Breakthroughs Blog: Devices

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) released a new report on its global health research and development (R&D) programs for fiscal year 2022 that includes unprecedented insight into the product development programs the agency supported—and highlights the need for additional, dedicated resources for global health research.Why it matters: The report gives insight into an agency that is a key sponsor of global health product development.Due to a lack of commercial incentive for industry investment, most global health research is supported by public funders, most notably the US government.Several US agencies support global health research, but USAID is the only agency with a mandate to improve global health and development. The agency excels at pushing products through the end of the research pipeline and advancing tools to suit the needs of people in low-resource settings.What’s new: This report includes an unprecedented 13-page appendix detailing USAID’s individual product-level investments. By our count, USAID supported at least 59 products in 2021 covering multiple health areas and product types.By the numbers: In 2021, USAID spent US$165 million in baseline funding and $50 million in COVID-19 supplemental funding on health product development and research to assess the best way to implement new products and practices.Research spending from baseline funds increased slightly over the prior year (+$4 million) — but continued to decline as a proportion of total global health spending. In 2021, proportionate spending on research dropped slightly to 5.1 percent, continuing a years-long pattern. If the trend continues, GHTC estimates that proportionate spending on R&D will drop to 4.2 percent by 2026 unless Congress passes a policy like the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Fund to direct more dedicated funding to R&D.Our take: GHTC applauds the release of the report and the additional detail provided by USAID. We call policymakers’ attention to the continued need for additional, dedicated resources for global health research at USAID that this report exposes.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of infectious diseases that exert a crushing burden in vulnerable communities around the world. These diseases blind, disable, and disfigure people, robbing them of health and opportunity and trapping them in poverty. While breakthroughs in recent years have brought new resources to the fight against NTDs, significant gaps remain in the arsenal of tools needed to control and eliminate these diseases. In recognition of World NTD Day on January 30, GHTC is testing our readers’ knowledge with nine questions about NTD innovation. See if you can beat our quiz below and join the fight to #BeatNTDs and #EndTheNeglect.

At GHTC, we get to read stories every day about incredible innovations in global health. Most of the technologies we see are inventive, some are revolutionary, and a few are so unusual, one might think they were ripped from the pages of a science fiction novel. Now, we’re testing how well you know these global health technologies with our annual Halloween game: the TRICK or TREATment quiz.For each question, we will present a description of a global health technology. Choose TREATment if you believe this innovation exists. Choose TRICK if you think we are trying to pull one over on you and, instead, the product is still in development or is just a figment of our imagination. 

The ability of women to choose whether, when, and how many children to have is essential to advancing the health and well-being of women and their families. In fact, research shows that expanding global access to contraception could reduce maternal deaths by nearly one-third and child deaths by one-quarter. Yet today, 218 million women in low- and middle-income countries have an unmet need for modern contraceptives. New contraceptive innovations are urgently needed to help close this contraceptive gap, including tools that are suitable and convenient for women who live far from health care settings and multipurpose products that combine contraception with HIV prevention. In recognition of World Contraception Day, GHTC is testing our readers’ knowledge of the history of contraceptive innovation. Your challenge for each question below: Name that contraceptive method.