Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)

💡One of the most powerful tools for improving equitable access to health innovations is often overlooked: the conditions governments attach to public R&D funding.     👉 Article 9.5 of the Pandemic Agreement changes that. For the first time, governments will be required to develop and implement policies on attaching access provisions to public R&D funding for pandemic-related products.     This binding commitment is designed to ensure that all people and health systems can access vital tools such as diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines during a pandemic.     As governments prepare to meet at the UN next week to discuss pandemic preparedness, our new report with the Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator (GHIAA) highlights practical examples they can build on as they develop their own policies, including:  🔸Existing access policies and practices from around the world  🔸How access planning works in practice  🔸Practical considerations for moving from policy commitments to funding contracts  🔸Recommendations for Member States    📄 Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/edSVwBKi     #GlobalHealth #PandemicPreparedness #HealthInnovation #AccessToMedicines #PublicHealth  Wellcome Trust | CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) | MSF Access Campaign | Medicines Patent Pool | Unitaid

🤔 How can the European Union ensure that publicly funded health innovation delivers treatments people and health systems can actually use? For us, that means planning for access from the earliest stages of R&D, and making it a standard practice of public funding. ⬇️ Read more in this post by Rachael Crockett, our Senior Policy Advocacy Manager, where she reflects on last week's event at the European Parliament, where we joined Medicines Patent Pool, Salud por Derecho - Right to Health Foundation, MEP Nicolás González Casares, and other partners to discuss access conditions. 🙏 Thank you to all the speakers and participants who joined this important conversation! #HealthInnovation #PublicFunding #AccessToHealth #AccessConditions #HealthPolicy Javier Padilla | Dessie Tarlton | Unitaid | Michael Makanga | European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) | Judit R. | CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) | Yannis Natsis | Becky Jones-Phillips | Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine | michelle childs | Jaime M. | Elena V.

🔬 212 R&D and access partner institutions in 47 countries 🧪 41 clinical trial sites in 16 countries 🦠 Active across 6 disease areas 🌎 8 offices across 5 continents 🤝 7 founding partners   Behind these numbers is a global network working together to develop and deliver better treatments for people affected by neglected diseases. From research and clinical trials to access to treatments and policy change, our partners bring expertise and knowledge from the countries where these diseases have the greatest impact.   🔎 Explore our activities: https://lnkd.in/ecipwXMk #GlobalHealth #NeglectedDiseases #Partnerships

🤔 How can patient and community perspectives help shape better clinical research? This was one of the key questions guiding discussions at last week's India Community Advisory Committee (ICAC) meeting in New Delhi.    Bringing together people with lived experience of neglected diseases, researchers, health professionals, caregivers, and advocates, the meeting created a space to discuss community priorities, treatment experiences, and how to strengthen patient and community engagement across DNDi’s work. Key highlights from the meeting:  👉 Discussed what meaningful community engagement looks like and how patient perspectives can be better integrated into research   👉 Shared experiences and lessons from working with communities across different disease areas and settings   👉 Identified priorities and developed a roadmap for the year ahead, including opportunities for engagement, collaboration, and contribution across DNDi's work.   👉 Strengthened communication skills through sessions on storytelling, media engagement, and effective communication    We were also pleased to welcome Blessina Kumar, CEO of the Global Coalition of TB Advocates (GCTA), who shared practical insights on community engagement and the importance of meaningful patient participation in clinical research.    🙏 Thank you to all ICAC members for their time, insights, and continued commitment. We look forward to building on these discussions and strengthening community engagement in the year ahead.     #CommunityEngagement #PatientVoices #PatientEngagement #GlobalHealth #NeglectedDiseases Sanjay Sarin | Minati Chaklanavis | Surinder Jaswal | Neha Kumari | rachna kumari | Rajni Singh | Shabana Patel | Diogo Galvão | Craig Tipple 

Women are often excluded from clinical trials due to historical safety concerns. But inclusion means considering women’s biology, family responsibilities, culture, and access barriers. 👉 Last week in Nairobi, together with IQVIA Middle East and Africa, we brought together more than 80 researchers, regulators, private sector representatives, and journalists for a media science cafe on the need to develop better medicines through more inclusive and gender-responsive research. During the discussion, the panelists highlighted three points:  1️⃣ Study designs can hide assumptions. Does a woman participant own a phone? How far does she travel to the clinic? Who cares for her children and dependants while she’s in the study? Protocols rarely account for these realities, yet missed visits can be blamed on participants, not the study design.  2️⃣ Consent isn't simply a form, it's a negotiation. In many communities, a woman's consent may involve her family or spouse. Real inclusion means understanding who holds decision-making power, not just securing a signature.  3️⃣ Meaningful community engagement can't begin after ethics approval. It must help shape the research question itself, with women and regulators at the table from the outset. The discussion emphasized the importance of building gender responsiveness into Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and reviewing checklists as a mandatory, trainable practice. We are grateful to our panelists, partners, and the journalists from The Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association (KENSJA) for advancing equity in research and reporting on this critical issue. #GenderEquity #HealthEquity #HealthforAll #ClinicalTrials #GlobalHealth Dr. Fridah Mwendia | Chris Obwanga | Dearie Glory Okwu | Moses Alobo | Christabel Khaemba | Caroline Kithinji | Craig Tipple

📰 As part of the 2025-2026 #WithoutBordersMediaFellowship, journalist Rituparna Palit, one of the recipients of the MSF-DNDi Grant on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), takes an in-depth look at mycetoma in a feature story for The Scientist.       Even a decade after the World Health Organization recognized mycetoma as an NTD, it continues to receive remarkably little attention. Patients still face years of misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, disability, and, in some cases, amputation.     Through conversations with patients, clinicians, researchers, and public health experts, she sheds light on the burden of mycetoma, the challenges surrounding diagnosis and treatment, and ongoing efforts to improve disease surveillance and care.     The MSF-DNDi Grant is dedicated to NTDs and gender-responsive research and development, addressing barriers to healthcare access. This year's fellowship supports journalists, photographers, and filmmakers in producing in-depth reporting on critical health issues across South Asia.     📖 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ecF5jcct     #MSFSouthAsia #MediaFellowship #WithoutBordersMediaFellowship #Mycetoma 📸 Mayank Agrawal/DNDi    Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) South Asia | World Health Organization South-East Asia | Suman Rijal | Dr. Borna Nyaoke-Anoke | Sanjay Sarin | Dr. Satyaki Ganguly | Ahmed Fahal | Dr Archana Keche 

🦟 For the first time, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have been found breeding in homes in east London. The species can transmit dengue, chikungunya and Zika, although health authorities say the current risk to the public is low and there is no evidence of human infections. 🌡️ As our climate warms, invasive mosquitoes are increasingly being detected in new areas. But despite this growing global threat, there is still no specific treatment for dengue. 🤝 Together with our partners in the Dengue Alliance, and with the support of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and the Agence Française de Développement, we are currently developing a specific treatment to prevent the progression of the disease to severe dengue. 👉 Read more from the BBC News: https://lnkd.in/eSA9ZqgW #Dengue #DengueNews #ClimateChange #GlobalHealth European Commission | EU in Emergencies | Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

How can EU investments in health R&D deliver greater public returns? The EU spends billions on biomedical research and development every year but how that money is invested matters just as much as how much. Access planning is a growing practice for making sure that public funding drives innovation and results in medical technologies that are accessible, affordable, and available. On 9 September, we will join the Medicines Patent Pool and Salud por Derecho - Right to Health Foundation — hosted by MEP Nicolás González Casares — to bring together policymakers, funders and researchers to explore how access planning could be integrated into the biggest EU policy and research initiatives on the horizon, such as FP10, the European Competitiveness Fund, and the Biotech Act. 🎙️ Speakers include Javier Padilla Bernáldez (Spain's Secretary of State for Health), Michael Makanga (Global Health EDCTP3), michelle childs (DNDi), Dessie Tarlton (Unitaid), and representatives from the European Commission/HERA, CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), European Social Insurance Platform (ESIP), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and others. 🗓️ Wed 9 Sept | 15:00–17:00 CEST 📍 Online or at the European Parliament, Room SPINELLI 3H1, Brussels 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/e8bhspHC Ministerio de Sanidad | EU in Emergencies

🔬 Research and development must be at the heart of Africa’s health sovereignty. Last week, we participated in the 76th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (#RC76) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, joining policymakers, researchers, and civil society organizations to discuss Africa’s  health priorities. We co-organized a roundtable with Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) on the implementation of Article 9.5 of the WHO Pandemic Agreement. The discussion highlighted the critical role of political leadership and strong partnerships to turn commitments into action, with  institutions like the African Union, African Medicines Agency, and Africa CDC playing a key role. During the main sessions, Member States discussed key health priorities, including disease elimination, pandemic preparedness, sustainable health financing, and stronger regulatory systems. We called for:  📌 Putting research and development at the heart of Africa's health sovereignty agenda  📌 Sustained and publicly accountable investment in R&D for neglected diseases  📌 Faster adoption of policies that improve access to innovative health tools 🤝 We also met with partners from governments, research institutions, and not-for-profit organizations to explore collaborations to accelerate innovation and improve health outcomes for neglected patients across  Africa. 🙏 Thank you to all our partners and colleagues for these important discussions. We look forward to continuing this work across the continent! #GlobalHealth #NeglectedDiseases

We are deeply saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Vasee Moorthy who was a valued partner to DNDi, a respected colleague, and friend to many of us here. He brought immense scientific expertise, energy, and commitment to making clinical research more equitable and inclusive, and to addressing some of the historical imbalances in who decides, who implements, and who benefits from medical research and scientific progress. He was notably instrumental in advancing the implementation of the WHA Resolution 75.8, helping lay the foundations for WHO’s global clinical trials guidance. We were fortunate to work with him over many years on clinical trial networks, the public disclosure of clinical trial results, and efforts to strengthen clinical research capacity in LMICs. We hope to continue building on the foundation he helped create and working towards clinical research systems that deliver for everyone. We remember him as a highly collaborative partner, a true expert who was also very humble. We extend our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.