NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 1, 2017

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), which has been dedicated to leveraging Japanese expertise and capacity for health innovations to save lives in the world’s poorest countries, announced today that it has secured commitments of over US$200 million* to its replenishment for its next phase of work, allowing it to move the most advanced tools out of the lab, and into the hands of those who need them most.

GHIT’s funding partners, including the Government of Japan (GOJ), private companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust have committed over US$200 million in a significant vote of confidence in the institution’s work. The new commitment for GHIT’s second phase is double the initial US$100 million investment GHIT received when it was created in 2013. The GOJ will contribute roughly half of the replenishment, with other partners splitting the remaining half.

Leveraging Japan’s historic leadership in global health and innovation, along with the unique technology and knowhow of its domestic and global partners, GHIT invests in R&D projects to develop new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics to address a range of infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It is the first public-private partnership of its kind for global health research and development (R&D), involving government, private companies, and private foundations.

“In just four years, the GHIT’s unique public-private partnership model has dramatically increased the global health community’s capacity to develop technologies that can effectively battle the infectious diseases that afflict roughly one-third of the world’s population,” said GHIT Fund CEO BT Slingsby. “This work is moving us closer to achieving universal health coverage and human security goals.”