The global health initiative UNITAID will be announcing one of the largest investments in HIV/AIDS diagnostic projects on July 23rd at 2:00 pm at the International AIDS Conference, in Washington DC along with its partners for these investment projects: Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), UNICEF and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

This new set of investments by UNITAID and its partners will revolutionize the HIV/AIDS response in low-income countries by bringing new and advanced HIV diagnostic tests to patients in the most remote communities.

The partners will discuss how UNITAID’s unique market intervention approach will be used to accelerate market entry and reduce the price of technologies that move HIV diagnostics away from centralized testing facilities closer to the point of patient care. Experts will be available for interviews about these devises – both existing and emerging – which improve diagnosis, treatment and care of persons living with HIV disease and are suitable for resource-limited settings.

UNITAID is an innovative global health initiative established in 2006 by the governments of Brazil, Norway, Chile, France and the United Kingdom to increase access to medicines in 94 low and middle income countries. UNITAID has provided treatments; diagnostics and prevention commodities in the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria using a targeted market-impact approach to ensure quality low cost treatments and diagnostics are made available to those who need them most.
UNITAID aims to promote "healthy", dynamic market conditions whereby manufacturers have incentives to invest and innovate, while at the same time supply quality public health products at affordable prices and in acceptable formulations that enable the maximum number of people to access them.