Global Health Resilience
“Rising costs associated with long-term chronic diseases and ageing populations place mounting pressure on healthcare systems.”
and Associations (IFPMA) Page 04
“ The pandemic highlighted the immediate need for transformative technologies to support public health.”
Elaine Murray, Public Affairs Lead, EIT Health Ireland-UK Page 07
Laetitia Bigger, Director, Vaccines Policy, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
How African-led innovation supercharges infectious disease elimination
Against all odds, a growing number of African countries are achieving what was once thought impossible — they are eliminating infectious diseases.
Recently, Niger and Guinea each eliminated a neglected tropical disease (NTD), while Cabo Verde and Egypt got rid of malaria. These are remarkable achievements made possible by a collective effort. Fueled by African leadership and innovation, they hold great promise for the continent and the world.
Eliminating diseases builds resilient societies
Disease elimination can transform the fortunes of a society. When you remove the threat of a disease like malaria, communities are more productive; economies grow; and health systems become more resilient. The human and economic potential is staggering. The Nigerian economy will add USD$19 billion (The End Fund, 2023) in increased productivity if it meets elimination targets for NTDs. Eliminating malaria in the highest-burden countries, including Nigeria, would increase per capita income by nearly 20% (World Health Organization, 2020). These benefits extend far beyond the continent. In our interconnected world, an investment in disease elimination in Africa is an investment in global security and economic stability.
Progress is fueled by African-led innovation
African scientists are behind many of the innovations driving disease prevention and elimination, working in close partnership with international institutions from around the world, including from the UK. The recent rollout of malaria
vaccines, developed through AfricanUK collaborations, offers countries more options to protect children from the disease.
In Burkina Faso, Uganda and other countries across the continent, scientists are codeveloping genetically modified mosquito approaches that could be used to eliminate malaria transmission.
Meanwhile, clinical trial sites in four African countries are enrolling thousands in a tuberculosis vaccine trial, sponsored by the Gates Medical Research Institute. Funded by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome, and initially developed by GSK, this could potentially be the first candidate vaccine to help protect adults and adolescents from tuberculosis in more than a century.
Reaching people through science and delivery
To fulfil the promise of these and other innovations, we must bridge the gap between science and delivery to ensure they reach the people who need them. Sustained investment in these innovations today will help countries end the threat of more diseases and stretch limited resources well into the future. They will keep all of us safer, more prosperous and resilient for decades to come.
WRITTEN BY Cynthia Mwase Director of Health for Africa, Gates Foundation
Is pandemic preparedness costing vital resources from other health priorities?
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pandemic Response and Recovery (APPG) was set up in September 2021 to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic policy and response by the UK Government, advisers and health and regulatory authorities.
In the aftermath of Covid-19, claims by the global health community that more frequent and deadlier pandemics are an increasing and existential threat, regardless of age and underlying health, have gathered momentum. The resulting pandemic prevention, preparedness and response agenda (PPPR) — devised and promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), G20 and the World Bank — is directing the focus of global health policy towards that perceived threat, but does the evidence support the claims?
Pandemic preparedness is diverting scarce resources from higher-burden health priorities like malaria and nutrition.
Flaws identified in preparedness Learning of the ‘REevaluating the Pandemic Preparedness And REsponse (REPPARE)’ project of the University of Leeds, the APPG asked Professor Garrett Wallace Brown, Chair of Global Health Policy at the University of Leeds and Dr David Bell, a clinical and public health physician with a PhD in population health, to speak to the Group about their team’s findings.
Having commenced in July 2023, analysis has identified a number of flaws in the PPPR evidence base. This policy brief highlights ‘a lack of accurate PPPR cost estimations’ and ‘highly unreliable assumptions of outbreak risk’ among others, making five recommendations.
Pandemic costs strain health efforts Setting aside concerns about the reliability of assessments of the frequency and impact of pandemics, the report cautions projected costs, such as a $31.1B total annual price tag including $26.4B per year from low, middle and upper middleincome countries, could further impact health efforts already disrupted by the official Covid response, to control and eliminate malaria and other high-burden infectious diseases. It is unclear if The Pandemic Fund will offset such costs.
Indeed, according to the WHO’s World Malaria Report 2024 since 2020, the number of malaria cases has increased steadily after remaining stable between 2000 and 2019. In 2023, malaria cases increased by 11 million from 263 million estimated cases in 2022.
Pandemic preparedness diverts resources
Pandemic preparedness is diverting scarce resources from higherburden health priorities like malaria and nutrition, threatening global health resilience and incurring significant opportunity costs. More importantly, in the fog of pandemic preparedness, we must not lose sight of the internationally defined understanding of health: the physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
WRITTEN BY
Rt Hon Esther McVey MP for Tatton and co-chair of the APPG on Pandemic Response and Recovery
There are only a handful of tools in the malaria control toolbox.
How Africa’s Bioko
Island has become a model of malaria
prevention
In the fight against malaria, it’s vital to invest in ‘classic’ interventions that have proven to be effective, such as indoor residual spraying (IRS), while exploring innovations.
In 2004, a remarkable life-saving public-private health project began on Equatorial Guinea’s Bioko Island, off the coast of West Africa. Known as the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP), its initial focus used approaches such as IRS and insecticide-treated nets to control malaria.
Project aims to eliminate malaria
In 2019, BIMCP evolved into the Bioko Island Malaria Elimination Project (BIMEP), with ambitions to ultimately interrupt malaria transmission on Bioko. Progress has been extraordinary: the mortality rate of children under five has reduced by 78% and malaria prevalence has decreased by 75%.1 The significant body of operational research, data and knowledge that BIMEP has produced over the years can hopefully be used to inform malaria control in other countries.
“Many funders of malaria interventions look for innovations such as genetically modified mosquitoes and vaccines,” explains Guillermo García, Director of International Programs at MCD Global Health, a nonprofit public health organisation and BIMEP partner. “We are exploring those strategies too. Yet, there are proven tools such as indoor residual spraying that have reduced transmission and even eliminated malaria from certain countries, and these need continued support.”
How intelligent use of data improves IRS delivery
In recent years, indoor residual spraying — which involves applying insecticides to interior walls and ceilings of homes — has fallen out of favour to control malaria, as it is often seen as costly and resourceintensive. However, its use on Bioko proves how it can be applied in a more economical, resource-efficient but effective way, says Carlos Guerra, Chief Science Officer, MCD Global Health.
First, depending on location, BIMEP discovered that lower IRS coverage (50%) can be just as protective as the recommended higher coverage (80%).2 Second, use of data systems has been a game-changer in how IRS is delivered.3
“Thanks to our robust geo-referenced data, we know how many houses have been sprayed and therefore what fraction of the population has been protected,”
says Guerra. “We can measure impact, challenges and gaps in coverage. We know where the people most at risk are, and we can guide our teams in the field more precisely. So, while indoor residual spraying has not traditionally been a simple strategy to deploy, we’ve shown that by leveraging data it can be much more cost-effective.”
This type of data-driven delivery is an innovation in itself — one that should give confidence to funders that IRS is indeed a viable and important solution. Plus, new interventions won’t be successful overnight. They will need to be implemented in settings that already have a range of ongoing tried and true malaria controls.
Importance of partnerships in malaria control
Although Bioko Island is still a long way from achieving malaria elimination, MCD Global Health and its funding partners in the BIMEP — including the Government of Equatorial Guinea and companies in the energy sector — have achieved much over the last two decades, creating an effective landscape to test innovations alongside robust classic malaria strategies. “Obviously, no one organisation can tackle this on their own,” says Guerra. “Malaria control is hard.”
For programmes around the world, it’s been made harder with the withdrawal of US funding. “One of the biggest challenges we have is funding,” admits Guerra.
“On Bioko Island, we can be optimistic that funding for malaria interventions will remain. For interventions in the rest of the world, we can’t — and unfortunately, malaria doesn’t stop because funding stops.”
“There are only a handful of tools in the malaria control toolbox,” García agrees. “We must secure funding for those interventions we know work while looking for alternative strategies that may be more effective. If we can stop people dying from malaria, then that is the motivation for all of us to keep going.”
References
1. Equatorial Guinea National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and MCD Global Health. Bioko Island Malaria Indicator Survey. 2023. Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.
2. Galick DS, Vaz LM, Ondo L, Iyana MM, Bikie FEE, Avue RMN, et al. Reconsidering indoor residual spraying coverage targets: a retrospective analysis of high-resolution programmatic malaria control data.
3. García GA, et al. Real-time, spatial decision support to optimize malaria vector control: The case of indoor residual spraying on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. PLOS Digital Health [Internet]. 2022;1(5):1–18.
provided by MCD Globa Hea th
INTERVIEW WITH Carlos Guerra Chief Science Officer, MCD Global Health
INTERVIEW WITH Guillermo García Director of International Programs, MCD Global Health
WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
The power of vaccines to reduce the impact of chronic diseases
Chronic diseases are on the rise. Vaccines can help reduce the impact on people, health systems and society. This year’s UN High-level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health provides an opportunity to maximise vaccine benefits.
Director, Vaccines Policy, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the leading cause of ill health and death worldwide. Rising costs associated with long-term chronic diseases and ageing populations place mounting pressure on healthcare systems.
Vaccines reduce burden of chronic conditions
While vaccines are primarily used to prevent infectious diseases, they also have a critical role to play in reducing the burden of chronic conditions. This year, the UN General Assembly is set to agree on global efforts to tackle NCDs. This is an important opportunity to refocus attention on delivering cost-effective interventions to prevent, treat and control NCDs — including the role that vaccines can play.
Vaccines protect people, health systems and society
Effective immunisation campaigns can reduce the impact of NCDs on people living with these conditions and help build resilient, prevention-first health systems:
• Vaccines against diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria and Hepatitis A can prevent infections, reducing inflammation and protecting the brain from long-term damage and dementia.
• Vaccines can lower the risk of developing cancer. For instance, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is highly effective in preventing cervical cancer. Similarly, the Hepatitis B vaccine reduces liver cancer. Together,
Reducing the burden of malaria through partnership
A global biopharma is fighting malaria in endemic countries through partnerships that harness R&D, broaden access to prevention and treatment options and strengthen health systems.
Tvaccination against HPV and Hepatitis B could prevent over 1 million cancer cases worldwide every year.1
• People living with chronic conditions are at higher risk of severe illness, hospitalisation and death from respiratory infections, such as Covid-19, influenza, pneumococcal disease and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Vaccines can help by reducing these risks. For example, influenza vaccination in people with cardiovascular diseases may reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by as much as 67% and 24% respectively.2
Cost-effective vaccines can ease pressures
Vaccines are also cost-effective. An analysis across 10 high and middle-income countries showed that comprehensive adult immunisation programmes can yield up to a 19 times return on their investment for society.3
Immunisation programmes that include vaccine recommendations for people living with chronic conditions can help prevent avoidable illness, complications and potentially irreversible chronic disease progression. They will also ease pressures on health systems, reducing hospitalisations, long-term medical interventions and loss of productivity.
References:
1. de Martel, C. et al. The Lancet Global Health, Volume 8, Issue 2, e180 - e190. Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis.
2. World Health Organization. 2022. Vaccines against influenza: WHO position paper – May 2022.
3. Office of Health Economics. 2024. The Socio-Economic Value of Adult Immunisation Programmes.
homas Breuer, Chief Global Health Officer at global biopharma company GSK, is proud to be working at the forefront of malaria prevention and treatment. After all, through partnerships, his Global Health team has added significant innovations to the malaria toolbox.
The world’s first malaria vaccine, developed with PATH and other partners, was rolled out for the first time in routine immunisation programmes across endemic countries in Africa in 2024. That same year, the first single-dose medicine for endemic markets for the prevention of relapse of another strain of malaria, launched through national malaria programmes in Brazil and Thailand, thanks to a longterm collaboration with Medicines for
Venture (MMV).
Making use of tools to fight malaria
“The term ‘toolbox’ is apt,” agrees Breuer. “Because there is no single tool — no one drug or vaccine — which can reduce the burden of malaria on its own. Yet, if vaccines are used in addition to other tools such as malaria chemoprevention and (insecticide) sprays and bed nets, we could see a dramatic improvement. So, using a ‘toolbox’ is, is the best approach to eliminating malaria.”
However, as the disease is still a major cause of illness and death particularly in young children, Breuer admits that this is a fight GSK cannot win on its own. The power of partnerships is vital because different organisations “bring different expertise to the table.”
Partnerships drive research and development
First, there are partnerships that GSK has forged in the research and development space. “Our malaria vaccine was developed with PATH (a global nonprofit) and other partners,” explains Breuer. Yet, he stresses, without expert funding and planning help from organisations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and distributors such as UNICEF, enabling access at scale would have been a challenge. Partnerships, such as these, help deliver innovations to people who need them.
Breuer is also excited by other developments in the pipeline including a new malaria vaccine his team are working on – and partnership will be central to its success.
Improving access and strengthening health systems
“It’s crucial to ensure that children have access to vital vaccines and medicines,” he adds and that’s why. GSK partners with NGOs to train health workers, build local capacity and expertise and support disease surveillance. “For example, in Liberia and Sierra Leone, we work with an organisation called Last Mile Health to support the implementation of malaria vaccines to remote areas,” says Breuer.
“But the work isn’t done yet. We’re committed to tackling diseases like malaria that are prevalent in lowerincome countries, and I’m proud to be a part of that effort.”
Malaria
WRITTEN BY
Laetitia Bigger
INTERVIEW WITH Thomas Breuer Chief Global Health Officer, GSK
WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
ImageprovidedbyGSK
Today’s bed nets and vaccines alone won’t bend the malaria elimination curve to zero.
How we can accelerate the elimination of malaria –and why we must.
To make malaria elimination a reality, we need to accelerate progress in prevention and therapeutic drugs. That requires greater investment and focus, says one expert in the field.
If the world is serious about eliminating malaria, the status quo is not an option.
The challenges posed by the disease are simply too complex — so continuous innovation in targeted prevention and treatment is not just desirable; it is vital.
George Jagoe, Executive Vice President of Access and Product Management at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) — a not-for-profit organisation working to deliver a portfolio of accessible malaria medicines — explains: “I’m reminded of the wise warnings from Alan Magill, the late visionary Director of Malaria Programmes at the Gates Foundation. He paraphrased the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland: we would have to run as fast as possible just to stay in place, and if we want to move in a more promising direction, we’d have to run twice as fast. That was prophetic: today, the burden of malaria is far off the targets that WHO’s Global technical strategy established in 2015.”
How ACTs revolutionised malaria treatment
Which is not to downplay some remarkable anti-malarial breakthroughs over the years. One of these was the first artemisininbased combination therapy (ACT) developed for children, which MMV developed with pharma company Novartis — 500 million doses have now been distributed. “ACTs were a game-changer in malaria treatment,” says Jagoe. “Coupling artemisinin drugs with another antimalarial made
them life saving, efficacious and fast acting, with long post-treatment protection.”
Vector control innovation has also been critical – the introduction of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs) has contributed massively to saving lives, especially for children. “And now there are malaria vaccines for the youngest children, a remarkable breakthrough in helping reduce mortality in a huge at-risk population,” notes Jagoe. “But today’s LLINs and vaccines alone won’t bend the malaria elimination curve to zero.”
A strategy to get the malaria elimination agenda back on track
To accelerate progress, MMV stresses the importance of investing in R&D for next-generation medicines, while extending the useful life of ACTs; scaling up access to the preventive intervention trio of chemotherapy, vector control and vaccines; and prioritising protection of the most at-risk groups (i.e., children under 5 and pregnant women).
“Saving lives is the first order of business – it’s why the first drug we co-developed was child friendly,” explains Jagoe. “And it’s why our Malaria in Mothers and Babies (MiMBa) strategy is accelerating the validation of antimalarial medications in clinical trials in pregnant women and women of childbearing potential.”
But to wipe out malaria transmission and accelerate the path to elimination, reservoirs of the parasite in asymptomatic carriers
have to be prioritized – in other words, clearing out infections in people who don’t realize they are carriers. “As long as anyone in a village or city is carrying malaria, we won’t get close to elimination,” admits Jagoe.
The impact of injected prevention and single-dose cures MMV continues to work with its partners to bring innovations to market that facilitate adherence, offer barriers to resistance and hold the promise of community-wide parasite reservoir reduction. “There are molecules in early development which may offer protection from infection for months on end if injected. The idea of long-acting injected (LAI) prevention is incredibly exciting, particularly if it can be used across the full community – in adults as well as in children. The speed with which LAIs may break the cycle of transmission remains to be seen, but is very promising.”
Separately, the development of single-dose cures would also be ground-breaking because they would improve compliance rates, reduce risk of resistance and make mass oral treatment campaigns a reality.
“Alongside injectable prevention, a lot of our drug development work involves pursuing single-dose cures,” notes Jagoe. “Drug discovery is hard. You have to be patient and accept failures. But I believe we’re on the eve of breakthrough tools that could have the kind of acceleration effect we've been hoping to see for a long time.”
From labs to lives: turning malaria vaccine research into impact
The availability of malaria vaccines is a historic breakthrough in the fight against a disease that remains a leading cause of death in young children, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
BY
Malaria vaccines are being deployed in subSaharan African countries, bringing fresh hope for protecting children’s health and preventing needless deaths. However, significant implementation challenges must be overcome to fully realise their potential.
Improving vaccine uptake and delivery in West and Central Africa
We often see vaccine availability as the finish line, but it’s just another beginning. A major challenge lies in ensuring that these life-saving innovations reach children who need them most. To tackle this challenge, the OPT-MVAC partnership aims to support implementation research in 14 West and Central African countries with high seasonal transmission.
European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) and seven collaborating institutions will provide financial and technical assistance to national immunisation, pharmacovigilance and malaria programmes in monitoring vaccine uptake, understanding barriers to vaccination, strengthening communication and tailoring distribution strategies to local needs. Additionally, it will facilitate the sharing of best practices while leveraging opportunities to improve the delivery of other vaccines and health interventions along the way.
Culturally sensitive education and outreach
For all vaccines, and especially those designed to protect vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women, early engagement with communities and stakeholders is
Why on-the-spot diagnostics are critical for the Global South
Advances in point-of-care diagnostics can help people in low and middle-income countries get access to treatment sooner, ultimately facilitating global equity and health security.
The challenge of effective diagnostics in the Global South
In the battle against global disease, the field of diagnostics can be overlooked. “That’s frustrating,” admits Professor Alex Richter, MD, Director of the Clinical Immunology Services, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology, University of Birmingham. “If better tools can diagnose patients more quickly, their access to treatment can be accelerated,” she says. “That massively affects outcomes.”
Effective diagnostics are a particular challenge in the world’s poorest countries. In the Global North, patient blood samples will go to a laboratory for analysis. In countries that lack clinical infrastructure, that type of test can be so logistically complex and expensive that it’s impossible to
crucial. An ethnographic study* conducted in 2024 and led by EVI and Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), explored cultural beliefs and practices surrounding pregnancy, placental malaria and vaccination.
The research team carried out focus groups and 300 surveys among men, women and traditional birth attendants in 10 villages in the Southern region of Malawi, representing a mix of rural and semi-urban populations. Beyond formal meetings, engagement often took on a more immersive form. Research goes far beyond data collection; it involves building relationships founded on mutual respect and understanding.
Cultural factors, such as language, traditions and the nuanced interaction between societal norms and healthcare practices, play a vital role in vaccine acceptance. Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, often fuelled by historical distrust, pose significant barriers to vaccine acceptance. Successful rollout of new vaccines requires culturally sensitive education and adapted outreach efforts.
Global vaccine development collaboration
The fight against malaria benefits from diverse perspectives and continued innovation. Global collaboration in vaccine development and delivery is both a moral imperative and an investment in global health security. By working together, engaging local communities from the outset and strengthening national research capacity, we can turn the tide against malaria and move closer to a world free of this deadly disease.
*Ethnographic study in Malawi research received support from Directorate-General for International Cooperation of the Netherlands (DGIS).
implement
“Many diagnostic tools were developed for Global North healthcare systems,” explains Professor Richter. “What’s needed are cheaper and more accessible diagnostic tools for patients in the Global South.”
Helping vaccines to be delivered more effectively
Researchers from the university’s Clinical Immunology Services — as part of several projects working in partnership with in-country experts — are currently developing a range of low-cost tests for infectious and non-communicable diseases. These are tailored to populations in low and middle-income countries, delivered on-the-spot. The tests remove the need for centralised specialist laboratories and include a saliva test
for tetanus and a finger-prick test for mpox. Further, tests like these support vaccination programmes.
“And once mpox vaccines are rolled out, the test will allow clinicians to quickly assess their effectiveness,” notes Professor Richter. This is one example of the impactful health research carried out at the university, in partnership with researchers and doctors in the Global South.
The fact is that diagnostic innovations in the Global South benefit everyone because they help stop the spread of infectious diseases.
“Take measles,” says Professor Richter. “This can quickly spread because of international travel and how infectious measles is, with deaths in the US and outbreak in the UK this year, we need to make sure that as many people as possible have the measles vaccine.” To that end, a diagnostic measles antibody test developed by Professor Richter and her team will shortly be trialed in Rwanda, allowing the MMR vaccine to be delivered in a more targeted and effective way.
“We hope that within three to five years we’ll have a pipeline of pointof-care diagnostics to help with vaccine forecasting and deployment,” she says. “We can then apply our learnings to improve, facilitate and accelerate diagnostics in the Global North. Better diagnostics isn’t ‘a nice to have’ for people in low and middle income countries, it’s mission critical for global healthcare equity and security.”
WRITTEN
Catarina Luis
WRITTEN BY
Irina Nkumama Malaria Programme Manager, European Vaccine Initiative
WRITTEN BY Romina Di Marzo
Communication & Advocacy Manager, European Vaccine Initiative
INTERVIEW WITH Professor Alex Richter
MBChB, MRCP, FRCPath, MD, Director of the Clinical Immunology Services, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology, University of Birmingham
WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
According to the WHO’s World Malaria Report 2024 since 2020, the number of malaria cases has increased steadily.
~Rt Hon Esther McVey, MP for Tatton and co-chair of the APPG on Pandemic Response and Recovery
The role of innovation in building resilient healthcare systems
Building the resilience and sustainability of health systems is not a new goal for the European Union (EU) and national governments. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opener globally on the urgency to better equip healthcare systems for public health threats.
Despite health being a national competence for EU member states, the pandemic instigated fresh ambition for a coordinated approach. The adoption of the ‘European Health Union’ by the European Commission in 2020 elevated health as an EU priority in its own right. Additionally, the European Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA) was established, a new European Commission department focusing on crisis preparedness and response.
Innovation can improve disease prevention, accelerate personalised medicine, and facilitate access to care. Research conducted by EIT Health’s Think Tank spotlights a constructive path forward for EU policy action to drive sustainable healthcare systems through innovation.
Health system organisation
Through strategic investments, the EU can assist member states in building workforce capacity and skills. Public-private collaborations will become the norm. In 2023 EIT Health was selected as the coordinator of the Skills Partnership for the European Health Industry, an industry-led Pact for Skills in healthcare. Pact for Skills is a public-private collaboration to attract new talent and support the existing workforce through reskilling and upskilling initiatives to strengthen the sector’s resilience.
Data and technology
The pandemic highlighted the immediate need for transformative technologies to support public health, with the role of data emerging as a key enabler to innovation.
A core building block of the European Health Union is the European Health Data Space (EHDS). This is a data-sharing infrastructure framework designed to give patients across Europe control over their own digital health information, including when they travel within Europe. The EHDS will also make large anonymised datasets available for research, innovation, and policymaking. This is the first of 14 common data spaces put forward in Europe’s Data
Strategy (2020), which creates conditions for a single market for data.
Policy and funding
The renewed momentum for innovation in health post-pandemic is advancing policies set to make health systems more agile, and better equipped to handle future crises. EU policy frameworks to facilitate this include the EU’s AI Act (2024), and forthcoming Critical Medicines Act, Biotech Act, and Cybersecurity Strategy.
The pandemic highlighted the immediate need for transformative technologies to support public health
Additionally, the EU4Health Programme invests €5.3 billion into innovations focused on developing more resilient healthcare systems. Overall, there has been a coordinated focus on health system resilience, met with policy initiatives, within Europe in recent years. Innovation has been recognised as a fundamental value to develop agile and sustainable systems for our future.
How malaria science makes the UK safer and saves lives
This World Malaria Day, we are calling on the UK government to remember the importance of the security of the country’s health as it strives to make us safer in the face of mounting threats.
One of the worlds biggest killers
Malaria is one of the world’s biggest killers and the hundreds of thousands of lives it claims in malaria endemic countries contributes to instability and insecurity which ripples right across the world. It can devastate health systems leaving people exposed to additional health threats, as well as acting as a great burden on national economies, holding back potential economic and prosperity.
The UK has long been a leader in malaria science, with two malaria vaccines rolled out last year.
The UK is a leader in Malaria science
The UK has long been a leader in malaria science, with two malaria vaccines rolled out last year, for example, both of which were pioneered by UK scientists, as well as helping to develop a range of other critical interventions, like new treatments and next-generation bed nets to fight the disease.
But the UK’s leading malaria science can only make a difference if these tools reach those who need them. This is why organisations like The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance are so important – because they are the main bodies committed to ensuring life-saving interventions get from the labs where they’re developed to the children and families that so urgently need them.
The urgent need for continued commitment
The UK must therefore remain a steadfast supporter of these organisations. Stepping back now runs the very real risk of unleashing an historic resurgence of the disease, increasing the potential for new resistant strains and wreaking havoc to health systems, economies and societies right across the globe.
Fighting against antimicrobial resistance: The key to bolstering global health resilience
TWRITTEN BY Dr Astrid Bonfield CEO, Malaria No More UK
AMR does not respect borders; it is a collective challenge that requires a unified global response.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens global health, with stark disparities between LMICs and HICs in infrastructure, medicine access, and governance. Overcoming these challenges requires urgent international cooperation to ensure equitable and effective responses to the crisis.
he spread of AMR dramatically limits treatment options, globally threatening life-saving medical procedures. LMICs bear a disproportionate AMR burden due to weaker health systems and economic constraints, hindering effective responses and exacerbating the challenge.
Science - policy alliance against AMR
The 2024 UN General Assembly declaration on AMR set ambitious targets to curb AMR by 2030, including reducing AMR-related deaths by 10%, reducing inappropriate antimicrobial use by 20% in humans and 30% in animals, and improving WASH in health care. It also pledged support for LMICs’ AMR action plans. The European Society for Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and other scientific societies must actively contribute to the development of evidencebased targets, continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and promote international exchange and knowledge transfer. The UN General Assembly’s decision to establish an independent scientific panel on antimicrobial resistance is an important step forward.
The need for global cooperation
AMR does not respect borders; it is a collective challenge that requires a unified global response. To achieve global health resilience, policies must focus on bridging the gap in health system strength between LMICs and HICs. This implies broad measures to improve infrastructure and capacity to combat infectious diseases, as well as better animal management and environmental hygiene which, if neglected, would directly hinder our effort to improve human health. HICs must actively support LMICs through funding knowledge transfer, and
a wider regulatory and market environment that improves access to life-saving medicines. These actions are essential for translating the UNGA 2024 commitments into tangible results, and will require sustained political will, adequate funding and robust international cooperation.
Scientists and AMR experts need to be aware of their importance in this process and, and ESCMID and other societies are ready to embrace this responsibility. Their active participation in the independent scientific panel is essential, and the ESCMID-GLG Science-Policy Forum 2025 is a strong signal for closer coalition of scientist and policy makers in the combat against AMR. The establishment of clear accountability mechanisms and regular assessments of progress will be essential to ensure that the global community remains on track to achieve these ambitious goals and safeguard global public health for future generations.
