The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has announced that it has formed a coalition with the COVID Global Accountability Platform (a joint initiative of the COVID Collaborative and Duke University) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to work with diagnostics manufacturers and nongovernmental organizations to launch COVID-19 test-and-treat programs in low- and middle-income countries.

A pilot program to be established in four countries with enhanced access to diagnostics and low-cost oral antiviral COVID-19 treatments will expand to a total of 20 countries with the goal of demonstrating that a test-and-treat regime should be a long-term addition to vaccination as a means of containing the pandemic. OSF will fund in-country costs and facilitate access to tests and COVID-19 treatments. Seen as a complement to a separate $200 million financial risk partnership OSF launched in April to enable countries to procure additional COVID-19 vaccine doses, and to other commitments announced at the Second Global COVID Summit, the test-and-treat project will help establish the framework for future pandemic responses, bolstering community-delivered primary health care.

“By refining country-specific operational models, these efforts will accelerate the eventual global scale-up of test-and-treat capabilities, while helping bridge to the entry of low-cost, quality-assured generic antivirals,” said David Ripin, executive vice president of infectious diseases at CHAI.

“Together, we will fill an important and urgent gap in both testing and treatment which is vital to containing COVID-19,” said OSF president Mark Malloch Brown. “Supporting innovative solutions is the only way to end this pandemic, and philanthropy can help lead the way.”

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