Universal health coverage (UHC) remains a distant goal in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), many of which lack the coordinated policies and processes needed to guide the selection, introduction and scale-up of new medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tools (referred to as health technologies). Achieving UHC requires substantial shifts towards policy coherence, and the scaling up of relevant partnerships and investments.
The Government of Japan partners with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through initiatives that address two related health challenges in LMICs: promoting research and development (R&D) for unmet health needs; and promoting access to and delivery of health technologies.
The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund focuses on investments in the discovery and development of new health technologies for tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, through support for partnerships and global opportunities for collaboration with Japanese organizations in R&D.
The Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP) supports countries to strengthen the policies, human capacities, systems and regulations that enable LMICs to access and deliver the new products as they become available.
ADP implements project activities in nine focus countries – Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania and Thailand.
UNDP leads ADP’s work across a broad range of sectors and disciplines to accelerate the introduction and scale-up of new health technologies in the
focus countries.
To achieve the project’s goals, ADP partners leverage their networks of in-country stakeholders and technical experts. ADP partners also reach stakeholders beyond those in the ADP focus countries using various global, regional and virtual platforms.
Furthermore, as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Government of Japan, ADP and the GHIT Fund, the global platform Uniting Efforts for Innovation, Access & Delivery was launched in 2019. Uniting Efforts brings together the key actors, including R&D funders, innovators, governments, civil society, and other stakeholders, to engage and share challenges, lessons learned and opportunities, and accelerate the innovation, access and delivery of medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tools and other health technologies.
