugs of their power to cure a growing list of infectious diseases. Improved diagnostics could help head off this misuse of antimicrobial drugs.
The report also describes how multi-disease diagnostic platforms can promote affordability, ease-of-use, and faster results delivery. Core technologies such as immunoassays and nucleic acid tests (NATs) are featured, as well as emerging technologies such as next-generation sequencing, volatile organic compounds and immunoassay/NAT integrated platforms.
The report presents an encouraging picture of the global push toward multi-disease diagnostics—a trend also highlighted in the World Health Organization’s June 2017 information note: “Considerations for adoption and use of multi-disease testing devices in integrated laboratory networks”.
Download the report here.
Multi-disease diagnostics landscape for integrated management of HIV, HCV, TB and other coinfections
Unitaid rated A+ for second year running by UK Department for International Development
Geneva – For the second year in a row, Unitaid has scored an A-plus rating in the UK’s Department for International Development’s (DFID) Annual Review, which sets rigorous performance standards for all projects that the UK financially supports.
DFID praised Unitaid’s “launch of a robust new strategy and key performance indicators (KPI) framework, and significant progress across a number of key organizational reform areas.”
The excellent rating underscored the important work Unitaid is doing to hasten access to innovative health products such as better and less expensive HIV treatment.
“Congratulations on this excellent score,” said Sarah Boulton, Vice Chair of the Executive Board. “Unitaid has met or exceeded expectations across each of the five Board-approved reform milestones.”
“We should be very proud,” said Lelio Marmora, Unitaid Executive Director. “The review encompasses every dimension of our performance. It places us among the strongest performing organizations funded by the UK government.”
The rating recognizes the staff’s work across all areas to build a stronger organization, Marmora said, including efforts to continuously improve risk management and value for money, and to deepen collaboration with health partners.
DFID leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty, tackling global challenges including poverty and disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict.
Unitaid is an international organization that invests in new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and malaria more quickly, more affordably and more effectively. It accelerates access to innovation so critical health products reach people who most need them. Unitaid’s work allows large-scale introduction of health products through funding by governments, the Global Fund, and bilateral programs such as the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The full review, including recommendations, will be published by DFID in the coming weeks and will be available here.
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.
Unitaid hails new US$ 50 million contribution from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Geneva — Unitaid warmly welcomes the extension of a long-term partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a new commitment of US$ 50 million, bringing the foundation’s total contribution to Unitaid to US$ 150 million since 2006.
In awarding the new grant, the Gates Foundation noted its enthusiasm for working closely with Unitaid to nurture innovations that will bring better access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to those who are most in need but live in countries with the scarcest resources. The grant will be disbursed over five years.
Commenting on the contribution, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said: “Unitaid is an important partner for our foundation and the global health community in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Their ability to scale innovative health technologies helps improve and save lives around the world.”
Unitaid investments are effective at delivering innovative, high quality health solutions that ultimately benefit millions of people. As countries and partners scale up these innovations, hundreds of thousands of additional lives are saved, reaping huge savings for health systems in the world’s lowest-resource countries.
“The support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping to bring us all closer to living in a world without the three pandemics,” said Lelio Marmora, Unitaid Executive Director. “We are delighted to continue this dynamic partnership into the next decade.”
Established in 2006 by Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom to provide an innovative approach to global health, Unitaid has since invested more than US$ 2 billion in promising health solutions that partner organizations can then scale up and make widely available
Under a new five-year strategy adopted in 2016, Unitaid will maintain its commitment to the three diseases while supporting a more integrated approach to health, particularly in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.
Currently, Unitaid is supporting programs to introduce HIV self-testing kits on a large scale; launching a new generation of state-of-the-art HIV drugs in low- and middle-income countries; developing better treatments for drug-resistant tuberculosis; and working on new treatments for severe malaria and on preventing malaria deaths among pregnant women and infants.
Media contact
Andrew Hurst, Unitaid, Geneva – tel. +41 22 791 3859, hursta@unitaid.who.int
Unitaid Executive Board member wins human rights award
Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, Bolivian human rights activist and Unitaid Executive Board member, has been named one of 15 winners of the 2017 Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law.
Ross is founder and president of REDBOL—the Bolivian network of people living with HIV, and a leading international figure in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
She is a member of the Committee against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination in Bolivia; the Committee on Tuberculosis and HIV; and vice president of the National Council on HIV. She represents communities living with HIV, TB and malaria on Unitaid’s Executive Board.
The Franco-German Council of Ministers established the award in 2016 to recognize committed human rights defenders from around the world who have done outstanding work in their respective countries to uphold human rights and the rule of law.
Unitaid welcomes appointment of Peter Sands to lead Global Fund
Geneva – Unitaid warmly welcomes the appointment of Peter Sands as the new Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“I am delighted that Peter Sands has been chosen as the new Executive Director of the Global Fund,” said Unitaid’s Executive Director, Lelio Marmora. “Peter Sands combines outstanding managerial talent and financial acumen with a deep understanding of global health challenges. I greatly look forward to working with him.”
Since Unitaid’s creation in 2006, the Global Fund has been one of its most important strategic partners, working to introduce Unitaid’s interventions on a massive scale.
Sands, a former chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank with expertise in global health and financial regulation, will lead the implementation of the Global Fund’s 2017-2022 strategy, which seeks to maximize impact against the diseases and build sustainable health systems in lower income countries.