News: Announcement

As the G20 Health Working Group kicks off with its initial meeting next week under the Indonesian presidency, health officials from the world’s top economies will be discussing commitments and systemic changes to better prepare for future health threats and improve health equity.As G20 leaders consider broader reforms to reimagine our global health architecture, GHTC urges them to prioritize the following actions to bolster health research and development (R&D).Build sustainable financing structures to mobilize new resources for R&D to address both emerging and enduring global health challenges. G20 nations should fully fund existing multilateral R&D mechanisms for pandemic preparedness and response including the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator—which faces an immediate need of US$840 million to close upstream R&D gaps for vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics—and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations—which received just over $1.5 billion of its $3.5 billion replenishment ask to fulfill its next five-year strategy to ramp up vaccine R&D for potentially epidemic threats. G20 countries should also increase assessed contributions to the World Health Organization to at least 50 percent of the base budget by 2029 to enable stronger core funding for its Science Division and programs to facilitate product access, as well as create a new pandemic preparedness fund that could be tapped to bolster regional and national R&D capacity. Beyond addressing epidemic threats, G20 nations should increase investments in R&D for poverty-related and neglected diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including supporting the Global AMR R&D Hub, to close key gaps in our arsenal of tools.Improve coordination and alignment of R&D actors, while centering the needs of vulnerable populations. G20 nations must support reforms to better integrate R&D into existing health preparedness governance frameworks. The G20 should push for targeted amendments to the International Health Regulations to facilitate R&D coordination and information sharing and modify the Joint External Evaluation process to add a new indicator to better assess national R&D readiness. As pandemic framework negotiations advance, new norms and standards must also be set to govern pathogen and data sharing, research and regulatory coordination, and procurement to facilitate more equitable access to resulting medical countermeasures. Research funders should also prioritize targeted investments in R&D to address the unique needs of pediatric populations, pregnant and lactating people, and other vulnerable populations who are too often neglected in R&D efforts.Scale up manufacturing capacity for vaccines, treatments, and other health technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). G20 nations should bolster local and regional manufacturing capacity in LMICs through investments and technical support. These investments in manufacturing capacity strengthening must also be coupled with regulatory improvements and commitments by private companies and governments to step up support for technology transfer and workforce development so new innovations can be produced safely and rapidly at scale.It is GHTC’s hope that G20 nations will use this inaugural meeting to chart a new path toward building a more resilient, fit-for-purpose, and equitable R&D ecosystem of the future. For a more detailed look at GHTC recommendations to G20 health leaders, view this document. 

The following statement focuses on the 150th World Health Organization Executive Board meeting agenda item 11: “Immunization Agenda 2030.”Many recent scientific and multilateral agency reports and publications suggest that overall, immunization took a step backward in the past two years. Despite the tireless efforts of countless immunization program staff and health workers to ensure the availability of vaccination services, vaccination coverage globally fell for the first time in a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed immunization infrastructure and workforce, impacted the global supply chain, increased the incidence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and derailed gains made in immunization campaigns around the world. Immunization is a pillar of people-centered primary health care, and we urge the World Health Organization (WHO) and member states to strengthen vaccine-related research and innovation with the most vulnerable populations in mind. GHTC calls on WHO and member states to: Accelerate and expand the COVAX facility research and development agenda to advance next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, including “variant-proof” COVID-19 vaccines and shots that could provide wide protection against coronaviruses, vaccines with optimized dosing, and vaccines more suitable for delivery in low-resource settings. World leaders must also do everything in their power to correct the shameful lack of equitable access to these lifesaving tools. Focus on the full spectrum of innovations that support immunization programs. The near term will inevitably be dominated by a continuing focus on COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. Nevertheless, it is vital that these activities are also leveraged to strengthen vaccine manufacturing capacities, storage, administration, and co-administration with other health interventions as well as novel service delivery, including focused “test & vaccinate” strategies as recently recommended by the Gavi board.Align immunization efforts with those to combat AMR. As highlighted by the recent research study published in The Lancet, drug-resistant bacteria kill 1.27 million people a year, the great majority of them in low- and middle-income countries. Children under 5 are particularly vulnerable. These shocking numbers require dramatic commitment against AMR, well above what has been funded thus far. Development of new vaccines could substantially reduce the burden of disease, especially for children under 5 in low-income settings. Support implementation research and the development of formal feedback loops to monitor follow-up of recommendations made by groups such as the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and regional immunization technical advisory groups. 

The following statement focuses on the 150th World Health Organization Executive Board meeting agenda item 10: “Road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030.”Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are inextricably linked to poverty and inequality. These diseases exact a heavy toll, causing chronic illness, severe disfigurement, blindness, and death. More than 1.5 billion people are estimated to require interventions against NTDs each year with many existing tools inadequate to effectively screen and treat populations in low-income and low-resource settings. Increased attention in recent years has brought new resources to the fight against NTDs and fueled research breakthroughs. Yet, very significant gaps remain in the arsenal of tools needed to control and eliminate these diseases, underscoring the need for research and development (R&D) of new tools. COVID-19 has also significantly disrupted interventions and activities across the entire spectrum of research and essential health services for NTDs. Leaders must demonstrate greater urgency to ensure that the progress made over the past decade is not reversed due to challenges caused by the pandemic.Therefore, GHTC calls on the World Health Organization (WHO) and member states to:Address the current diagnostic gaps for NTDs. The Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases recently published a number of target product profiles, and more guidance and support from WHO will be necessary to spur the development of new diagnostic tools. We urge WHO and member states to work together to explore regulatory and manufacturing pathways to facilitate prequalification and regulatory approval of in-vitro diagnostics. Support programs that help catalyze innovation and build capacity to develop new drugs, vaccines, and other health technologies, and urge WHO to facilitate greater coordination across the full scope of diseases. Accelerated programmatic action could advance scientific understanding for developing new tools, improving strategies, and strengthening service delivery. We urge member states to fill key gaps by investing in R&D for new and improved treatments and prevention tools, including therapies designed for children and shorter, simplified regimens with fewer side effects.

The following statement focuses on the 150th World Health Organization Executive Board meeting agenda item 9: “Global strategy for tuberculosis research and innovation.” Progress toward tuberculosis milestones and targets has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 alone, deaths from tuberculosis increased from 1.4 million to 1.5 million globally, far fewer people were diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis, and spending on essential tuberculosis services and research failed to increase in line with existing and new needs. This poses a risk to the achievement of the targets set in the political declaration of treating 40 million people diagnosed with tuberculosis and providing tuberculosis preventive treatment to 30 million people by 2022. To reverse the impact of the pandemic, avert preventable deaths, and put the world on track to end tuberculosis, essential tuberculosis services must be restored as a matter of urgency, and more domestic and international resources need to be mobilized. It is also critical that the development and uptake of new technologies is part of that investment. The Treatment Action Group reported tuberculosis research and development investment of US$915 million in 2020, far below the 2018 UN high-level meeting target of at least US$2 billion per year. Annual funding for tuberculosis research needs to more than double to reach the global target.Therefore, GHTC calls on the World Health Organization (WHO) and member states to:Substantially increase investments in tuberculosis research to drive technological breakthroughs and the rapid uptake of innovations. Member states must mobilize domestic resources, foster public–private partnerships, and incentivize the responsible and well-regulated engagement of pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and other health product developers to expand the pipeline of new and equitably accessible tuberculosis tools, especially true point-of-care molecular diagnostics, new antibiotic regimens, and vaccines. While the specific call for member states to meet their tuberculosis research funding fair share targets is most welcome, much work remains to make these targets a reality.Address the unmet needs in translational research for tuberculosis. The pandemic has demonstrated that rapid sharing of data helps accelerate research and discovery. Some countries have already made strides by using common protocols coordinated through the Regional Prospective Observational Research for Tuberculosis (RePORT) network, and contributed data and biospecimens to the platform. Member states should double down and push for additional coordination and collaboration through these platforms. Address the drug-resistant tuberculosis crisis and close persistent gaps in diagnosis and treatment access and care. WHO and member states should work to ensure that the process for including new technologies to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis on the essential medicines and diagnostic lists and other guidelines is streamlined. WHO must continue to support the implementation of the global strategy for tuberculosis, including through the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases to provide crucial capacity-building and implementation research support to countries.