BAAM Co-Chairs Caroline Desrousseaux, Vestergaard, and Sherwin Charles, Nando’s, were invited to represent the voice of BAAM at the “Innovation & Access Roundtable: Increasing Access to Innovations in the 6th Global Fund Replenishment Period” organized by the RBM Partnership on the 10th of October in Lyon. Both of our representatives emphasized the need for public organizations to develop partnerships with the private sector. Roundtable participants also highlighted that advancing multi-sectoral discussions, especially between manufacturers, other industrial partners, and international donors could serve to advance innovation in the malaria space and boost access to the newest malaria treatments. The discussions successfully convened stakeholders from across the malaria community, including the RBM Partnership, the WHO, the Global Fund, IVCC, UNITAID, BMGF, Global Health Institute, MMV, Stop TB, UNICEF, FIND, and UN Foundation. Representatives from the private sector included Vestergaard, Nando’s, Bayer, Mylan, Abbott, Cepheid, Fosun Pharma, Sanofi, Sumitomo Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Gilead, Novartis and Merck|MSD.
Meeting participants identified two key areas for future consideration: 1) de-risking research and development and 2) providing price guarantees. Within research and development, roundtable attendees noted that companies ought to work closely with public institutions—especially on those efforts related to the development of malaria and tuberculosis vaccines and diagnostics—with an emphasis of aligning on expectations form the initial development stage. On the issue of price guarantees, participants largely agreed that public institutions should be in “constant dialogue” with companies throughout the health product pricing process and that companies ought to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated for market approval at the national level. Adding to the conversation, WHO representative David Schellenberg agreed that institutions have a role to play in aligning research and development expectations, and noted that the WHO is working to develop a standardized approach for the development of product profiles.
BAAM representatives also participated in a number of other events alongside the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Conference. On October 9th, Sherwin Charles, CEO of Nando’s and of Goodbye Malaria, spoke at the event “Global Fund as a catalyst for regional malaria elimination: Applying lessons learned to the Sahel”. On the same day, the event “Step up the fight: how private sector commitments to innovation will support the Global Fund to end Aids, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030”, organized by the Global Fund and the French Business Council for Africa, welcomed speakers from Microsoft Healthcare, Viiv Healthcare, Orange, Mastercard, Google Cloud, Societe Generale, Sanofi and Thompson Reuters Foundation.
From left to right: Tara Nathan, Executive Vice President, Humanitarian & Development, Mastercard, Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Healthcare, Bruno Mettling, Chairman, Middle East & Africa, Orange, Tariq Shaukat, President, Google Cloud at the event “Step up the fight: how private sector commitments to innovation will support the Global Fund to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030” on 9th October 2019 in Lyon, France.
During the event, business executives from a range of sectors announced new partnerships with the Global Fund. Google Cloud, Mastercard, Microsoft, Orange, Pharmaccess, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Zenysis are among the technology companies that committed to harness data and digital technology to tackle malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV. The Coca-Cola company announced an additional 20 million USD in in-kind and financial support to the Project Last Mile, a project with the Global Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that leverages Coca-Cola’s logistical, supply chain management and marketing expertise to support African governments in delivering lifesaving medicines and supplies. Societe Generale and India Health Fund/Tata Trusts also announced projects to enhance gender equality and tuberculosis research, respectively. Manchester City announced a partnership with the Global Fund to promote behavior change and disease prevention targeting the youth in Tanzania. Thompson Reuters Foundation will partner with the Global Fund to support its innovative “Breaking Down Barriers” initiative to raise awareness around barriers to health, while ViiV Healthcare committed up to 3 million GBP through its “Positive Action” programs to improve access to health for young girls and adolescents. More details on these initiatives can be found here.
Overall, the Global Fund met their target and raised 14 billion USD, including more than one billion USD coming from the private sector. Private sector donors included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the biggest donation of 760 million USD, followed by Product (RED) with 250 million USD. Other private sector donors include Comic Relief, Rotary Australia World Community Service, and Rotarians Against Malaria, and the Tahir Foundation, among others.
The private sector was involved in more conversations than ever before with malaria as a central topic on the agenda. This year’s Global Fund Replenishment opened new doors for advancing the discussions between the private and public sectors.