Year-end message 2017

Dear FIND colleagues, partners, friends,

This year marks the halfway point in the delivery of our 2015–2020 strategy. We are on track, as confirmed by an external mid-term review, and we enter the second half of this strategic period with renewed energy and a concrete plan for further portfolio strengthening.

I’d like to highlight the progress that we’ve made, starting with FIND’s newest programmes – Outbreaks and AMR. Together with our partners, we aim to drive the development and delivery of diagnostics for epidemic preparedness. The first call for proposals for flexible outbreak platforms will be published in Q1 2018. In AMR, FIND and partners completed a first significant trial showing how to reduce antibiotic overuse in LMICs. Building on this work, we will bring together industry and academia to discuss the next steps in filling critical AMR diagnostic gaps.

In TB, we contributed to some very tangible wins for the R&D community, including the WHO recommendation of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay, advancing TB diagnostic capabilities in difficult-to-diagnose populations, such as children and those with HIV co-infection or extra-pulmonary TB. Working across the public and private sectors in ten cities, our work in India contributed to a change in national policy for TB and resistance testing in children.

The Trypa-NO! Partnership reports being on track with its elimination targets despite the additional efforts needed to address the South Sudanese refugee crisis in Uganda.

The malaria team had a “first-ever” event in 2017, developing the first international standard for malaria diagnostics with partners, which was endorsed by the WHO. These standards will be used worldwide for malaria RDT quality assurance.

To expand our open access services, we launched a diagnostic pipeline tracker that is available on our website and will keep implementers informed, in real-time, of R&D progress.

These achievements, and many others, were made possible by our 200 plus partners and 25 donors who share our belief that diagnostics are a first critical step to treatment and health.

My sincere thanks to everyone for their hard work and dedication.

I wish you happiness and health for the coming year and a very well-deserved holiday break. See you in 2018!

Catharina