Clinton Health Access Initiative

12/18/2025

Grateful for the continued Sida-CHAI regional partnership. This work demonstrates that even in a constrained environment, it is possible to address financial barriers to SRHR.

Since 2022, we’ve worked with ministries of health and finance to set priorities, mobilize and redirect resources to where they’re needed most, increase financial protection, and leverage the private sector. That foundation has been critical to help countries protect SRHR this past year.

Even as budgets tighten, smart health financing can ensure women and girls can access the care they need.

12/17/2025

"I used to rely on home births due to financial constraints. But this program provided me with full support during my hospital delivery." — Barilah Aliyu, mother in Katsina State, Nigeria

For too long, Nigerian mothers like Barilah had to choose between paying for healthcare or feeding their families. In Nigeria, 1 in 200 women dies in childbirth—and 1 in 8 children doesn't make it to age 5.

But something remarkable just happened in six Nigerian states. 🇳🇬

With support from Canada’s International Development – Global Affairs Canada these states didn't just get funding—they built the systems and trained the staff to run their own health insurance programs. The result? They tripled health insurance coverage, reaching over a million vulnerable people.

Now mothers get full hospital care. Kids get complete doses of medicine instead of split pills. And the states are sustaining this growth with their own funding.

This is what happens when you invest in building systems that last. 💙

Read more about how it worked: https://ow.ly/ueCk50XKWYn

12/17/2025

As we close out the year, we’re celebrating the incredible people behind CHAI’s mission—starting with René Kaboré, our Malaria Program Manager in Burkina Faso.

René’s journey from finance to frontline strategy reflects the spirit of growth and purpose that defines CHAI. Since joining in 2022, he’s helped drive life-saving malaria interventions, support national funding efforts, and strengthen systems that protect families—including his own.

Here’s to the people who make progress possible—and to a new year filled with even greater momentum.

👉 Read more about René’s story: https://ow.ly/HtLh50Xe9WH

12/10/2025

Major study shows AI tool nearly doubles detection of cervical pre-cancer

New research published today in The Lancet Global Health offers hope in the fight against cervical cancer—a disease that kills 300,000 women each year, almost entirely in low- and middle-income countries.

Our study of 24,447 women across five African countries found that an AI-based screening tool called Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) nearly doubled the detection rate of pre-cancerous lesions:

• Visual inspection alone: 36.6%
• Combined with AI assistance: 71.8%

That means that visual inspection alone was missing nearly two-thirds of cases.

The tool works through a simple smartphone app that functions offline, helping frontline health workers identify abnormalities without requiring specialists at every location.
Conducted in government health facilities in Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, this isn't just a pilot—it's real-world evidence of how AI can support cervical cancer elimination efforts where they're needed most.

Read the full study in The Lancet Global Health:
https://ow.ly/cmGN50XGZGO

12/03/2025

We’ve screened over 2.5 million children for disabilities across eight countries over the last year.

But screening is just the beginning.

The real impact comes from what happens next—and that's where we're focusing our efforts.

Many children who are screened don't receive follow-up care. Families face transportation costs, long wait times, and limited specialists. In Liberia, there's just ONE physiotherapist for the entire country.

That’s why, together with the The LEGO Foundation and local partners, we are bringing care into communities:
• Training 15,000 frontline workers—teachers, healthcare providers, social workers
• Establishing local production of assistive devices (wheelchairs, standing frames, adaptive toys)
• Integrating screening into existing community spaces (toy libraries, play camps, homes)
• Strengthening referral systems to ensure timely interventions

Lessons learned:
✅ Government leadership is crucial
✅ Community involvement drives participation
✅ Combining screening efforts increases efficiency
✅ Screening must connect to intervention services

What’s next: our goal is to screen 3 million children and connect at least 40,000 with disabilities to appropriate care next year.

Watch our work in action: https://ow.ly/Cl7U50XARjS

World Health Organization (WHO)

12/02/2025

Meet Mustapha Tokpa, a six-year-old boy from northwestern Liberia. Born with cerebral palsy, Mustapha spent years sitting on his family's porch watching other children play—close enough to hear their laughter, but unable to join them.

Like many children with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries, Mustapha was invisible to the systems meant to support him. With just one physiotherapist for the entire country, families in Liberia face impossible choices: travel long distances, often at great expense, for care — or go without.

But the government of Liberia, in partnership with CHAI and the The LEGO Foundation, are working to change that.

Earlier this year, community volunteers began visiting Mustapha's home. They adapted familiar games so he could participate safely. They connected him to the country’s only Medical Rehabilitation Center, where he received his first wheelchair.

Today Mustapha moves freely around his yard. He plays with friends.

As his mother said: "I feel like Mustapha is reborn. He feels important when his friends come behind him and push him to the playground."

Mustapha's story is one of many. Across eight countries, we've now screened over 1 million children for disabilities and trained nearly 15,000 frontline workers to bring care into communities.

Because early support doesn't start in hospitals. It begins in homes, classrooms, and community play spaces.

Read Mustapha's full story and learn how Liberia and Kenya are leading the way in community-based assistive technology: https://ow.ly/JBon50XAQzR

World Health Organization (WHO)

Liberia and Kenya demonstrate how community-led assistive technology programs are transforming lives for children with disabilities through local solutions.

12/01/2025

Today, on World AIDS Day, we recognize 25 years of extraordinary progress against HIV/AIDS—and the work still ahead.

How far we've come:
• 97% of adults on HIV treatment now receive optimized DTG-based regimens
• 94% achieve viral suppression
• Game-changing innovations like lenacapavir are reaching LMICs in record time

What our 2025 Market Report reveals:
This progress is fragile. Funding cuts strained systems across 14 countries in 2025. Children were hit hardest—26,000 lost from care. Prevention infrastructure weakened. Markets began fragmenting.

But we also see resilience:
• Countries adapting with HIV self-testing (up 13%)
• Lenacapavir rollout proceeding in 12 countries
• Communities mobilizing to keep people in care
• Generic competition driving down costs

The path forward:
We have the tools—better medicines, innovative delivery models, breakthrough pricing. What we need is sustained commitment to the systems that deliver them.

On this World AIDS Day, let's protect the progress we've made and finish the work we started.

Read the full report: https://ow.ly/bkLc50Xy8LM

11/30/2025

World AIDS Day is tomorrow. 🎗️

25 years ago, HIV was a death sentence in most of the world. Today, 94% of people on treatment achieve viral suppression and can live full, healthy lives.

That transformation took decades of work: scientific breakthroughs, market-shaping to lower prices, community leadership, and coordinated global investment.

Our 2025 HIV Market Report shows that progress is fragile. Funding cuts in 2025 have strained services across 14 countries. But the report also shows what's possible: lenacapavir at US$40/year, HIV self-tests under US$1, simplified pediatric treatments.

We have the tools. The question is whether we'll protect the systems to deliver them.

This World AIDS Day, let's honor how far we've come by committing to finish the work.

Read the report: https://ow.ly/ByCu50Xy7v1

11/28/2025

World AIDS Day is in 3 days. 🎗️

UNAIDS' new report shows both how far we've come and how far we have to go.

Our 2025 HIV Market Report adds critical market intelligence: tracking what's happening in real-time across 14 countries as funding shifts reshape the landscape.

Together, these reports paint a picture of a response under strain—but also of tools and opportunities to turn things around.

The question: Will we protect the progress we've made?

11/26/2025

As we approach World AIDS Day, our 2025 HIV Market Report reveals both the challenge and the opportunity ahead.

To achieve epidemic control, UNAIDS estimates 20 million people need to be on PrEP by 2030—a tenfold increase from today's 2 million.

Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable, could make this possible. Breakthrough generic deals secured US$40/year pricing for 120 countries. Twelve countries are introducing the Gilead product over the next year, with affordable generics arriving in 2027.

But here's the paradox our data reveals: just as this game-changing tool becomes available, the infrastructure to deliver it is under severe strain.

Innovation alone isn't enough. We need the delivery systems to match the breakthroughs.

Read more: https://ow.ly/EOHj50Xy6vE

UNAIDS, Unitaid, Clinton Global Initiative

11/25/2025

26,000 children disappeared from HIV treatment in just six months. Not because they died. Not because they moved. Because the medicine stopped coming.

Our newly released 2025 HIV Market Report provides a comprehensive look at how foreign aid cuts are affecting HIV programs in 14 countries—and what we found should alarm anyone who cares about children's health.

What the data shows:
📍 Infant HIV testing down 20% (24,000 fewer babies tested)
📍 2,000 fewer children started lifesaving treatment
📍 26,000 children who were on treatment are no longer in care
📍 Every country surveyed faces critical medicine shortages

With half of untreated HIV-positive children dying before their second birthday, this data requires urgent action.

Download the full report: https://ow.ly/s6Xx50XxOrW

UNAIDS Unitaid Gates Foundation

11/19/2025

🎉 Historic moment for HIV prevention! Eswatini and Zambia are the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to roll out lenacapavir—a twice-yearly injectable PrEP that could be a game-changer.

Each country received 500 starter packs this month, with official receiving ceremonies held on Nov. 7 for Zambia and Nov. 18 for Eswatini. The first doses for both countries will be administered on World AIDS Day. For people who struggled with daily pills, a twice-yearly injection could be transformative.

While the lower-cost generic won't be available until 2027, this early adoption is already generating the critical implementation lessons needed for rapid scale-up across the region and showing equity is possible in global public health interventions.

This is what progress looks like. 🚀

More: https://ow.ly/QkRB50Xu5Iy

Unitaid NPR

The drug lenacapavir will be distributed to Eswatini and Zambia — the first step toward providing at least 2 million doses to the countries with the highest HIV burden, largely in Africa, by 2028.