The Center for Innovation in Global Health

Building lasting solutions to global health challenges through research, programs, and policy

The Center for Innovation in Global Health (CIGH) partners with governments, civil society, and others to develop and advance scalable public health solutions around the world. Established by Dr. Charles Holmes, CIGH brings together a multi-disciplinary team with a track record of tackling some of the toughest challenges in public health.



Announcements

Georgetown Center for Innovation in Global Health statement on the Government of Malawi launching new initiative to accelerate an end to Malawi’s HIV epidemic

CIGH is proud to partner with the Government of Malawi, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and PEPFAR launching long-acting Injectable PrEP PathToScale Initiative in Malawi. Led by the Ministry of Health, the National AIDS Commission, and the Blantyre and Lilongwe District and City Councils, with support from the Georgetown Center for Innovation in Global Health, this new three-year, $15.3 million public private partnership will bring long-acting injectable PrEP to Malawi.

Georgetown Center for Innovation in Global Health partners with Government of Malawi to leverage emerging tools to accelerate an end to national HIV epidemic

The Center for Innovation in Global Health, in partnership with the Republic of Malawi’s Ministry of Health, announces a new three-year, $15.3 million public-private partnership to expand availability of a highly effective novel drug to prevent HIV. The announcement was made on the eve of the 12th International AIDS Society HIV Science meeting in Brisbane, Australia, where further details about the groundbreaking effort were presented.

Protecting global health gains in complex times requires investing in simpler solutions

CIGH staff and Malawian delegation convene at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
From February 16-22, Dr. Charles Holmes, Sara Allinder, and Debi Hoege from CIGH and a 17-member delegation of Malawian leaders convened at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle to share successes, challenges and learnings from the first half of the 5-year Blantyre Prevention Strategy (BPS). Representatives from Malawi government, NGOs, civil society leaders, USAID, and PEPFAR were among the delegation meeting with Gates Foundation leadership. Discussions focused on advances made through BPS, including case studies demonstrating the potential for more cohesive, sustainable and data-informed HIV programs. Outcomes from these discussions will shape the remaining 30 months of the BPS project and support upcoming implementation science programs for long-acting injectable PrEP in Malawi.

The Blantyre Prevention Strategy has launched a new website to share project findings, updates, conference presentations, and much more.
Click here to check out the new site.

Georgetown’s CIGH and Ethics Lab convene Ethics of Novel Data Use for HIV Programs expert committee
Georgetown’s Drs. Maggie Little and Charles Holmes have convened a series of  panel discussions with 20 experts in big data, data systems, and HIV programming from governments, civil society and private sector. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this work will continue through the end of 2022 and is expected to result in pragmatic ethical recommendations for donors, researchers and implementers.

CIGH’s Deputy Director collaborates with MOSAIC and Pharos Global Health Advisors
Sara Allinder recently joined MOSAIC’s Product Access Advisory Committee (PAAC) – an external, neutral committee that provides strategic, expert guidance to MOSAIC’s leadership and core management teams regarding developments in the HIV prevention market. Maximizing Options to Advance Informed Choice for HIV Prevention (MOSAIC) is a five-year (2021-2026) global project funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help women prevent HIV by accelerating introduction and scale-up of new and emerging biomedical prevention products.

Sara also serves as an expert advisor to Pharos Global Health Advisors and authored country case studies included in a 2022 evaluation conducted for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (GF) focused on the 2020 cohort of $1 billion in grants (COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) plus flexibilities) and a 2021 thematic review of pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) and the GF’s place in the future PPR universe, especially in supporting lower middle income countries while contributing to a stronger regional and global PPR system.


Events

As part of the IAS AIDS 2022 conference held in Montreal, Canada, CIGH hosted a satellite session on July 31, 2022. The satellite, titled The Blantyre Prevention Strategy: A New Way of Doing Business in HIV Prevention, was co-chaired by CIGH’s Sara Allinder and Malawi National AIDS Commission’s Chimwemwe Mablekisi. 

This satellite session featured speakers from the Government of Malawi at district and national levels, BPS expert partners, and CIGH’s Dr. Charles Holmes and Sara Allinder. They have highlighted the unique BPS business model and learning from two years of implementation, particularly in data usage and innovative approaches to supporting oral PrEP scale up.

View a recording of the session here and view accepted posters here.


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