African genomics centers are making good on their promises to train young researchers to sequence diseases in an effort to improve disease surveillance and response on the continent. Young scientists are flowing through genomics hubs such as South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation and Nigeria’s African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases.
The problem is that once they’ve completed the training, the researchers are not sticking around the continent. Instead, they’re heading to institutions abroad that can pay salaries well beyond what most genomics facilities in Africa can afford. That means that despite a push led by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to improve genomics capabilities on the continent, there are still major human resource gaps.
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Christian Happi, who runs the center in Nigeria, calls it a self-inflicted problem, but it’s not like his facility is going to stop providing cutting-edge training to make the candidates less appealing to institutions abroad.
Instead, experts say one answer is to create more well-funded postdoctoral fellowship opportunities in Africa, to help keep researchers on the continent. The question, of course, is who is going to invest in creating those positions?
Read: Is brain drain limiting Africa’s genomic potential?
ICYMI: Emerging genomics hub in Africa aims to transform disease response
If African leaders are going to make good on their goal of scaling up pharmaceutical manufacturing on the continent, they need a plan.
One of the most pressing tasks is how to gain access to the patents that govern the ability to manufacture emerging medicines, vaccines, and other products. There are few patents held on the continent, which means local manufacturers somehow need to secure licenses that allow them to sidestep the patents held by pharmaceutical companies elsewhere. The Medicines Patent Pool has had some success in soliciting voluntary licenses from those patent holders, but there is no guarantee that companies will issue them and there are restrictions on these licenses — mainly around which countries are included.
Countries could also take steps to ensure that their patent officers aren’t handing out patents too liberally.
African governments could also talk more seriously about adopting a regional approach to issuing compulsory licenses, which — unlike voluntary licenses — do not require the agreement of the patent holder. Compulsory licenses are supposed to be available to countries during health emergencies, but global powers, such as the United States, have worked hard to discourage African governments from issuing them. But compulsory licenses don’t work in all cases, such as producing vaccines where local manufacturers will need guidance on how to make the product.
Read: Inside the push to make intellectual property work for African pharma
USAID has $25.6 billion to spend. And it turns out, according to an analysis of the forecasting opportunities the agency has released, a significant portion of that funding may be targeted at global health programs. That includes $3.5 billion in new opportunities in the global health sector that have recently been added to the pipeline. Among the highlights:
• The Office of HIV/AIDS has two contracts worth $1 billion each — the first for the Integrating HIV Services into Primary Health Care project and the second to promote health equity, support the 95-95-95 HIV targets, and control the HIV epidemic.
• The Office of Health Systems is looking to spend $500 million on health systems strengthening. And there is a $25 million contract for a regional approach to ending tuberculosis in Central Asia.
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Read: How USAID plans to spend $25.6B in the coming months (Pro)
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Dr. Michael Ryan, already executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, is set to take on some additional work. He has been tapped to serve as WHO’s deputy director-general as well, which means he will represent Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus internally and externally “on all matters delegated to him.”
The role opened up after Zsuzsanna Jakab retired from the position in February 2024. Jakab had actually intended to step down in 2022, but she stayed on amid a racism scandal at the Western Pacific regional office that saw its former director dismissed for misconduct.
Scoop: Mike Ryan is WHO’s new deputy director-general
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It seems obvious that working in extreme heat would be unhealthy for expectant mothers, but now we’re learning just how dangerous. A new study out of India found that it more than doubles the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight.
Dehydration, in particular, can be a risk, leading to nonprogression of labor and hampering the production of breast milk. But there is much that is still unknown about the links between extreme heat and maternal physiology.
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These initial findings are particularly important in rethinking policy in places like India, where the study originated and where an estimated 80% of women in the rural parts of the country work harsh outdoor agricultural jobs. Some officials are now considering improving heat wave warning systems and introducing policies that allow pregnant women regular breaks in sheltered areas.
It's a problem that is only going to get more acute as temperatures continue to rise globally due to climate change.
Read: Heat exposure doubles risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, study finds
Tanzania is experimenting with integrating treatment for noncommunicable diseases like diabetes into existing HIV services. [Health Policy Watch]
Global deaths from hepatitis are on the rise despite the availability of affordable treatments, WHO reports. [CIDRAP]
More than 600,000 people have crossed from Sudan into South Sudan since last April to escape violence, only to be met with a collapsing health system. [Voice of America]