A total of EUR12 M from 11 different donors has been used to develop the VL-specific portfolio of DNDi in our first five years of operation; this represents 25% of DNDi ’s total expenditure (EUR47.6 M) during that period.

The full scope of DNDi ’s VL-related activities – from earlystage discovery efforts through clinical studies (i.e. combination therapies in India and Africa) and clinical research capacity strengthening (i.e. LEAP) – have been supported by a balanced mix of public (52%) and private (48%) funds.

Core funding, which allows DNDi the flexibility to allocate its funds as needed to best manage its disease-specific portfolios, has been provided by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as well as by the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom. Funding for specific projects within the DNDi VL portfolio has been provided by the governments of France, the USA, the Region of Tuscany (Italy), and the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland), as well as by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private foundations.

Eighty-eight percent of these funds have gone directly to DNDi ’s social mission (including R&D and capacity strengthening) with nearly half of the money being used to support DNDi clinical studies in VL.

DNDi is grateful to these donors for their support; however, more is needed to deliver simple and field-adapted treatments for VL patients by 2014.