New Uniting Efforts report: Planning for access during research and development: Policies, practices and opportunities to ensure health technologies are available to those that need them most

27 August 2024 — A new report commissioned by Uniting Efforts for Innovation Access and Delivery, a partnership of the Government of Japan, the United Nations Development Programme-led Access and Delivery Partnership, and the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, is now available:

Planning for Access During Research and Development: Policies, practices and opportunities to ensure health technologies are available to those that need them most.

This report explores the current discussions and issues around planning for equitable access to health technologies during the research and development (R&D) process. It documents the policies, practices and perspectives of global health funders, innovators and other key stakeholders.

The findings reveal that while all stakeholders consulted agree that this is an area of interest and an opportunity to better ensure access, not all consider this part of their mandate or have explicit, consistent definitions of ‘access.’ Funders and innovators are increasingly considering developing access policies, but specifically ensuring that they start upstream during the R&D process isn’t as common. Among funders and innovators that do have access policies and/or practices during R&D, the levels of detail, activity and transparency varied.

The report goes on to note that across all stakeholders, there are both potential opportunities as well as potential appetite to continue to improve planning for access during R&D for health technologies. Read the report to learn more about these findings and eight proposals for consideration and discussion related to strengthening planning for access. These efforts have the potential to amplify the impact of the critical work already undertaken by innovators, funders and other key stakeholders to ensure that ministries of health, communities and patients can benefit from needed health technologies.