Unitaid to focus resources on tuberculosis projects under way
Geneva – One of Unitaid’s top priorities is supporting innovations to stop tuberculosis, with a new emphasis on blocking an emerging wave of multidrug-resistant forms of the disease. Since its inception, Unitaid has funded more than US$ 460 million in grants for TB, and has a slate of active TB grants worth nearly US$ 180 million.
In May, Unitaid solicited project proposals for better ways to confront multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. After careful review of the submissions, we have decided, for the immediate future, to concentrate our resources on Unitaid projects that are already under way.
The endTB project (2015-2019), for example, is showing progress in strengthening the market for new drugs to treat multidrug-resistant TB.
Comprising an observational study and a clinical trial of two new drugs, endTB has begun to demonstrate that accelerated access to those medicines can improve outcomes.
Supported by a US$ 60.3 million Unitaid grant, the project is taking place in 15 countries under the leadership of Partners in Health.
In the last few months, meanwhile, Unitaid granted US$ 117 million to four new projects designed to prevent, diagnose and treat latent, drug-resistant and paediatric TB in countries most affected by the disease.
Unitaid deeply appreciates the engagement of those who responded to this latest call for proposals. Although some of the projects were promising, they did not fully align with Unitaid’s strategy or contained elements that were not developed to the point that the organization could offer grant funding.
Unitaid expects ongoing TB projects to yield streams of evidence that will help set the stage for future calls for proposals.
Unitaid salue la nouvelle contribution de 50 millions de dollars de la Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates
Genève – Unitaid se félicite de la prolongation du partenariat à long terme avec la Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates par un nouvel engagement de 50 millions de dollars, qui porte à 150 millions de dollars la contribution totale apportée par la fondation à Unitaid depuis 2006.
La Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates exprime, avec cette nouvelle contribution, son enthousiasme pour son étroite collaboration avec Unitaid afin de favoriser des innovations en santé qui permettront d’élargir l’accès à la prévention, au diagnostic et au traitement du VIH/sida, de la tuberculose et du paludisme pour les personnes qui en ont le plus besoin mais qui vivent dans les pays aux ressources les plus limitées. La subvention sera versée sur une période de cinq ans.
Évoquant la contribution, Bill Gates, coprésident de la Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates, a déclaré : « Unitaid est un partenaire important à la fois pour notre fondation et pour la communauté de la santé mondiale dans la lutte contre le VIH, la tuberculose et le paludisme. Sa capacité à déployer des technologies sanitaires innovantes contribue à sauver et à améliorer des vies dans le monde entier. »
Les investissements d’Unitaid sont un moyen efficace d’apporter des solutions innovantes et de qualité en matière de santé, qui, à terme, profiteront à des millions de personnes. Le déploiement de ces avancées à grande échelle par les pays et les partenaires, permet de sauver des centaines de milliers de vies supplémentaires et représente d’énormes économies pour les systèmes de santé des pays aux ressources les plus limitées.
« Le soutien de la Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates nous aide à nous rapprocher d’un monde dans lequel on puisse vivre sans les trois pandémies », a expliqué Lelio Marmora, Directeur exécutif d’Unitaid. « Nous sommes heureux de poursuivre ce partenariat dynamique dans la décennie à venir. »
Créée en 2006 par le Brésil, le Chili, la France, la Norvège et le Royaume-Uni dans le but de proposer une approche innovante en matière de santé mondiale, Unitaid a déjà investi plus de 2 milliards de dollars dans des solutions innovantes pour la santé, que les organisations partenaires peuvent ensuite déployer à grande échelle et rendre largement accessibles.
Dans le cadre de sa nouvelle stratégie établie en 2016 pour une durée de cinq ans, Unitaid prévoit de maintenir son engagement concernant les trois maladies mentionnées précédemment, tout en favorisant une approche plus intégrée en matière de santé, en particulier dans le domaine de la santé reproductive, maternelle, néonatale et infantile.
Unitaid soutient actuellement des projets ayant pour objectifs la mise à disposition des kits de test d’autodépistage du VIH à grande échelle, le lancement d’une nouvelle génération de médicaments de pointe contre le VIH dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire, la mise au point de meilleurs traitements pour la tuberculose pharmacorésistante, l’élaboration de nouveaux traitements pour les formes sévères de paludisme et la prévention des décès dus aux paludisme chez les femmes enceintes et les nouveau-nés.
Contacts pour les médias
Andrew Hurst, Unitaid, Geneva – tel. +41 22 791 3859, hursta@unitaid.who.int
Un programme financé par Unitaid va permettre un diagnostic avancé de la tuberculose chez les enfants défavorisés
Geneva – Unitaid and the University of Bordeaux today launched a four-year research project to cut TB deaths among children by widening availability of fast tests that can be used even in remote, rural settings.
The TB-Speed project will be implemented in Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia by a consortium of eight organizations led by the University of Bordeaux and supported by a US$ 14.6 million Unitaid grant. The French government is contributing US$ 1.6 million to facilitate implementation of the grant through a technical support fund known as the 5% Initiative.
The project will test innovative methods of diagnosis in five individual research studies, including clinical trials. The latest generation of portable, battery-operated diagnostic machines, including GeneXpert and Omni, will be deployed in the project, bringing sensitive TB testing to places without good access to clinics or hospitals.
Data produced by TB-Speed is expected to influence practices in other high-TB burden countries in the years immediately following the project, bringing diagnosis to more than 237,000 children, and saving almost 60,000 lives.
“Diagnosing TB in children is more difficult than in adults,” said Lelio Marmora, Executive Director of Unitaid. “With this innovative technology we can close that gap and move toward saving the lives of the 250,000 children who die needlessly every year of this curable disease.”
“Nearly all children who die from TB do not receive treatment for the simple reason that they are not diagnosed with the disease in the first place,” said Dr Olivier Marcy, TB-Speed Project Director at the University of Bordeaux. “In TB-Speed, we will address two key issues: the lack of capacity at the decentralized level for sample collection and molecular testing, and the lack of systematic detection of TB in highly vulnerable children, such as those with severe pneumonia, HIV-infection, or severe acute malnutrition.”
TB is a bacterial infection spread through tiny droplets in the air. When infected people cough, sneeze, spit, or even just speak, they can propel TB bacteria into the air and infect bystanders. Without treatment, 45 percent of people with TB will die, as well as nearly all HIV-positive people with TB. In 2016, 1.7 million people died of TB.
Unitaid’s grant was announced Wednesday in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, at the 19th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa. TB-Speed is one of four new Unitaid grant projects for TB approved in late 2017. The four grants, totaling US$ 117 million, are designed to prevent, diagnose and treat latent, drug-resistant and paediatric TB in countries most affected by the disease.
Read more:
Strengthening paediatric TB services for enhanced early detection (TB-Speed)
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Unitaid: Andrew Hurst, hursta@unitaid.who.int
Université de Bordeaux: Emmanuelle Baillet, emmanuelle.baillet@u-bordeaux.fr
Unitaid cherche des informations sur les produits de santé pour lutter contre les infections opportunistes chez les personnes séropositives
Unitaid today issued a call to manufacturers and suppliers worldwide to provide information on health products to tackle opportunistic infections in people living with HIV.
The announcement follows the decision by Unitaid’s Executive Board this past June to support improved access to health products for people with advanced HIV disease, those co-infected with HIV and hepatitis, as well as people co-infected with HIV and the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection and cause of cervical cancer in women.
Opportunistic infections are infections that occur more frequently and are more severe in individuals with weakened immune systems, including people living with HIV. The most frequent ones are tuberculosis, pneumonia, severe bacterial infection, toxoplasmosis, and cryptococcal meningitis.
Unitaid is considering investing in ways to overcome market barriers that limit access to the best tools for effectively managing opportunistic infections among people with advanced HIV disease.
“Unitaid is essentially exploring ways to unlock access to important health products in low- and middle-income countries to protect people living with HIV from opportunistic infections,” said Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Deputy Executive Director, speaking on the opening day of the 19th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Abidjan.
Unitaid has identified key priority products that require immediate market interventions. They are featured in the recently released WHO guidelines for managing advanced HIV disease.
The Request for Information (RFI) issued today calls on interested manufacturers and suppliers to submit information on their diagnosis, prevention and treatment products that are either commercially available or in the pipeline.
Download Request for Information forms: [PDF, 50 KB]
Contact
For more information on the RFI, please contact Ademola Osigbesan at Unitaid, osigbesana@unitaid.who.int