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September 2017
FEATURE
Pricing Agreement to Accelerate Access to Optimized HIV Treatment
On September 21st, a breakthrough ceiling price agreement was announced at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly. This agreement will accelerate access to the first affordable, generic, single-pill HIV treatment regimen containing dolutegravir (DTG) for public sector purchasers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The agreement was reached by a multiparty partnership including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), USAID, and PEPFAR, among others, with Mylan Laboratories Limited and Aurobindo Pharma. As part of PEPFAR's engagement, USAID's Office of HIV/AIDS and CII provided active support and guidance. These efforts are expected to produce multiple returns: cost savings for HIV drug procurement, simplified HIV service delivery, and most importantly, a better treatment experience for HIV patients. Read more.
NOTICE
The Combating Zika and Future Threats Grand Challenge website is now live! The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the development, testing, and scale-up of 26 ground-breaking innovations to fight the current Zika outbreak and help strengthen the world's ability to prevent, detect, and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks. The website features up-to-date progress of these 26 innovations, including low-cost treated sandals from Ifakara Health Institute and aerial robotics for vector control from WeRobotics.
INNOVATION
Saving Lives at Birth Award Nominees & Round 7 Finalists
Check out these new videos of our Saving Lives at Birth (SL@B) Round 7 Finalists from USAID's annual DevelopmentXChange in D.C. talking about their potentially transformational solutions to improve maternal and newborn survival in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the world. Of the 53 finalists, 15 award nominees were selected and are featured in these new videos on the SL@B website.
PARTNERSHIP
The Financing Alliance for Health is a collection of stakeholders (including UNICEF, the Government of Ethiopia, and USAID, among others) with the collective expertise to support governments and their partners to develop sustainable financing models to strengthen community health as a part of integrated health systems. Work to date includes thought leadership (Strengthening Primary Health Care through CHWS: Investment Case and Financing Recommendations [PDF, 191KB]) and technical assistance to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo to review costing plans, identify financial gaps, analyze sustainable financing opportunities, and develop investment cases for institutionalizing and scaling Community Health Worker programs.
INNOVATION
The TIMES of London featured Saving Lives at Birth (SL@B) grantee Simprints for being one of 15 award nominees for this year's round of SL@B funding. SL@B received more than 550 submissions earlier this year and announced the 15 award nominees at its annual DevelopmentXChange in July.
EVENTS
September 25 – 27, 2017
ANDE Annual Conference 2017
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Leesburg, Virginia
September 26, 2017
Medical Device Summit
MedSurplus Alliance, Washington, D.C.
September 28, 2017
Triangle Global Health 2017 Conference
Triangle Global Health Consortium, Raleigh, North Carolina
September 28 – 29, 2017
Global Innovation Week 2017
USAID, Washington, D.C.
October 1 – 4, 2017
Grand Challenges Annual Meeting
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Washington, D.C.
October 10 – 13, 2017
SOCAP 2017
Social Capital Markets, San Francisco, California
WHAT WE'RE READING
Innovation Excellence
Improve Your Organization with Design Thinking & Change Leadership [podcast]
The Lancet
Financing Transformative Health Systems towards Achievement of the Health SDGs
Harvard Business Review
Health Care Providers Can Use Design Thinking to Improve Patient Experiences
Grand Challenges Canada
Grand Challenges Canada Annual Report 2016-2017 [PDF 3.2MB]
NEWS
Acting on the Call
Addis Declaration to End Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths [PDF, 159KB]
August 25, 2017
DAWN
Gel Used to Prevent Infections in Newborns to Be Available Soon
September 11, 2017
GBCHealth
What Should Private Sector investments during the SDGs Look Like
September 15, 2017
CII NEWS
Al Jazeera
UN Announces New Deal to Cut HIV Drug Costs
September 21, 2017
MacArthur Foundation featuring SL@B Grantee
Four Finalists Named in Global Competition for $100 Million Grant
September 19, 2017
Reuters
Africa to Get State-of-art HIV Drugs for $75 a year
September 21, 2017
Mashable featuring SL@B Grantee
This No-electricity Anesthesia Machine is Saving Lives Across the Developing World
September 17, 2017
USAID featuring SL@B
More than Money: Mapping the Landscape of Advisory Support for Inclusive Business [PDF, 3.9MB]
August 31, 2017
Devex
Health Organizations Partner for 'Milestone' Pricing Agreement on Superior HIV Drug
September 22, 2017
AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassadors Program featuring Ebola grantee
Celebrate Invention 2017 – Jason Kang CEO of Kinnos
August 7, 2017
Aspen Management Partnership for Health
AMP Health September 2017 Newsletter
September 7, 2017
Nyasa Times featuring work supported by CII
Minister Atupele Muluzi on Meeting the Health Needs of Malawi
August 12, 2017
UNAIDS
New High-quality ARV Therapy to be Launched at Reduced Price
September 21, 2017
NPR Goats and Soda featuring SL@B grantee
Tanzania Gears Up to Become a Nation of Medical Drones
August 24, 2017
Acting on the Call 2017
Session featuring Dr. Angela Gichaga, CEO of Financing Alliance for Health
August 24, 2017
Unitaid
New High-quality ARV Therapy to be Launched at Reduced Price
September 21, 2017
Biometric Update
Simprints Wins Funding from Saving Lives at Birth
August 14, 2017
CNN featuring SL@B grantee
East Africa Is Leading the World in Drone Delivery
August 24, 2017
PATH featuring CII publications
Stronger Health Advocates Greater Health Impacts: Markets Matter Advocacy Guide [PDF, 3.3MB]
September 11, 2017
Wired featuring SL@B grantee
Blood-carrying, Life-saving Drones Take Off for Tanzania
August 24, 2017
BusinessDay
UNAIDS Deal will Make State-of-the-art HIV Drug Affordable in SA
September 22, 2017
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Marissa Leffler: Innovation Team Lead
"I believe that innovations can save lives but only if used at some meaningful scale, and they don't scale by themselves. It takes thoughtful product design, thoughtful introduction planning from the earliest stages, and thoughtful execution to bring an innovation to scale. The Center is helping to promote and integrate this approach into all of our work in global health and, in particular, into the work of our innovators."
Read the full interview [PDF, 266KB].
USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact (CII) takes a business-minded approach to fast-tracking the development, introduction and scale-up of health interventions that address the world's most important health challenges. CII invests seed capital in the most promising ideas and novel approaches, using forward-looking business practices to cut the time it takes to transform discoveries in the lab to impact on the ground.
Photo credits: UN Photo/Kim Haughton, USAID, USAID, Financing for Health, Simprints
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