Unitaid

Unitaid is a grant making agency hosted by the World Health Organization. They save lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid identify innovative treatments, tests and tools, help tackle the market barriers that are holding them back and get them to the people who need them most – fast.

Since their creation in 2006, they have unlocked access to more than 100 groundbreaking health products, from the latest HIV treatments to the first-ever medicines for children with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) to next-generation mosquito nets to protect families from malaria. Every year, more than 170 million people in low- and middle-income countries benefit from the treatments, tests and tools they’ve helped roll out.

Through innovative financing solutions and thanks to the engagement of a broad range of partners, Unitaid aims to lower prices for those products and help get them to market and to those who need them most. They then collaborate with governments and leading global health organizations to take those products and best practices to scale.

Climate and health is a key priority in Unitaid’s 2023-2027 Strategy. They are working to introduce health products with lower environmental footprints and that support increased resilience for health systems to better adapt to a changing climate.

Unitaid officially partnered with the Climate Action Accelerator in August 2023. The Climate Action Accelerator will support Unitaid to cut its emissions in half by 2030 or earlier and to reach net-zero by 2050.

It is a great part of Unitaid ongoing work to address the impacts of climate change – and the impact of its work on the environment. The global health sector contributes 5.2% of the world’s carbon emissions, with a notable portion of these emissions associated with the manufacturing, transportation and delivery of health products and services.

Unitaid and its partners acknowledge their collective responsibility to reduce their own negative impacts on the environment and contribute to making the global health sector more sustainable.