United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), IAVI’s First Government Funder

Members of the SRPNTS accessible snakebite treatment consortium and DFID R&D team meet on March 2, 2020, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK. Photo credit: IAVI

IAVI recognizes DFID and the citizens of the United Kingdom for their strong and consistent political and financial support for the development of safe, effective, accessible, impactful public health interventions for use throughout the world. Most recently, DFID is supporting IAVI and its partners to significantly improve the efficacy, safety, and affordability of snakebite treatment in India and Africa through novel monoclonal antibody therapies.

Generous support from DFID since 1998, when DFID joined as IAVI’s first government funder, has helped IAVI to make significant progress in HIV/AIDS vaccine research. The longstanding collaboration has stimulated the development of valuable and sustainable capacity for health research in eastern and southern Africa and India. Working with communities most impacted by HIV/AIDS ensures their meaningful engagement in research while also linking them to prevention and care through their government response plans.

DFID support has helped IAVI cultivate groundbreaking research into powerful antibodies that can target a broader diversity of HIV subtypes. Today these antibodies are a major focus in research, including for the development of novel HIV vaccines, including a first-of-its-kind candidate heading into clinical trials.

These antibodies are also being explored in clinical studies as novel products for HIV prevention, research, and cure as well as in DFID’s latest support for a new global research consortium, the Scientific Research Partnership for Neglected Tropical Snakebite (SRPNTS). This new consortium including IAVI and its new partner the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) looks forward to developing the next generation of snakebite therapy, with the goal of increasing access to life-saving snakebite treatments in places where people need them most.

IAVI is grateful for DFID’s long-term partnership, their ongoing technical advice and leading role in global health R&D. Developing new health interventions requires steadfast funders like DFID, pioneering science, innovative partnerships, and engagement of countries and people in which the disease burden is the highest. IAVI is proud of its continuing work with DFID to provide affordable, globally accessible public health solutions.