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Late last week, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah released his second annual letter, outlining major issues and initiatives that have shaped the agency since its inception 50 years ago. Shah also charts a course forward for USAID, detailing areas that the agency should focus on in the coming years in order to make inroads in international development. One major area of focus is, of course, global health, and Shah rightly emphasizes the role of science, technology, and innovation in meeting USAID’s international health goals. The health component of the annual letter largely aligns with a recent effort at USAID to improve child survival. “[P]erhaps the most important choice is helping all children live to see their fifth birthday,” Shah writes, adding, “The good news is we have remarkably effective and cheap ways to help children survive.” Many of these methods—from insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria, antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, and vaccines to prevent childhood killers like pneumonia and diarrhea—are available today because scientists and funders like the US Government made a commitment many years ago to develop new tools to fight these diseases. The new tools of yesterday have now become the standard tools to help children survive. Late last week, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah released his second annual letter, which emphasizes science and innovation. Shah also highlighted how USAID continues to harness science and research to develop the next generation of new drugs, vaccines, and other technologies to save children’s lives. For instance, USAID’s Savings Lives at Birth initiative provides grants to foster innovative prevention and treatment options for pregnant women and newborns in rural, low-resource settings. USAID also supports research and development (R&D) for new health tools to benefit not just children, but a wide range of populations. “We’re also increasing our investments in core scientific research and technological innovation at USAID,” the letter reads. “Last year, our support of AIDS vaccine research led to the isolation of 17 novel antibodies that could each hold the key to ending the pandemic.” And just last month, the agency launched a new partnership with US colleges and universities to promote research for global development challenges, including health. It’s exciting to see that Shah continues, time and again, to recognize how science and innovation can overcome some of the world’s long-standing global health problems. We at the GHTC heard just two weeks ago at our annual Congressional briefing that health R&D produces real results for people at home and abroad. It’s heartening to have a leader at USAID who is so committed to the power of research, and who continues to provide such critical leadership.

Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach for Women Deliver, writes about the recent “Women Deliver 50” initiative to mark International Women’s Day. Earlier this week, Women Deliver released its “Women Deliver 50,” a list of 50 inspiring ideas and solutions delivering for girls and women around the globe. Launched in celebration of International Women’s Day, this list showcases game-changing innovations and technologies that are making advances for girls and women worldwide. Several of the innovations include health technologies that harness research and development (R&D) to develop and deliver woman-centered prevention and treatment options. Selected from hundreds of nominations from 103 countries, some of the “Women Deliver 50” winners impact the lives of girls and women on a global scale by improving access to health technologies. For example, the GAVI Alliance is working to reduce the cost of HPV vaccines and to support their broad introduction in many of the world’s poorest countries. More than 85 percent of the 275,000 women who die every year from cervical cancer live in developing countries. Through its efforts, GAVI is aiming for millions of girls worldwide to receive the HPV vaccine, providing them with a better chance at a healthy and productive life. The “Women Deliver 50" list showcases game-changing innovations and technologies that are making advances for girls and women worldwide. Photo credit: PATH There are also medical technologies that, through R&D, are evolving to better meet the needs of girls and women. Female condoms have been around for 20 years, but even when available, women often decide not to use them because of cost and design concerns. With this in mind, PATH solicited input from couples around the world, and designed a more affordable, easy-to-use and comfortable female condom. With this new product, PATH is helping women to better protect themselves from HIV infection and unintended pregnancies. An innovative organization working to accelerate R&D for female-initiated solutions for HIV prevention is the International Partnership for Microbicides, a “Women Deliver 50” finalist. Vaginal rings, a popular method for delivering contraceptives, are long-acting, discreet, and easy to use. IPM has adapted this technology to the fight against HIV, and is preparing to launch a licensure program in partnership with the Microbicide Trials Network to determine whether a vaginal ring containing antiretroviral drugs can safely and effectively provide women with monthly protection against HIV. Should it be successful, the ring would empower women with the tools they need to protect their health. The “Women Deliver 50” winners demonstrate that we can develop revolutionary tools that impact the health and livelihoods of girls and women worldwide. We need to continue to create, test, and scale-up new and existing technologies. We still don’t have all the vaccines, drugs, devices and other health technologies that girls and women need, and it is critical for us to bridge this gap. As we’ve seen time and time again, when we invest in health innovations for girls and women, we see a positive ripple effect across society. If you weren’t one of the 6,000 people who voted for these 50 solutions, you can still weigh in with your thoughts. Visit the Women Deliver website to learn more about these exciting interventions, as well as other ideas and solutions making a difference around the world. And then visit Women Deliver on Facebook and Twitter to tell us what you think.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Kayla Laserson, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute Field Research Station in Kenya, writes about why US support for global health research is so critical. Investigators gave more detail about the positive results from the Partners PrEP Study at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle this week. The study found that antiretroviral treatment can prevent HIV transmission in couples where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative. Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency recently granted registration of a new child-friendly dosage of benznidazole, a treatment for Chagas disease. The dosage was developed through a partnership between the Pernambuco State Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Brazil and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. The University of Dundee has received funding from the Wellcome Trust and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to research some of the world's neglected tropical diseases, including Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness.

Dr. Gaudensia Nzembi Mutua is a research physician at the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI). She is based in Nairobi, Kenya. This post originally appeared on the ONE blog. The first person in Kenya to speak publicly about her participation in an HIV vaccine trial, in 2001, was a woman. She was a former classmate of mine and also a medical doctor. I was fascinated to learn that this exciting research was happening right at my doorstep. Not long after, I left my position in the emergency room of a local hospital to join the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative. It’s becoming more widely known that African women bear the greatest burden of HIV and AIDS worldwide. According to UNAIDS, 59 percent of all people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. What is less well known is the immense contribution African women have made and continue to make to HIV prevention research. For instance, the first clues that an AIDS vaccine might be possible came from African women. These were a small subset of sex workers in Nairobi and the Gambia who had been repeatedly exposed to HIV, but not infected; they were apparently able to resist the virus. The finding sparked a search—which continues to date—for a vaccine that can teach the body to protect itself against HIV. Two women working in a KAVI lab. Photo credit: PATH/Evelyn Hockstein I am motivated to work in this field because I am convinced that a safe and effective HIV vaccine, one that is made widely available to those who need it most, will be a game-changer for African women. The reality is that millions of women are simply unable to access or negotiate the use of any of the HIV prevention methods currently offered, which makes it critically important that we expand the range of options available. Today is International Women’s Day, which for me is a time to celebrate the contributions women have made to HIV prevention research. Female researchers, volunteers, advocates, and decision-makers around the world dedicate themselves to this cause. It is now more urgent than ever that we sustain support for efforts to develop new tools to prevent HIV infection, specifically ones that address the varied needs of women. A safe and effective HIV vaccine, used in combination with other prevention strategies, is our best hope of ending the AIDS pandemic. But developing new HIV prevention tools takes resources, people, and time—in the laboratory, in safety tests, and in clinical trials. Sustained investments in HIV vaccine research are therefore critical; so is political support. African women are playing a key role in the global endeavor to stop HIV and AIDS, and in the years to come will continue to be a central force in making an HIV vaccine a reality. Join us in this effort!