Unitaid

14/03/2026

Unitaid and U.S. Pharmacopeia are supporting South Africa’s effort to identify a manufacturer to produce quality-assured lenacapavir, a long-acting HIV prevention drug. Expanding production in sub-Saharan Africa can help diversify global supply and bring innovation closer to communities that need it most.

The South African Government has launched a call for expressions of interest to identify pharmaceutical manufacturers capable of producing lenacapavir locally. The initiative is led by the South African National AIDS Council and supported through the Unitaid-established MedSuRe Africa programme, led by USP in collaboration with Africa CDC, the Africa Medicines Agency, development financing institutions, the Medicines Patent Pool, the World Health Organization (WHO) and funding partners.

Learn more:
https://unitaid.org/news-blog/south-africa-launches-bid-to-enable-local-production-of-long-acting-hiv-prevention-drug-lenacapavir/

cc. SADC, UNAIDS, UNAIDS South Africa, Représentation permanente de la France auprès de l’ONU à Genève

13/03/2026

Unitaid is seeking qualified service providers to support our efforts to strengthen political commitment and public awareness for resource mobilization in prioritized countries. Submit your proposal by 20 March 2026, 17:00 CET.

Learn more: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/292431

13/03/2026

Children living with HIV are especially vulnerable. Because their immune systems are still developing, the disease can progress more quickly, increasing the risk of advanced HIV disease and life threatening opportunistic infections. As Dr. Veni Nabitaka explains, children have less ability to fight infection, making early diagnosis and timely access to treatment critical to preventing severe illness and death.

Through the Unitaid funded THRIVE project, led by the Clinton Health Access Initiative in partnership with AfroCAB-HIV and Penta - Child Health Research, we are expanding access to child friendly prevention, screening and treatment tools for advanced HIV disease. By strengthening health systems and supporting community led solutions, THRIVE aims to ensure every child living with HIV receives the care they deserve to grow, dream and thrive.

Watch to learn more! 👇

12/03/2026

Market shaping has become a central tool in global health to address persistent access gaps. By using mechanisms such as pooled procurement, advance purchase agreements, price ceilings and volume guarantees, partners can influence markets to lower prices, reduce supply risk and expand access to essential medicines and vaccines in low and middle income countries. In a new open access article in PLOS Global Public Health, Unitaid’s Janet Ginnard and co-authors examine how these tools have been applied across HIV, TB, malaria, hepatitis C in Rwanda and the Ebola vaccine stockpile.

The paper highlights both measurable gains and important trade offs, including donor dependence, supplier concentration, long term sustainability, and the importance of country ownership. Bringing together perspectives from 11 institutions, it offers a practical, evidence informed resource for ministries of health, procurement agencies, donors, industry and partners designing the next generation of access strategies.

Read the full article here: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0004523

12/03/2026

At Unitaid, market shaping is part of a broader strategy to accelerate access to lifesaving health innovations. A new medicine or diagnostic only delivers impact if it is affordable, available at scale and able to reach the people who need it most. By working across the ecosystem to connect innovation with financing, policy, supply and community engagement, we help ensure that promising health tools can move from discovery to real world impact faster.

Learn more about how market shaping has helped accelerate access to treatments such as dolutegravir for HIV and other critical health technologies in this blog by Unitaid’s Director of Strategy, Janet Ginnard: https://unitaid.org/news-blog/how-market-shaping-drives-progress-in-global-health/

11/03/2026

As global health funding continues to decline, long-standing vulnerabilities in how medicines and diagnostics are produced are becoming harder to ignore. Today, the world relies on a narrow group of manufacturers, largely concentrated in high-income countries, while many low- and middle-income countries remain dependent on imports for essential health products. This concentration puts access at risk, especially during crises and deepens inequities when financing shrinks and supply chains are disrupted.

New evidence makes clear that reforming development finance is a critical part of the solution. By adapting financing models to better fit the realities of pharmaceutical and diagnostic manufacturing, development finance institutions can help unlock sustainable, local production where it is most needed. More flexible capital, blended financing and stronger partnerships can enable manufacturers to scale, meet quality standards and deliver reliable supply. Investing in localized manufacturing is not only about resilience for the future, but about protecting access to life-saving health products today.

Find out more in PLOS:

PLOS Global Public Health is a global forum for public health research that reaches across disciplines and regional boundaries to address some of the biggest health challenges and inequities facing our society today.

11/03/2026

Twenty years, 100+ health products introduced, and a 46 to 1 return on investment. That is Unitaid’s track record in turning promising health innovations into affordable, widely available tools. From HIV and TB treatments to diagnostics and preventive technologies, our work has shown that when access is planned early, innovation can deliver impact at scale rather than deepen inequities.

In his latest op-ed, Dr. Philippe Duneton argues that scaling this approach is not optional, it is fundamental to resilient, country-led global health systems. As global health financing contracts and reform accelerates, we must ensure that equitable access to innovation is treated as a core function of the system, not an afterthought. Connecting discovery to delivery is how we protect health budgets, strengthen sustainability, and ensure breakthroughs reach the people who need them most.

Read more in : https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/the-global-health-reform-debates-dangerous-blindspot

11/03/2026

Yesterday in the British Parliament, Danielle Ferris spoke for Unitaid at "Making Science Deliver for Women’s Health" with a clear message: science is not enough if women are still left waiting for the care they need. Survival should never depend on postcode, distance or chance.

Women still face three injustices in health: they are underrepresented in science and data, face structural barriers to care and are too often the last to benefit from innovation. These are not inevitabilities. They are policy choices, and they can be changed.

At Unitaid, we work to ensure innovation reaches women faster and more fairly, from safer pregnancy and childbirth to HIV prevention, cervical cancer and newborn survival. By helping make health products more affordable, supporting countries to introduce them at scale and keeping women’s needs central in design and delivery, we help turn scientific progress into real-world impact.

Thanks to the All Party Parliamentary Group for HIV and AIDS, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Parliamentary & Science Committee, STOPAIDS and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

10/03/2026

Last week in Nairobi, Unitaid convened partners for the first coordinated access and policy discussion under a new initiative to make product development and market entry data more accessible — so decisions on new malaria tools can be faster and better informed. The focus was on spatial emanators, the first new vector control technology added to the malaria prevention toolkit in decades.

Together, partners:
• Mapped the barriers that could slow access — from financing to supply chains and quality standards
• Identified who's doing what across countries to coordinate efforts and avoid duplication
• Built a shared roadmap from research to WHO recommendations and national policies
• Agreed to move forward where evidence supports action — not waiting for perfect data

Learn more about the initiative: https://unitaid.org/news-blog/unitaid-launches-new-initiative-to-accelerate-introduction-and-scale-up-of-new-malaria-products/

10/03/2026

We’re launching a new funding opportunity to tackle systemic barriers limiting access to life-saving maternal and newborn health products in low- and middle-income countries. Deadline to apply: 20 March 2026.

Learn more:

Global progress on maternal and newborn health needs to be accelerated. Yet persistent gaps in access to quality, life-saving products remain a major barrier to reducing deaths of mothers and babies in low- and middle-income countries.