GHTC applauds the Global Health Security Agenda for making permanent its R&D Task Force

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David Snyder for NIH/Fogarty
July 29, 2022

GHTC submits input to NIH on improving equity in global health research

GHTC submitted feedback to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center outlining recommendations to improve equity in global health research.

Read time: 9 minutes / PDF link

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David Snyder for NIH/Fogarty
July 29, 2022

GHTC submits input to NIH on improving equity in global health research

GHTC submitted feedback to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center outlining recommendations to improve equity in global health research.

Read time: 9 minutes / PDF link
PATH/Matthew Dakin
July 27, 2022

GHTC applauds the Global Health Security Agenda for making permanent its R&D Task Force

GHTC welcomes the decision this week by the Global Health Security Agenda Steering Committee to make permanent its pilot Research and Development (R&D) Task Force. 

Read time: 2 minutes
The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) welcomes the decision this week by the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Steering Committee to make permanent its pilot Research and Development (R&D) Task Force. This important decision gives the task force—which was launched in June 2021 as a one-year pilot effort focused on improving R&D readiness—a mandate to continue its work through the current GHSA strategic framework, which runs through 2024.In response to the decision, GHTC Executive Director Jamie Bay Nishi said, “GHTC and our members applaud the GHSA Steering Committee for making permanent the R&D Task Force—an action that not only enables it to continue its vital work, but also cements R&D capacity strengthening as a central part of GHSA’s broader mission to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats.”“The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the importance of investing in R&D of medical countermeasures to combat health threats. But it has also exposed systemic gaps in the R&D capabilities of many nations—including limited surveillance, clinical research, manufacturing, and regulatory capacity—which have contributed to gross inequalities in access to health technologies between rich and poor nations. As a country-led collaborative effort, the GHSA R&D Task Force is uniquely positioned to play a leadership role in closing these gaps—and in just one year has already achieved important first steps toward that aim.”“Later this year, the task force will unveil a new tool designed to support countries in self-assessing their R&D capabilities, which aligns with and complements the International Health Regulations (IHR) and Joint External Evaluation (JEE) process. GHTC believes that at a local level, this tool can help GHSA nations identify country-specific R&D capacity gaps to address through their national preparedness plans, and at a global level, this evidence can inform the adoption of new indicators within the IHR or JEE to better address R&D readiness, as well as strategically guide the disbursement of funding from international mechanisms like the new World Bank prevention, preparedness, and response fund.”“Closing R&D capacity gaps is not a problem that will be solved overnight, but it is vital to bolstering the world’s pandemic defenses. We thank the GHSA Steering Committee for their vote of confidence to continue the task force’s work and their continued leadership and commitment to advancing a world better equipped with the R&D capabilities to prevent the next pandemic.”For more information on the GHSA R&D Task Force’s accomplishments and future vision, view its one-year progress report.
USAID/Kendra Chittenden
July 25, 2022

GHTC submits input on next USAID strategy for global health R&D

GHTC submitted input to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on its next multiyear strategy for global health research and development (R&D) emphasizing equity, collaboration, and transparency.

Read time: 7 minutes / PDF link
PATH/Rose Slavkovsky
July 22, 2022

GHTC welcomes milestone inclusion of R&D in Joint External Evaluation

GHTC statement in response to the addition of an indicator to measure R&D capacity in the third edition of the Joint External Evaluation tool.

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GHTC welcomes the recent addition of a specific indicator to measure research and development (R&D) capacity in the third edition of the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool—the instrument countries use to evaluate their health preparedness capabilities and compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR), which govern countries’ obligations in handling public health threats. This is a significant addition, as it marks the first time R&D capacity has been explicitly factored into the JEE as a key measure of a country’s health preparedness.  As we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of regionally distributed R&D and manufacturing capacities contributed to gross inequities in the global response, as regions with the strongest ability to develop medical countermeasures prioritized access for their populations while others were left scrambling to try to build their capabilities in real time. GHTC has for many years been calling for measures of R&D readiness to be formally integrated into the IHR and JEE, and we are pleased to see our advocacy efforts have contributed to this important update. We believe that the revised tool, and its inclusion of R&D, will ultimately improve the quality of assessment of countries’ capacities for timely detection, prevention, and effective response to public health emergencies.While the incorporation of an R&D-specific indicator is an important first step toward strengthening R&D capacity globally, GHTC is disappointed that the update has not gone further in comprehensively measuring the multitude of capabilities that are part of R&D readiness. The R&D indicator metrics have an insufficient focus on product development, and don’t measure important elements such as clinical trial, pharmacovigilance, and manufacturing capacity for various types of medical countermeasures, and we would have liked to see those incorporated into the new R&D indicator or elevated somewhere within the updated tool. While there are other separate indicators for surveillance and laboratory systems, they don’t interlink enough to provide countries with a comprehensive understanding of their national R&D capacity.As countries move to utilize this updated tool, GHTC will continue to work with partners and leverage platforms like the Global Health Security Agenda to push for an even more comprehensive R&D capacity assessment and strive to build a more equity-driven framework for prevention and response to future pandemic threats.
PATH/Gabe Bienczycki
June 29, 2022

Devex features op-ed in support of SIGHT Fund

Devex featured an op-ed from Management Sciences for Health President and CEO Marian Wentworth making the case for why a new dedicated R&D fund proposed by GHTC—called the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Fund—is needed at the US Agency for International Development to supercharge health research and bolster the agency’s ability to deliver accessible innovations to stock the global health toolbox of tomorrow.

Read time: 4 minutes / External link