Accelerating health technologies
New technologies hold promise to save lives
In the near future, new technologies for global health—vaccines, drugs, microbicides, diagnostics, and devices—could reduce suffering and save millions of lives worldwide:
- A vaccine against malaria could protect against a disease that threatens half the world’s population.
- New drugs could change the lives of the more than 1 billion people who suffer from neglected tropical diseases.
- A microbicide that could effectively block HIV and other sexually transmitted infections could give women the power to protect themselves with or without their partners’ cooperation.
- A rapid test for tuberculosis (TB) could speed up treatment and improve chances of survival for patients living with both TB and HIV.
- New, effective contraceptive devices could help families in developing countries avoid pregnancies that are ill-timed or unwanted, which account for an estimated 25 percent of all pregnancies.
Finding the next generation of tools
Investments in health technologies have already led to tremendous advancements in global health. Smallpox, a disease that once decimated populations across continents, has been eradicated. Millions of people have been spared from diseases such as polio and measles, allowing them to live longer, more productive lives.
Existing technologies have made this progress possible. Now, we need to expand access to these tools and develop the next generation of technologies that will prevent, diagnose, and treat global health threats:
- Through a proven, cost-effective treatment, millions have been cured of TB. However, this treatment regimen is long and difficult for patients to sustain. Moreover, drug-resistant TB cases are rising. In China and India, the two countries with the highest TB burden, the World Health Organization estimates that 8 percent and 5 percent of cases will not respond to current treatment, signaling an urgent need for new drugs.
- Deaths from diarrheal disease among children less than five years old have been cut nearly in half since the 1980s, but 1.8 million children still die from diarrhea each year. A vaccine against diarrheal disease could help save them.
- Life expectancy in the world’s poorest countries could increase more than 20 percent by 2050 if recent advancements against HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and other infectious diseases continue.
Cooperation and collaboration are key
Solving these and other challenges requires the cooperation and collaboration of every sector—private and public, governmental and nongovernmental. The United States, which has historically been the leader in health research and development, plays an especially vital role. New research from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shows that US investment in global health is working. As the largest funder of global health research, the United States can and should maintain its leadership in the advancement of new global health technologies to benefit the health of people around the world.
The challenges ahead of us are great, but they are not insurmountable. With adequate investment in the discovery, development, and delivery of global health technologies, we can stop the spread of disease, effectively treat once-devastating conditions, and save lives.
For more information on the above data, see:
World Health Organization (WHO). World Malaria Report 2008.
WHO. Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
WHO. Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance in the World. Report No. 4 (2.36 MB PDF).
PATH. Developing New Vaccines Against Diarrheal Disease (137 KB PDF).
