From HIV to TB, scientists and doctors made breakthroughs in treatment and prevention of some of the world’s deadliest diseases
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ith humanitarian funding slashed by the US and other countries, including the UK, this year’s global health headlines have made grim reading. But good things have still been happening in vaccine research and the development of new and improved treatments for some of the most intractable illnesses.
A target to protect 86 million girls against cervical cancer by the end of 2025 was achieved ahead of schedule, boosting hopes among experts that cervical cancer can be eliminated within the next century.
Gavi, the vaccine alliance, launched its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme in 2014, when vaccine coverage in Africa was just 4%. By the end of 2022, it was only 15% – but scientists had discovered that a single dose could give comparable protection to the two doses originally used. That would make it simpler to deliver vaccination programmes, and stretch supplies twice as far.
