Research and development (R&D) funding for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) rose in 2016 despite reductions in overall spending for HIV prevention R&D, reports the Resource Tracking for HIV Prevention Research & Development Working Group in its 13th annual report. In a year that saw the lowest annual investment in HIV prevention in more than a decade, R&D funding related to VMMC increased by 57 percent, from US$6.6 million to US$10.4 million. This surge in funding for VMMC R&D is attributed to investment by one donor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With strong empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of VMMC for HIV prevention, donor priorities have now shifted to scale-up and implementation, with 70 percent of the funding for VMMC devoted to implementation science and service delivery.
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