We share our expertise and cultivate relationships with key decision-making bodies, government departments, and NGOs to collaboratively develop policies, strategies and interventions in health and development.
By facilitating opportunities for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary networking and knowledge exchange, we help to maximize local and global impact of policy changes, ensuring greater access to high quality health care.
Over the past 10 years, our interdisciplinary team has made significant contributions to policy around the world.
AIGHD research contributes to three kinds of policy contributions and initiatives:
Anniek de Ruijter and Katrina Perehudoff make influential contributions to policy surrounding health law, specifically in the EU. Most recently, they have contributed to the legal discussions surrounding COVID-19 access and ethics of vaccinations. Fair global distribution should be based on the shared values that 171 governments have already committed to in international human rights treaties. These are common values such as an agreement to collaborate and to prioritize care for the most vulnerable regardless of where they live. Katrina and colleagues proposed an ‘intersectional’ allocation scheme that considers both medical and social vulnerabilities. Anniek has also written the book on EU Health Law & Policy.
The years of research by H-TEAM is formally embraced by policymakers in Amsterdam. In 2021, the city announced a new policy with a concrete goal of 0 new HIV infections by 2026. Amsterdam wants to test for HIV more often, increase the use of the HIV prevention pill PrEP, treat HIV faster, and tackle stigmas about people living with HIV. Innovations in each of these areas have been spearheaded by H-TEAM.
Peter Reiss has made important contributions in the field of global HIV epidemic control through his involvement in Stichting HIV Monitoring who have published the HIV Monitoring Report 2019 offering a comprehensive overview of the current status of the HIV epidemic in the Netherlands. The report shows that HIV diagnoses in the last three years in the Netherlands have fallen from 941 in 2015 to 664 in 2018. This puts the Netherlands on track to achieve the target of halving the number of new HIV diagnoses by 2022, as set by the National Action Plan on STIs, HIV and Sexual Health.
Prof. Anita Hardon is a member of the Steering and Advisory Group (STAG) for the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Reproductive Health and Research.
As part of this role, in January 2019, she chaired the WHO Guideline Development Group Committee which is formulating the Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. This is a global team comprised of representatives from 40 organizations, to generate reproductive health and rights released by the WHO. They provide recommendations in all areas of self-care for sexual and reproductive health, including family planning and combating sexually transmitted infections.
EDCTP and AIGHD have launched a Global TB Vaccine R&D Roadmap. It identifies priorities for the development and implementation of new TB vaccines with the aim to coordinate and accelerate global action. The project was carried out in close collaboration with the World Health Organization.
To learn more about the TB Vaccine Roadmap, click here.
Clingendael Meeting, January 2019
Photo credit: © Anika Snel (KNCV)
Assoc. Prof. Frank van Leth at the Union
World Conference on Lung Health
October 2018
Prof. Peter Reiss, co-chair of AIDS2018
Photo credit: © IAS/ Matthijs Immink
Constance Schultsz led the establishment of the public- partnership, AMR-Global. AMR-Global seeks to establish relationships with academia and organizations within and outside the Netherlands to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) around the world. AMR-Global seeks to conduct sustainable and collaborative research with input from various knowledge domains, disciplines, and industry sectors. The partnership focuses on critical factors such as local value, affordability, sustainability and health market- and health system uptake.
AIGHD is also one of the organizations that signed the Call to Action for awareness on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the Netherlands on June 20, 2019. This Call to Action stressed public awareness and a stronger connection between science, policy and society, at both national and international level.
AIGHD is part of a collaborative network that will leverage collective expertise to impact antimicrobial resistance around the world. A letter of intent between the Dutch consortium AMR-Global and CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms) in India marked a formal collaboration between the two groups. Combining their respective expertise, AMR-Global and C-CAMP will accelerate research and innovation.
The European Global Health Research Institutes Network (EGHRIN) has been established as a new network of leading research institutions in Europe to promote and advocate for Global Health research and innovation. AIGHD holds the secretariat position within the EGHRIN consortium of research institutes.
EGHRIN aims to facilitate and strengthen equitable collaboration among the network’s institutes and their global partners on high-quality research and provides knowledge insights that can inform improvements in health systems, including the development of cost-effective innovations for long-term sustainability of health care systems worldwide. In addition, EGHRIN is engaged beyond the health sector to advocate in favor of health through reaching out to other sectors and disciplines in full alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework’s call of integration and indivisibility for sustainable development in any sector.
EGHRIN has made policy contributions within the EU in a number of ways. Most recently, in a correspondence article published in The Lancet, The League of European Research Universities (LERU) and the European Global Health Research Institutes Network (EGHRIN) outline how Europe should take a leading position globally in developing a comprehensive and timely response to health emergencies.
Frank Cobelens co-founded the initiative, which brings together Dutch stakeholders in global health (including academia, ministries, industry and NGOs) to define the needs and role for The Netherlands in global health, and advocate for a broader strategic approach to global health by the Netherlands Government.
As a result, a report titled Why the Netherlands should step up its ambitions on global health was published by the Netherlands Institute for International Relations Clingendael in 2017.
In January 2019, Clingendael members came together for their third meeting to discuss how industry, academia and NGOs can support the Dutch government in continuing to prioritize global health activities. Some of these include creating meaningful policy and ensuring visibility by participating in international workshops and discussions.
In May 2020, the Clingendael Institute hosted a webinar as part of the Clingendael Global Health Initiative. These webinars are comprised of discussion sessions around themes in Global Health. The webinar was the second in a series of two Global Health discussions focused on COVID-19.
Cate Hankins began her term as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Platform (EDCTP), a major EU funder for research on new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for poverty-related diseases and neglected tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cate Hankins was also appointed to the Canadia COVID-19 Immunity Task Force to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada and understand the nature of immunity following infection. Its goal is to support, harmonize and rapidly implement research studies, ensuring the right studies are done quickly – to inform federal, provincial, and territorial decision-makers as they manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frank Cobelens was appointed member of the International Advisory Board of the Research Networks for Health Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa, a flagship initiative by the German Government to fund and accelerate global health research.
Peter Reiss served as Local Co-Chair of The 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018), which took place in Amsterdam from July 22-28, 2018.
AIDS 2018 is the largest conference on any global health or development issue. First convened during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, this conference continues to provide a unique forum for the intersection of science and advocacy, and an opportunity to strengthen policies and programs to ensure an evidence-based response to the epidemic.
The conference brought together some 15,000 participants from around the world.