Championing domestic financing to promote a vibrant vaccine research and development enterprise in Africa

A central part of IAVI Africa’s role in translating research to global health impact is contributing to an enabling environment in which research and development (R&D) of global health solutions is conducted. In principle, the region’s governments acknowledge health as a productive sector contributing to socioeconomic growth and development. There is also consensus that domestic funding of health R&D is necessary to ensure alignment of research agendas with national and regional health priorities. However, financing for health R&D as a critical component of public health in Africa is not clearly articulated in policies and practice.

In 2022, IAVI Africa inaugurated the annual Africa Health R&D Week as a forum to rally advocacy addressing barriers to Africa’s health transformation through health research, development, and innovation. During this forum, global health advocates, media, policymakers, program implementors, researchers, and funders engaged in discussions on key issues and trends influencing domestic resource mobilization for health R&D on the continent. These advocacy briefs sum up the discussions held during the inaugural Africa Health R&D Week with the call to action for increased transparency in the funding of health R&D; addressing the impact of the debt burden on research financing; identifying innovative approaches to domestic resource mobilization; and decolonizing R&D funding to advance global health equity.

The Africa Health R&D Week is supported by the Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR), a project of AVAC that is focused on developing and sustaining an Africa-centered network dedicated to accelerating biomedical HIV prevention research and advancing equitable access to proven HIV prevention products.