- Share the Fruits of Scientific Progress
Hunuvat is a small network of health and human rights experts. Our founder, Ben Plumley was previously CEO of Pangaea a global infectious disease technical assistance and policy think tank that was based in Oakland California and Harare Zimbabwe. He brought gold-standard life-saving treatment to people in need in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Laos and China. Pangaea's approach, which underpins Hunuvat's philosophy is to collaborate with governments and communities to build strong, sustainable strategies to improve the health of all.
Hunuvat is helping citizens in emerging economics in Africa, the Caribbean and South East Asia significantly improve the quality and reach of healthcare available to them, through affordable, insurance-based universal healthcare schemes, in partnership with healthcare providers, insurers and drug manufacturers.
And it is not just medicines that are currently on the market. Hunuvat is passionate about helping policy drive new, transformative advances in science, and involving the communities that will benefit from them into their research and development at the very earliest stages. We have been at the forefront of policy development for long acting injectable HIV treatments, prevention technologies, new therapeutic options for hepatitis, and novel approaches to infertility treatment and embryo research, to name but a few.
- Hunuvat Hubs: Driving Global Policy
Hunuvat is linking communities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector with national and international policy makers, to ensure that their voice is heard, and that policies that affect these communities, genuinely reflect their needs.
We have established Hunuvat Hubs - which are rapid reports from policy experts around the world, targeting key issues in health and human rights. Using the latest innovations in information technology, are connecting experts and community leaders from around world to review existing data and research, and create real-time summaries of the challenges facing policy makers and how they might address them. Our priorities between May and December 2019 include
HIV Testing - The case for self testing as an entry point for both prevention and care (May 2019)
PrEP - adapting new technologies for hard-hit communities (including women and girls in sub Saharan Africa & men who have sex with men, and trans communities in South East Asia) (July 2019)
Elimination of Viral Hepatitis in Africa - we have the tools, do we have the political will to end HCB and HCV across the continent (September 2019)
Greater Regional Health Guidelines Leadership - ebola has shown that regional health collaboration on implementing the latest science is crucial to getting ahead of new infectious disease threats. How might the existing framework for setting health guidelines be transformed? (December 2019)
Hunuvat is dedicated to help society think through the ramifications of new technologies - even at their conceptual stages - how they might impact our lives, positively or negatively.
- A Shot In The Arm Podcast
Hunuvat is collaborating with NewsDoc Media to create high quality, accessible podcasts to explore new challenges in health and human rights - particularly how biomedical and behavioral innovations can be incorporated rapidly into public health strategies - with the leadership and engagement of local communities. Ben Plumley is joined by co-hosts David Evans and Gloria Lockett as they meet fascinating people with personal stories to tell from around the world.
- New Diseases Need New Partners
Hunuvat believes that the private sector has much more to offer, as the world responds to the challenges of new infectious diseases, and building universal healthcare for all.
Hunuvat encourages private and public sector research and advocacy collaboration to identify the next wave of infectious disease challenges and develop effective rapid solutions.
Hunuvat is also supporting Friends of the Global Fight. the Washington DC-based advocacy group for continued US engagement in support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria. Friends has established a private sector advisory council, which Hunuvat is helping grow as well as identifying concrete data, process technology and biomedical collaborations to transform the world’s response to these diseases.
Hunuvat’s consultants have been at the forefront of the business response to global health for over 30 years. Ben Plumley established the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, with the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in 2001. They recruited over 200 international companies to join the fight against AIDS. Ben developed the standards for business engagement in health: workplace education and treatment programs, community outreach, and global advocacy. He has helped large corporations develop, implement and monitor workplace wellness programs for HIV, TB, Hepatitis, Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer.
The business community is an essential - and often undervalued - partner in improving health and wellness. The workplace offers unparalleled opportunities to provide access to information, testing and treatment, while respecting the confidentiality of employees. In many countries, companies are at the forefront of providing quality medical healthcare to the broader communities in which they are based as well.