Unitaid

05/10/2026

How do you know when bleeding after childbirth has become dangerous?

A calibrated blood collection drape gives health workers an objective way to measure blood loss, helping them identify postpartum hemorrhage earlier and act sooner.

In Zambia, the drape is being introduced as part of a wider package to improve postpartum hemorrhage care. This includes heat-stable carbetocin, tranexamic acid, training for health workers, updated guidelines and stronger supply systems.

Through SafeBirth Africa – a partnership between Unitaid, the European Union, UNFPA, Jhpiego and others – these tools and approaches are being introduced and tested in real health systems, generating evidence to help countries understand what works and how it can be scaled.

Because improving care is about more than introducing a new tool. It’s about testing innovations in real health systems, generating evidence and helping countries develop approaches that can be adopted and scaled.

A simple tool can help make a critical decision sooner.

European Union in Nigeria

05/10/2026

Postpartum hemorrhage can become life-threatening within minutes. What if health workers could act sooner?

For Dr. Mary Maina, one weekend at Kiambu County Referral Hospital in Kenya showed the stakes.

Around 20 units of blood were used. Three women needed emergency hysterectomies.

In Makueni County, she saw a different approach: a package of tools to help prevent, detect and treat postpartum hemorrhage, including heat-stable carbetocin, calibrated blood collection drapes and tranexamic acid.

Unitaid is helping countries test innovations like these in real health systems, build the evidence on what works, and develop models that can be adopted and scaled.

Because innovation only matters when it reaches the people who need it.

This , see how better tools and better systems can help save mothers’ lives.

Read more: https://ow.ly/2aSu50ZUkWL

02/10/2026

What happens when the treatment keeping you alive depends on whether you can pay for it?

During COVID-19, Louis Da Gama in Portugal and Maurine Murenga in Kenya both developed severe respiratory complications.

Louis received oxygen immediately, and continuously for two weeks.

Maurine had to raise money to access hospital care. Once admitted, she was told her oxygen would be switched off unless payment was made.

Their experiences reveal a wider divide.

Oxygen is essential to treating pneumonia, sepsis, complications of childbirth, premature birth and many other conditions. Yet reliable access can still depend on where someone lives, the health system around them and whether they can afford to pay.

Oxygen is a century-old therapy. The challenge is not inventing it, it is building the systems that make sure it is there when people need it.

This , read Louis and Maurine’s stories and what they reveal about the unequal cost of oxygen.

In Portugal and Kenya, two patients confronted the same medical need, but only one had assured access

30/09/2026

“Health innovation only matters if people can access it.”

For Sithembile Chiware, that means asking what happens after an innovation is developed.

Is it affordable? Is it registered? Can countries procure it? Are health workers equipped to deliver it?

These are the practical barriers that can keep innovations from reaching people.
For Jorge Bermudez, FIOCRUZ - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Brazil, the answer is rooted in “solidarity”, ensuring everyone has the right to health, including access to medical technologies.

That connection sits at the heart of our work, turning promising innovation into affordable, available and accessible health products, at scale.

30/09/2026

What if we could make TB diagnosis more affordable, and bring it closer to the people who need it?

That’s what two areas of work supported by Unitaid are helping to make possible.

50% potential reduction in the cost of TB testing through pooled testing

New research in The Lancet Global Health shows that pooled testing, combining samples from up to 4 individuals into a single test, could reduce the cost of TB testing by 50%.

Unitaid conceived, designed and funded the work, led by our partner Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, to test whether pooled testing could deliver these savings at scale.

The study involved more than 14,000 people across seven countries, and its findings helped inform the World Health Organization’s recommendation on pooled testing where resources are limited. The research has also been highlighted in The Telegraph.

65% reduction in the cost of portable X-ray and AI-enabled diagnosis

Working with Clinton Health Access Initiative, Unitaid has helped reduce the cost of portable X-ray devices and the AI software used alongside them, helping bring TB diagnosis to more remote communities and clinics with less infrastructure.

While most advances in fighting TB come with a large price tag, the shift in strategy could dramatically boost access to diagnosis and save money, experts said ⤵️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/pooled-tb-testing-could-save-money-and-improve-diagnosis/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo_save-money-and-improve-diagnosis/

30/09/2026

For a premature baby struggling to breathe, survival can depend on respiratory support that is routine in wealthier countries but still out of reach in many hospitals around the world.

For years, that was the reality for clinicians caring for premature babies in hospitals where electricity, oxygen and equipment could not always be relied on.

Then a simpler approach to respiratory support started changing what was possible.

Bubble continuous positive airway pressure, or bCPAP, uses a gentle flow of pressurised air and oxygen to help keep a baby’s lungs open and make breathing easier.

From Kenya to India, Brazil and Ukraine, clinicians are using bCPAP to help premature babies breathe – in busy neonatal units, remote settings, during blackouts and even in bomb shelters.

The technology is simple. Making it available at scale is the innovation.

With support from Unitaid, Vayu Global Health moved from prototypes to manufacturing and deployment across multiple countries.

And for the clinicians using it, the difference is not about technology. It is about no longer having to decide which baby gets the chance to breathe.

Find out more:

29/09/2026

For a premature baby struggling to breathe, survival can depend on respiratory support that is routine in wealthier countries but still out of reach in many hospitals around the world.

For years, that was the reality for clinicians caring for premature babies in hospitals where electricity, oxygen and equipment could not always be relied on.

Then a simpler approach to respiratory support started changing what was possible.

Bubble continuous positive airway pressure, or bCPAP, uses a gentle flow of pressurised air and oxygen to help keep a baby’s lungs open and make breathing easier.

From Kenya to India, Brazil and Ukraine, clinicians are using bCPAP to help premature babies breathe – in busy neonatal units, remote settings, during blackouts and even in bomb shelters.

The technology is simple. Making it available at scale is the innovation.

With support from Unitaid, Vayu Global Health moved from prototypes to manufacturing and deployment across multiple countries.

And for the clinicians using it, the difference is not about technology. It is about no longer having to decide which baby gets the chance to breathe.

Read the story: https://ow.ly/8fXV50ZSAWo

28/09/2026

“The next big shift is moving from simply creating medical innovations to ensuring their actual delivery to everyone.”

Keizo Takemi, Former Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, pointed to the challenge that has shaped Unitaid’s work for 20 years: a breakthrough is only a breakthrough when people can access it.

From HIV and TB to malaria and cervical cancer, Unitaid works with countries and partners to help bring better health products to the people who need them, making them more affordable, accessible and available at scale.

The next chapter will require the same focus: connecting innovation with the financing, health systems and partnerships needed to turn breakthroughs into access.

28/09/2026

“Scientific breakthroughs become public health breakthroughs when they reach everyone, everywhere.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa shared this message as Unitaid marked 20 years of turning innovation into impact.

From HIV and TB to cervical cancer, South Africa has worked alongside Unitaid and partners to make life-saving innovations more affordable, accessible and easier to deliver. This includes the recent launch of lenacapavir, a long-acting HIV prevention option that can help protect against HIV with just two injections a year.

Twenty years of innovation and partnership have shown what is possible when breakthroughs reach the people who need them. The work now continues, with stronger partnerships, new innovations and the next chapter of progress.

23/09/2026