Clinton Health Access Initiative

At this week, the Livelihood Impact Fund launched the Global Vision Impact Award — a new funding opportunity for governments ready to build national near-vision programs and get reading glasses to the people who need them.

The award will provide up-front technical assistance, policy design support, and catalytic funding for 15 governments to establish the supply chains, training, and policy frameworks needed to deliver glasses at scale.

Over 1.8 billion people worldwide struggle to see up close as they age. 800 million don't have access to reading glasses. The fix costs under US$1 per person to produce.

Governments can register interest now. https://ow.ly/8ZRN50Z2iXt

Congratulations to Livelihood Impact Fund on the launch, and to partners Vital Strategies, World Health Organization (WHO), VISION 2020/IAPB, Last Mile Health, and Lwala Community Alliance.

Southeast Asia has several vaccine manufacturers, a strong track-record of investments, and political will behind regional vaccine production. What it doesn't yet have is the market conditions to make that capacity commercially sustainable.

An estimated 60–90% of the region's manufacturing capacity sits with a single producer. Most others supply primarily to their domestic market. And different national regulatory systems make cross-border supply slow and costly, even where the capacity exists.

New research from CHAI and RVMC maps the structural risks and sets out a practical path forward. Published today as global health leaders convene at WHA.

https://ow.ly/BiV750Z0m1o