November 17, 2020 Bridget M. Kuehn, MSJ
JAMA. 2020;324(19):1933. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.22082
A
global partnership plans to make 120 million coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) rapid antigen tests available in low- and middle-income countries,
according to an announcement from the World Health
Organization’s (WHO) Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
The
easy-to-administer tests can provide results in 15 to 30 minutes and can be
used outside of health care settings. Through an agreement with the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Abbott and SD Biosensor will make the tests available
at a cost of no more than $5 each. The WHO’s Global Fund has provided $50 million
from its COVID-19 Response Mechanism to help countries begin purchasing the
tests. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and Unitaid, a
nongovernmental organization, began a rollout of the tests in up to 20 African
countries in October 2020. The WHO and the Foundation for Innovative New
Diagnostics are supporting research to determine best practices for using the
tests in low- and middle-income countries.
“High-quality
rapid tests show us where the virus is hiding, which is key to quickly tracing
and isolating contacts and breaking the chains of transmission,” WHO Director
General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said in a statement. “The tests
are a critical tool for governments as they look to reopen economies and
ultimately save both lives and livelihoods.”
The
partnership comes at a critical time as data suggest that the COVID-19 response
costs low- and middle-income countries a staggering $52 billion every 4 weeks,
which could escalate to $62 billion if transmission increases.
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