WASHINGTON, D.C. — October 19, 2017 — Results for Development (R4D) today announced that it has received $6.4 million from Good Ventures to support its pneumonia treatment program in Tanzania. R4D will to use these funds to increase access to and use of amoxicillin, a highly-effective, low cost treatment for childhood pneumonia that is recommended by the World Health Organization. The grant was awarded at the recommendation of GiveWell as part of its general effort to support the creation of future top charities.
In 2014, only 40 percent of the pneumonia cases in Tanzania were treated with antibiotics. Because dedicated funding sources do not exist for pneumonia as they do for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, countries often do not have enough pneumonia drugs to treat their populations. In particular, funding in Tanzania for the child-friendly and WHO-recommended dispersible tablet formulation of amoxicillin, had not been secured past mid-2016 despite a strong existing infrastructure for treatment. R4D intends to use this grant to immediately ramp up the purchase of amoxicillin in Tanzania and work with the government to transition the procurement of the medicine thereafter.
With support from Good Ventures, R4D aims to increase the treatment rate to 55 percent by the end of the project in five years. In particular, this grant will be used to:
- Support a consistent supply of life-saving amoxicillin dispersible tablets (amox DT) at public health facilities in Tanzania.
- Test programmatic interventions (such as potentially, mentoring and providing job aids) in public healthcare facilities and private drug shops to improve proper diagnosis and dispensing of treatment for childhood pneumonia.
- Monitor and evaluate the interventions.
These activities build upon R4D’s foundational work in Tanzania that began in 2015. In partnership with the government of Tanzania and other partners, R4D has been updating national pediatric treatment guidelines to align with WHO guidelines, supporting registration of products to ensure national-level access to high-quality treatments, and improving methodologies around forecasting how much medicine will be needed and when.
“More children under 5 die every year from pneumonia than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, yet many countries still lack access to high-quality, safe and affordable treatments, such as amox DT,” said Gina Lagomarsino, president and CEO of R4D. “We are thrilled to receive this grant from Good Ventures, which carefully selects a limited number of projects to fund every year. This funding will enable Results for Development to support the Government of Tanzania to rapidly overcome barriers that inhibit scale-up.”
Although amox DT has a number of advantages over previous treatment options — such as simplified dosing and supply chain requirements, and a relatively inexpensive cost (about 50 cents per course of treatment) — access to this life-saving commodity remains abysmally low in many low- and middle-income countries.
“In some countries, like Tanzania, there is an immediate financing gap,” said Kanika Bahl, former managing director at R4D. “Donor financing, including this grant from Good Ventures, can be catalytic and help scale up access to safe, affordable and effective treatment. Over the next five years, we will work closely with the government of Tanzania and other key pneumonia stakeholders to identify sustainable, long-term financing for amox DT and identify and pilot programmatic interventions to scale up access to amox DT for childhood pneumonia.”
More information on this grant can be found here.
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About Good Ventures
Good Ventures is a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to help humanity thrive. Good Ventures was created by Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook and Asana) and Cari Tuna, who have pledged to give the majority of their wealth to charity.
