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Today, 33 leading global health organisations and members of national parliaments have issued an open letter to G20 heads of state, calling for them to increase the prioritization of health by the G20, and establish the G20 as a permanent global health policy forum. The letter calls for heads of state to continue the strong focus on research and development (R&D) to address critical challenges like emerging and drug-resistant infectious diseases. The signatories also encourage G20 leaders to include the conclusions of the inaugural Health Minister’s declaration in next week’s declaration of the G20 Heads of State Communique in Hamburg. Given the growing risk to humanity the letter urges leaders to increase financial and political support for global health R&D, and to encourage private sector and philanthropic organisations to accelerate addressing anti-microbial resistance, pandemic preparedness and poverty related neglected diseases.   “I fully endorse the G20 Leaders’ decision to place Global Health Innovation on the G20 agenda. We must prioritise AMR R&D in key pathogens –such as HIV, TB, Malaria, and NTDs–moving forward.”– Jeremy Lefroy MP, UK Member of Parliament, Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund “The G20 gives developing countries more power and coordination in managing the global economy. We welcome their decision to place Global Health Innovation and critical issues like antimicrobial resistance in malaria, TB and HIV on the agenda. In doing so, the G20 is making a powerful statement that they intend to address the full range of issues that affect world economies – a critical step forward for global health and wealth.” – David Reddy, CEO MMV   “At a time when global health challenges—like antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases—are on the rise, it is critical that G20 nations join together to make sure we have the vaccines, medicines, and other tools in hand to address current as well as future health crises.”– Jamie Bay Nishi, Director, Global Health Technologies Coalition “The medical technology industry is committed to the fight against AMR, which is a global public health issue in need of global leadership. MedTech Europe would welcome G20 support in the uptake of medical technologies that have a great potential to prevent the misuse and overuse of antibiotics throughout the patient pathway.” – MedTech Europe Chancellor Angela Merkel has put global health at the heart of her government’s G20 Presidency. This momentum must be built on, with the G20 becoming a permanent forum for ministerial dialogue and action on global health policy, starting with next year’s Argentinian presidency. ### Notes to Editor:   Further information about Global Health Innovation Event: The “Research for Impact and the G20: How can global health innovation drive sustainable development?” roundtable event, held on Friday, April 28th 2017, at the Quadriga Forum in Berlin, Germany was organized by Sovereign Strategy and co-hosted with the following organizations: the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund, UNITAID, and CARB-X. The one-day roundtable event involved opening and closing speeches, two sessions of moderated roundtable discussions, presentations on the G20 priority foci of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and pandemic preparedness, the B20 and its health initiative as well as the current project, its “Call to Action” (CTA) output document, and discussions on how to carry it forward. The stated objective was to create a platform for cooperation and policy advocacy for an open and unique coalition of organizations following the declaration of the G20 Health Ministers and leading up to the G20 Hamburg Summit. The roundtable discussions are summarized in the Rapporteur’s Report. Over 100 public and private health stakeholders backed four recommendations agreed the roundtable in a “Call to Action”, published ahead of the G20 Health Ministers summit.     

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Researchers at the University of Maryland are employing innovative techniques in their efforts to eradicate malaria. Their approach involves injecting spider and scorpion venom into already toxic fungi, in order to kill the malaria vector. By targeting the vector using this technique, scientists may be able to kill larger populations of disease-carrying and insecticide-resistant mosquitoes. The venom acts as a neurotoxin, and the fungus acts as the catalyst to transfer the toxin into the mosquito. The effects of this method were clear: First, the mosquito stopped feeding. Then, the neurotoxin killed the vector. While there are concerns about using venom in wild settings, the Environmnetal Protection Agency (EPA) has approved this method and has noted that neither the venom nor the fungus pose a threat to birds, mammals, or other insects. Not all mosquitoes carry diseases—some are simply a nuisance. When it comes to vector control, methods such as insect traps trap and kill all mosquitoes indiscriminately. This makes identifying the species known to carry diseases from among hundreds of dead vectors quite difficult. However, new traps created by Microsoft have the capacity to scan each mosquito that enters the system. If the wings match the wings of a disease-carrying species, the system traps the mosquito in its own cell. This system correctly identifies disease-carrying vectors 90 percent of the time, thus making catching and identifying specific mosquito species much easier. The system is currently expensive, with each system costing several thousand dollars. However, scientists hope to drive the price down to a few hundred dollars to allow for worldwide distribution. Researchers at EcoHealth Alliance studied viruses in animals to investigate which species pose the greatest threat to humans. The researchers found that about one-third of known animal viruses—about 200 viruses total—are zoonotic, or capable of animal-to-human transmission. The researchers then categorized which animals would most likely pose a threat to humans based upon how many of the zoonotic diseases affect each animal species, and which of those animals interact the most with humans. They found that rodents and non-human primates were the two most virally promiscuous creatures, with the highest chance of transmitting viruses to humans. 

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Brazilian researchers have created a low-cost biosensor product capable of detecting proteins in the membranes of cells infected with dengue, providing a diagnosis in just a few minutes. During its initial testing process, the tool was able to confirm the presence of dengue in all contaminated blood samples tested. While this is a positive start, more testing needs to be done to ensure the tool is continuously reliable in diagnosing dengue and explore options to reduce the price further. If the device proves to be both inexpensive and reliable down the road, it could be a revolutionary tool for diagnosing dengue around the world. In a research lab in Seattle, Washington, Gary Buchko and his team are studying the foundation of the world’s most infectious diseases: proteins. The team is responsible for some of the most groundbreaking work in this niche area of science and have recently identified their 1,000th protein structure responsible for infectious diseases in humans. With the size of a protein being one ten-thousandth the width of a human hair, the work they do is tedious and complex and could take months or years to unlock one single protein structure. But it’s revealing critical information to help design molecules to disrupt or disable the process of these pathogens, paving the way for new vaccines, treatments, and other solutions A compound in Italian soil has been found to have impressive antibiotic properties. The compound, pseudouridimycin (PUM), mimics an RNA building block and is capable of blocking specific polymerase, or enzymes capable of transcribing DNA into RNA. This is important because it can block bacterial polymerase–bacterial enzymes that can make you sick–but it leaves human polymerase intact, allowing PUM to be a highly specific antibiotic tool. Because of this ability as well as the unique structure of the compound, PUM is ten times less likely to trigger a resistance. While this compound has only been tested on animals, results have been promising, and scientists are hoping to advance to human trials within the next three years.