Inside the Global Health Gallery

Three scientists won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a finding that has paved the way to eliminate the blood-borne disease that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer. “We truly are at a miraculous moment that rarely occurs in the history of medicine and public health, when you have large scientific breakthroughs that create opportunities to eliminate disease,” said Dr. John Ward, Director of The Task Force’s Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination. 

Following their discovery, the Nobel scientists endorsed the Coalition’s idea of forming a “U.N. Group of Friends” with more than 20 countries to advance efforts to achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of reducing new viral hepatitis infections by 90% by 2030. 

Other diseases are targeted for elimination milestones by 2030, with several Task Force programs playing a key role. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as blinding trachoma, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) have decreased significantly in recent decades. This is due largely to treatment with donated medicines that Task Force programs and our many partners deliver to the communities that need them. The International Trachoma Initiative, for example, has supported the treatment of 300 million people to prevent blinding trachoma. And the Mectizan Donation Program has helped countries reach 400 million people annually to protect them from onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis.

Infections due to intestinal worms (soil-transmitted helminths) have also dropped significantly. With this decline, countries are beginning to use geostatistical predictive modeling to better allocate donated medicines to those who remain most at risk. The Task Force’s Children Without Worms program is supporting this work in countries like Bangladesh and Uganda.  The success of these NTD programs stems from close partnerships with health leaders, donors, governments, NGO allies and communities to build strong health systems.

Effective diagnostics are essential for eliminating diseases and the NTD community is pursuing breakthroughs with these tools that could be piloted as early as 2023. The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center is helping inform WHO guidance on how to identify and test people who are both the hardest-to-reach and most-at-risk for NTDs and, with support from USAID, is informing development of more sensitive tests to serve those communities.

Just as this might be the decade that the so-called “neglected” diseases finally get the attention and investment needed to end them, it also promises to be a time of continued advancement in vaccines. The world witnessed an unprecedented leap in vaccine development during the last three years. 

Historically, it took 10 or more years to develop a vaccine. Given the urgency (and the ability to use previously researched vaccine technology), the COVID vaccine was developed in less than one year. The Task Force’s Brighton Collaboration, which provides harmonized vaccine safety guidelines for developers, is exploring the feasibility of further reducing development time for future vaccines to just three months, while still meeting the highest standards of vaccine safety.

“Medical technology changes over time, so we constantly need to review, update and evaluate case definitions for side effects that may result from vaccines, in order to improve vaccines so that the risks are mitigated,” said Dr. Robert Chen, Director of the Brighton Collaboration, the world’s only program dedicated solely to advancing the science of vaccine safety.

Another outcome of the pandemic is that several combined COVID/Influenza vaccines are in development and could be available in the next few years. Two Task Force programs have been helping more than 50 low- and middle-income countries with vaccination efforts (the Partnership for Influenza Vaccine Introduction and the COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Program) and will support countries’ policies and programs to use these future combination vaccines.

In all these cases, it’s not only the scientific know-how but the collaboration with partners and understanding of community needs that enable real breakthroughs with lasting effects.