Recent news
July 2011
Aid innovation is helping to develop new treatments and save lives
July 12, 2011 -- Although innovation “isn’t necessarily a word most people associate with aid programs,” one recent example of an innovative financing program is “helping to develop new treatments for diseases, which kill millions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America,” Charles Kenny of the New America Foundation and the Center for Global Development writes in a CNN blog post. The first advance market commitment (AMC) used donor funding to provide a market for a pneumococcal vaccine once it was developed, Kenny writes, adding that the “donors set out conditions on things like price and efficacy, but promised to support the purchase of any vaccine that met those standards.”
“The good news is that, only a couple of years later, the vaccine is being rolled out across the developing world,” according to Kenny. He adds that the pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have “already developed suitable products and a number of other drug makers—including Chinese and Indian firms—are likely to follow soon. Nicaragua started vaccinating kids in December 2010. Thirteen more countries will have started rollout by the end of this year.”
Kenny writes that with this “hugely successful pilot underway, donors are looking for the next candidate for an advanced market commitment. Perhaps a malaria or HIV/AIDS vaccine. Or maybe something outside health altogether—a commitment to buy up solar power generators that meet a certain standard and cost or maybe a new strain of rice that can survive better in arid climates.” He concludes, “By leveraging private innovation with public financing to help meet the challenges of the world’s poor, aid agencies could make a huge difference to worldwide quality of life.” See the links below for more information.
