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June 18, 2024

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) welcomes commitments by G7 nations to advancing health research and development (R&D) included in the G7 Apulia Leaders’ Communiqué. 

GHTC was pleased to see G7 leaders explicitly recommit to ending HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, in particular, through support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as neglected tropical diseases and polio as public health threats by 2030, and to countering the effects of climate change on infectious diseases. While it was encouraging to see this signal of political will at the highest level of government, it was disappointing that leaders fell short of offering new funding pledges or specific plans to realize these aims. 

We also welcome the expression of support by G7 leaders for the Pandemic Fund, which included a call for expanding the donor base and securing at least US$2 billion in new pledges and cofinancing. Given that the fund could prove a powerful new financial instrument for strengthening R&D and regulatory capacity in low- and middle-income countries, we hope that G7 leaders will follow through and provide new commitments as part of the fund’s replenishment this fall. 

On antimicrobial resistance (AMR), it was encouraging to see leaders vow to support public-private partnerships and implement push and pull incentives to accelerate the development of new antimicrobials and other tools to combat AMR. We also appreciate the G7 articulating support for an “ambitious” Political Declaration for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AMR, with concrete targets and an evidence-based panel to drive action. We hope that in the coming months, new R&D targets will be included in the final text to complement the current high-level global targets outlined in the zero draft. 

While we applaud G7 leaders for voicing their continued support for research initiatives to confront emerging and enduring health threats, we now call on them to match their statements with follow-through and financial pledges to translate these commitments into reality.