The U.S. Agency for International Development aims to lead global efforts to improve health conditions in developing countries by becoming a platform that will more rapidly scale innovative health interventions to a larger market, the top U.S. aid official said today in a conversation on global health.
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah also called for a shift in the mindset of researchers and development workers, from thinking of facility-based, Western interventions to innovative solutions that can be easily implemented by community health workers.
To do this, USAID plans to develop a center for excellence focused on cutting the time between the development of new health interventions and technologies to their introduction on the ground, Shah said Tuesday (Feb. 15) in an address to the staff of the U.S. National Institutes of Health a day after the White House released its fiscal 2012 budget request.
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The agency also wants to use its commodity procurement systems to help deliver more of these technologies, particularly new vaccines, at more affordable prices, Shah said.
He added that USAID would conduct and release an annual accountability review of global health technology. There are also plans to engage in efforts to improve connectivity between patients and the health care services they require and in training local health workers on the use of new health-related technologies, Shah said.
Among the interventions USAID would invest in are vaccines. The agency plans to strengthen its vaccines team, support the development of new vaccines and promote public funding for the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization, Shah said.
USAID missions around the world would also be tasked to assess financial, health and economic issues in their region, the administrator added. Shah said the assessment will be used to create and publish profiles on the kinds of new vaccine products needed in particular countries. The profiles will include information on how much a vaccine should cost so patients can easily afford them, Shah explained.
The administrator added that USAID wants to support the development of innovative, faster and more accurate ways to diagnose tuberculosis and help make antiretroviral drugs and microbicides available in the market as soon as possible. The agency is also looking to focus on evidence-based strategies to prevent HIV, he said.
To boost global efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, USAID will push for the development of technology-aided support systems that will comprise of community health workers and midwives knowledgeable of and well-trained to use new technologies, Shah said.
For malaria, Shah noted that the global community has made significant gains against the disease but emphasized that new solutions are needed to boost this progress. The international community needs to develop better ways to diagnose malaria and new insecticides that are not harmful to human health and the environment, he explained, adding that the price of anti-malaria drugs should also be lowered.
