Global health briefs

May/June 2024 | Volume 23 Number 3

Primary health care prevents child deaths

The implementation of primary health care over the last two decades has prevented more than 300,000 child deaths in four countries, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health. The retrospective impact evaluation by Barcelona Institute for Global Health focused on Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico from 2000 to 2019. Effects were particularly strong for poverty-related conditions (such as anemia and malnutrition) and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Insight into malaria parasite drug resistance

Malaria, a disease caused by parasites that are transmitted by mosquitoes, afflicted 249 million people and led to 608,000 deaths in 2022. A study from SMART (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology), published in Nature Microbiology, found that a cellular process called transfer ribonucleic acid modification—where cells alter RNA molecules in response to drug-induced stress—influences a parasite's ability to develop drug resistance. The findings could help researchers develop new drugs.

WHO updates priority pathogens

The WHO's Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024, released in May, saw the removal of five pathogen-antibiotic combinations that were included in BPPL 2017, and the addition of four new combinations. Third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales are listed as a standalone item and Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) infection was moved from critical to high priority.

New funding for maternal vaccine to prevent sepsis in newborns

The Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at University of Maryland School of Medicine received $3.96 million to develop a maternal vaccine that prevents sepsis in newborns and infants. The first-of-its-kind inoculation targets Klebsiella pneumoniae, a potentially fatal infection in babies, with the added potential to prevent hospital-acquired K. pneumoniae sepsis infections. An estimated 2.5 million neonates die annually of sepsis, with the greatest burden in low- and middle-income countries.

Linking dengue subtypes to severe disease

A study in Science Translational Medicine explains how the four dengue subtypes—DENV-1, 2, 3, and 4—influence the risk of severe infections. To learn why some twice-infected patients can have more severe symptoms the second time around, the researchers gathered data from 21 years of dengue surveillance from Bangkok, Thailand. The researchers determined which combinations of subtypes pointed to mild or severe forms of dengue, which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

COVID-19 decreased global level of life expectancy

The World Health Statistics 2024 report revealed how the COVID-19 pandemic reversed a decade-long trend of steady gains in life expectancy. Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years (back to the 2012 level). The WHO regions for the Americas and South-East Asia were hardest hit, with life expectancy dropping by approximately 3 years and healthy life expectancy by 2.5 years.

WHO prequalifies a second dengue vaccine

In May, the WHO prequalified TAK-003, a vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue. Developed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, the two-dose inoculation is recommended for use in children aged 6 to 16 years old in settings with high dengue burden. Prequalification makes the vaccine eligible for procurement by United Nation agencies, including UNICEF; this WHO list includes just one other dengue vaccine. Roughly 3.8 billion people live in endemic countries.

Areas of malaria transmission may shrink due to climate change

An ensemble of environmental and hydrologic models suggests the total area of malaria transmission will start to decline in Africa after 2025 through 2100. Malaria is among the most prominent climate-sensitive diseases because it is spread by mosquitoes; changes in rainfall can either expand or restrict the geographic range of mosquitoes and the availability of standing water needed for them to breed.

Alliance aims to accelerate pediatric HIV testing

The Global Alliance to End HIV in Children by 2030 aims to increase HIV testing and ensure every child with HIV can get care. The first step to ensuring children living with HIV (CLHIV) get treatment is identification, yet only 63% of CLHIV know their HIV status compared to nearly 90% of adults. In 2022, an estimated 1.5 million children were HIV positive, including 130,000 new infections, and 84,000 died of AIDS-related causes.

Cameroon launches program to find pediatric HIV patients

Cameroon is on the cusp of reaching HIV epidemic control among adults, and, to speed the identification of children and teens with HIV, the central African nation's government partnered with CDC and PEPFAR to launch the National Pediatric HIV Surge in April. The initiative expands access to HIV services while offering integrated health benefits, including screening children for malnutrition and tuberculosis, and providing vaccinations..

Updated June 17, 2024

To view Adobe PDF files, download current, free accessible plug-ins from Adobe's website.