The 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting (GCAM) held under the theme “Science Saves Lives” took place in Dakar Senegal from 08 – 11 October 2023 to explore how the global health community can expand the frontiers of science and innovation to save and improve lives.  This year’s annual meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the...

As the South African Health Technologies Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC), a network of over 20 organizations, we write to urge the South African government to ratify the AMA Treaty. We believe it is a historic opportunity for South Africa to be at the forefront of shaping the future of access to medicines and economic progress across...

The 3rd Africa Health Research and Innovation Funder’s Forum (AHRIFF) was held at Asara Wine Estate in Stellenbosch Cape Town from 24 – 26 August 2023. This is the third of the two previous Funders Forum meetings. The revolution of this meeting was influenced by a study conducted by Paruk. F. et al. 2014 entitled...

The 2023 UN High-level meeting (UN HLM) on universal health coverage (UHC) took place on 21 September 2023.  It provided countries and stakeholders an opportunity to reinvigorate progress towards delivering health for all. A number of civil society events happening on the sidelines of the UN HLM between 18 to 22 September provided a plethora...

Call to the Government of South Africa to fully Ratify the African Medicines Agency Treaty As the South African Health Technologies Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC), a network of over 20 organizations, I write to urge the South African government to ratify the AMA Treaty. We believe it is a historic opportunity for South Africa to be...

We the undersigned organizations under the Coalition for Health Research and Development (CHReaD) and the South African Health Technologies Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC) would like to appreciate the effort made so far to support the operationalisation of AMA. We recognise the efforts by AUC and AUDA-NEPAD to ensure the administrative and technical aspects of AMA are...

Calling for increased investment in health research and development Context and Landscape of Health R&D in SA We, the South African Health Technologies Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC), a civil- society coalition which advocates for an enabling environment for health research and development, recognises that, the South African government has demonstrated its commitment to the Health Research...

INTRODUCTION Recognising the potential of advocacy to impact South Africa’s innovation system, a group of non-governmental organisations launched the South African Health Technologies Coalition (SAHTAC) in 2016. Through coordinated advocacy,  SAHTAC is underscoring the importance of increasing access to lifesaving technologies across the spectrum. SAHTAC is enabling all member organisations to achieve mutually shared goals...

SAHTAC held its first quarterly meeting webinar on Wednesday 31 May 2023. The first guest speaker Elroy Paulus, Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) Board Member and Treasurer challenged the coalition to strengthen its advocacy agenda and make it clear in terms of what it aims to achieve and who the target audience is. He shared on...

In commemoration of the HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) 2023, IAVI, via the ADVANCE program, partnered with SAHTAC and The Aurum institute, to host the inaugural regional HVAD conference at the Birchwood Hotel & Or Tambo Conference Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 30, 2023. Drawing 131 participants, both in person and online, the...