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From innovation
to impact

Building on 20 years
of progress

Innovation has transformed global health. But innovation alone does not deliver impact.

Access must be built in early to...

accelerate the global health response

Accelerate the global health response

Modelling from the Global Fund shows that health innovations – like those supported by Unitaid – can fast-track responses by up to three years.

drive economic returns

Accelerate the global health response

46:1

Investment

Return

Independent analysis, commissioned to understand the overall health and economic impact of our investments, found that for every US$1 invested, our work yields US$46 in return.

and reach communities in need.

Accelerate the global health response

Every year, 390 million people benefit from the health products we have introduced to the global health response

390 M

Director

Dr. Philippe Duneton

When innovation is paired with deliberate action, millions more people can get the care they need - faster.

Executive Director’s Message

Philippe Dunetone

Dr. Philippe Duneton,

Executive Director

Twenty years ago, Unitaid was founded on a simple premise: when innovation is paired with deliberate action, millions more people can get the medicines, diagnostics and care they need – faster.

That premise has never been more relevant than it is today. Global health is in transition. Aid financing is shrinking, vital programs are being cut and countries are taking greater ownership of their health responses – often with little time to prepare. Projections suggest these disruptions could cost nearly 10 million lives by 2030.

Yet innovation continues to create new opportunities to accelerate progress – through scientific breakthroughs, smarter delivery models and more efficient ways of bringing proven tools to the people who need them.

"Too often, innovations for children and other vulnerable populations never advance at all – seen as too costly, too complex or too commercially limited to move forward on their own. We cannot afford to see this pattern repeat."

Innovation and access do not move together by default. New health technologies move through markets that reward purchasing power. If left unmanaged, they reach those with the greatest resources first, while affordability and availability in lower-income settings lag behind – sometimes by years. Too often, innovations for children and other vulnerable populations never advance at all – seen as too costly, too complex or too commercially limited to move forward on their own. We have seen this pattern repeat across HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis C and maternal health. We cannot afford to repeat it again.

The lenacapavir story illustrates what is possible when access is treated as a priority from the outset. This revolutionary long-acting injectable for HIV prevention has the potential to transform prevention for millions of people in low- and middle-income countries – but only if affordability is secured early. Through deliberate market-shaping, Unitaid and partners helped broker a landmark agreement to supply a generic version at just US$40 per person annually across 120 countries. This required early investment, strategic coordination and a clear commitment to equity before the market set its own terms.

For many adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa – who still account for a disproportionate share of new HIV infections – its impact could be especially profound. It may mean the difference between having a prevention option that fits their lives, or no suitable option at all.

From breakthrough prices to breakthrough speed

Years of experience in shaping markets and expanding access are helping drive affordability faster than ever before. When the revolutionary HIV treatment dolutegravir entered low- and middle-income countries, its US$75 price was widely seen as a landmark breakthrough for access, with costs continuing to fall over the following decade. Lenacapavir – one of the most important advances in HIV prevention in a generation – is expected to reach the same US$40 price point in just 1.5 years.

Lenacapavir

US$40

1.5 years

Jun 2025

Dec 2026

Oral PrEP

US$40

6.5 years

Jul 2012

Jan 2019

Dolutegravir

US$40

10+ years

Aug 2013

2023+

This graphic illustrates the time from regulatory approval to a price of US$40 per person per year. While each product followed a different path, the comparison illustrates how lessons learned from previous market-shaping efforts are helping shorten the time it takes for new HIV innovations to become affordable and accessible at scale.

For two decades, Unitaid has worked in the critical space between promising solutions and large-scale impact – reducing prices, expanding supply and building sustainable markets. In that time, we have helped bring more than 150 health solutions to scale, from pediatric HIV medicines and faster TB diagnostics to innovations that protect mothers during childbirth.

In the hands of the 390 million people who use these tools every year, these innovations mean longer, healthier lives and fewer disruptions to work, school and family life. They also strengthen health systems: Unitaid-supported innovations are projected to generate more than US$10 billion in savings by 2030 – freeing up scarce resources for countries to invest where needs are greatest.

Unitaid has helped introduce 150+ health products to the global health response.

HIV prevention options 

An expanding range of HIV prevention medicines, including new long-acting options, is helping more people find options that fit their needs, preferences and lifestyles.  

Child-adapted medicines for HIV, TB and malaria 

Simpler, safer formulations are helping ensure children benefit from the same treatment advances as adults.  

Shorter TB regimens 

New medicines and treatment combinations are helping people complete treatment faster and with better outcomes.  

Malaria chemoprevention 

Preventive medicines and innovative delivery approaches are helping protect vulnerable populations from malaria.  

Medicines to prevent postpartum hemorrhage 

A package of tools adapted to resource-limited settings is helping prevent, diagnose and treat one of the leading causes of maternal death worldwide.  

Newborn care technologies 

Innovations in oxygen delivery devices and newborn care are helping more babies survive and thrive.  

Cervical cancer prevention tools 

New approaches are helping bring cervical cancer screening and preventive treatment closer to women and communities. 

Rapid diagnostic tests 

Simple, affordable tests are making it easier to diagnose diseases quickly and start treatment sooner.  

Next-generation mosquito control tools 

Innovative mosquito nets and other vector control products are helping tackle insecticide resistance and reduce malaria transmission. 

Self-care health products 

From HIV self-testing to HPV self-sampling, these innovations are helping bring care closer to home and put testing in people's hands. 

Oxygen production and delivery technologies

New approaches to oxygen production, storage and delivery are helping expand access to lifesaving care and strengthen health systems. 

Across two decades, Unitaid has consistently prioritized the populations that markets and mainstream funding tend to overlook – above all, women and children. From pediatric formulations for TB and HIV that were not commercially viable without intervention, to the integration of lifesaving tools into maternal health platforms, to innovations against malaria that protect the most vulnerable – those most often left behind have not been an afterthought in our work, but its driving focus.

"Prices negotiated collectively, supply chains built at scale and access conditions applied across more than 100 countries deliver outcomes that no single country or region can replicate alone."

As countries take greater responsibility for their health responses, affordable innovation becomes even more critical. Countries cannot sustain what they cannot afford. Greater health sovereignty and regional cooperation are both welcome and necessary, but they cannot replace the collective effort needed to shape markets and ensure equitable access to innovation.

Prices negotiated collectively, supply chains built at scale and access conditions applied across more than 100 countries deliver outcomes that no single country or region can replicate alone. The gains of the past two decades were built on that collective reach. Sustaining them requires preserving and evolving it.

As global health priorities evolve – towards stronger primary care, regional manufacturing, climate-resilient supply chains and new health challenges – Unitaid’s catalytic, access-focused model remains as relevant as ever.

This report reflects what 20 years of principled, strategic investment have taught us:

  • 1 Access must be designed from the start – not added later.
  • 2 Countries and communities must shape solutions, not simply receive them.
  • 3 Catalytic capital must be willing to take risks where markets will not.

These are not abstract principles. They are the conditions that make equitable access possible.

That is what Unitaid was built to do. And the work continues.



Dr. Philippe Duneton,
Executive Director, Unitaid

When access works, its effects are felt not only in systems, but in lives.

Across countries and communities, innovation has delivered impact for the past 20 years.

– saving lives, strengthening systems and reaching people once left behind.

Story 1 Story 2 Story 3 Story 4 Story 5 Story 6 Story 7 Story 8 Story 9

These are some of those stories

But what determines whether a breakthrough becomes a reality?

On its own, it can take up to a decade for an innovation to reach all communities in need.

And some of the most needed innovations would never advance at all.

It requires deliberate action to turn innovation into impact.

The access journey

QualityAffordabilitySupply anddeliveryDemand andadoptionInnovation andavailability

Innovation and availability

Does the right solution exist – and is it designed for those who need it most?

Many health tools are not designed with low-resource settings in mind. We help ensure that innovations are fit for purpose, backed by evidence and available for use in the settings where the burden of disease is highest.

Quality

People need safe, trusted, quality-assured tools for health

Access depends on quality and trust. In many low- and middle-income countries, effective tools exist but are delayed by regulatory barriers or undermined by substandard or falsified products.

Affordability

High prices can keep great advances out of reach

High prices remain one of the most entrenched barriers to access. Unitaid uses market-shaping approaches to bring prices down and improve value for money for health systems.

Supply and delivery

Access collapses if there isn’t enough supply to go around

Even when demand exists, access fails if supply chains are weak or delivery models don’t reach the people most in need. We work across the full supply chain – from manufacturing to last-mile delivery – to ensure tools are available, reliable and sustainable. 

Demand and adoption

A tool only works if people want it, trust it and can actually use it

A proven health tool has no impact if countries cannot adopt it or people will not use it. We work to accelerate adoption of new tools even when resources are constrained, helping align financing, policy guidance and demand so innovations can be taken up faster.

By working across all the access levers at once – innovation, quality, affordability, supply and demand – we can ensure new health tools don’t stall at pilot stage and move quickly from innovation to real-world impact, reaching more people, sooner.

Follow these four products through the access journey to learn how it works.

01

Lenacapavir

A long-acting injectable form of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) given just twice a year. Lenacapavir has the potential to transform HIV prevention, particularly for people who face barriers to daily oral pills, by making sustained protection simple and more feasible.

mask-journey Lenacapavir

02

Heat-stable carbetocin

A medicine used to prevent postpartum hemorrhage – life-threatening bleeding after childbirth – that is specially designed to remain effective even in hot climates without refrigeration, unlike alternative preventive medicines.

mask-journey Heat-stable carbetocin

03

TB prevention

Shorter, more tolerable preventive TB treatment regimens – 1HP (28 days) and 3HP (12 weeks) – improve completion rates and reduce the risk of latent TB progressing to active disease, especially among people at highest risk.

mask-journey TB prevention

04

Thermal ablation devices

Portable, battery-powered tools that enable rapid treatment of precancerous cervical lesions quickly and affordably at primary health facilities. By making treatment feasible, acceptable and accessible, thermal ablation is helping close one of the most critical gaps in the cervical cancer pathway.

mask-journey Thermal ablation devices
New Ideas

The future of global health starts with ideas.

New ideas are emerging that could reshape how diseases are prevented, diagnosed and treated.

Paying attention early is how we stay ready – and help ensure access follows where impact is possible.

These are some of the promising innovations we’re watching – innovations that, if scientifically proven, will only become breakthroughs if they reach communities in need fast.

Emerging innovations

Click on any innovation to learn more

Innovation 1

Once-monthly oral PrEP

Innovation 2

AI-assisted diagnostics

Innovation 3

Next-generation antimalarials

Innovation 4

Climate-smart health products

Innovation 5

Hepatitis C single-shot cure

Innovation 6

Long-acting HIV treatments

Innovation 7

TB vaccine candidates

Innovation 8

Genetically modified mosquitoes