Health Research and Development
Health innovations built for those most affected, and within their reach
WACI Health advocates for African-led health research and development (R&D) that responds to African priorities, reflects community needs and is backed by sustainable domestic financing. Its work covers how research is financed and governed, how communities take part in it, and whether the innovations it produces reach the people who need them, from long-acting HIV prevention to shorter TB treatments and lifesaving medicines for childbirth.
Africa carries roughly a quarter of the world’s disease burden, yet African countries spend on average 0.45% of their GDP on research and development, against a global average of 1.7% and well short of the African Union’s target of 1%. Africa CDC estimates that meeting that target, with 15% of it going to health research, could add US$668 billion to African economies over 20 years.
This work includes its support for the Coalition for Health Research and Development (CHReaD), hosted by Amref Health Africa in Kenya. When African governments invest in their own research systems and listen to communities, researchers can set agendas that match local needs, and new products can be designed from the start to be affordable and suited to the people who will use them.
Purpose
What We Do
WACI Health works through national and regional coalitions to build support for health R&D, so that what works in one country can be tried in others. It is a founding member of CHReaD, where it sits on the domestic resource mobilisation working group and co-chairs the communications working group. Founded in 2015, CHReaD connects civil society organisations, research institutions, universities, government departments and private companies in Kenya and across East Africa. Its members push for the policies, regulation and financing that let health research and innovation flourish, and make the case for greater investment in health research, development and innovation as part of universal health coverage.
So that clinical research is ethical, inclusive and designed around the needs of those most affected, WACI Health sits on the community advisory board of REACH (Research to Expand Access to Heat-stable Carbetocin for the Treatment of Postpartum Haemorrhage), a trial on treating heavy bleeding after childbirth, a leading cause of maternal death. It is also on the steering committee of PEARLS (Preventing pre-eclampsia: Evaluating AspiRin Low-dose regimens following risk Screening), which is testing how best to use low-dose aspirin to prevent pre-eclampsia in women identified as at risk. Through AfNHi, WACI Health promotes ethical community engagement in HIV prevention trials.
Research reaches impact once solutions are approved, affordable and within reach. WACI Health supports shared regulatory standards and joint reviews across the continent, and pushes for fair prices and faster introduction of new tools, from long-acting HIV prevention to shorter TB treatments and medicines for safer childbirth.
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Reports, briefs and statements
CHReaD
Research and Development for Health in Kenya: The Coalition for Health Research and Development (CHReaD)
Health Research and Development
Research and Policy Report on Investments in HIV R&D in Africa
A Publications publication from the WACI Health knowledge library, published in February 2023.
Statements
Invest in HIV and Health R&D
A Statements publication from the WACI Health knowledge library, published in December 2022.
Statements
The Bamako Call to Action on Research for Health
A Statements publication from the WACI Health knowledge library, published in December 2022.
Policy Briefs
Domestic Financing of The Kenya HIV AIDS Research Agenda 2014 – 2019
A Policy Briefs publication from the WACI Health knowledge library, published in December 2022.