Unitaid

Who we are

Unitaid is an international organisation that invests in innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria more quickly, affordably and effectively. We also work to improve access to diagnostics and treatment for HIV co-infections such as hepatitis C and human papillomavirus (HPV). Unitaid is a hosted partnership of the World Health Organization (WHO).

What we do

We provide health partners with short-term financial grants, targeted to achieve maximum impact. For example:

• Our investments played a key role in bringing about a tenfold price reduction for antiretroviral treatment for HIV.
• We helped scale up use of a new tool that tests for drug-resistant tuberculosis, doubling the global detection rate in four years.
• We increased access to quality antimalarial drugs and new diagnostic techniques, contributing to a 50 percent reduction in malaria deaths since 2000.How we work

Unitaid researches and identifies new health solutions with potential to alleviate the burden of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as HIV co-infections including hepatitis C.

Through calls for proposals, Unitaid finds partners best qualified to put key innovations into practice.

These partners receive grants from Unitaid to fast-track access and reduce costs of more effective medicines, technologies and systems.

In this way, Unitaid’s investments establish the viability of health innovations, allowing partner organisations to make them widely available.

Who pays for it

Since its establishment in 2006, Unitaid has received over US $2.5 billion in contributions from donors. Unitaid’s main donors are France, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Brazil, Spain, the Republic of Korea, and Chile.

A key source of income is innovative financing, specifically the solidarity levy on airline tickets implemented by France, which was later adopted by a number of other countries (including Cameroon, Chile, Congo, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, and the Republic of Korea).