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

This Uniting Efforts-commissioned 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.