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

At the Start of COVID-19, India had 14 laboratories capable of diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 (corona) virus. By the time the fear of the pandemic faded, the number was 3,000. Cost of domestic test kits fell 60% from $8 to $3 during the period. The partnerships that made this happen were stitched together by U.S.-based The Rockefeller Foundation. The foundation’s funding to the Indigenization Of Diagnostics Initiative enabled drastic reduction in price of test kits, ten-fold increase in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic machine manufacturing and dramatic expansion of testing capacity. The insights acquired were adopted for G20’s medical countermeasures platform under India’s presidency.