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Feb 18, 2019
Helping developing countries protect against pneumococcal disease
An innovative Training of Trainers program has empowered more than 44,000 healthcare workers across 24 Gavi-supported countries to administer a novel presentation for a vaccine for pneumococcal disease. Diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae are a critically important global public health problem as infection with S. pneumoniae continues to be a major cause of death and disease worldwide.
Jan 23, 2019
A new voice for promoting digital technologies in health practice worldwide
The Lancet Digital Health is a new open access journal that builds on The Lancet’s tradition as an advocate for health. This monthly journal is committed to publishing high-quality original research, comment, and correspondence contributing to promoting digital technologies in health practice worldwide. By bringing together the most important advances in this multidisciplinary field, The Lancet Digital Health aspires to be the most prominent publishing venue in digital health.
Jan 22, 2019
Readying the world for maternal RSV vaccine
By getting vaccinated in pregnancy, mothers can safeguard themselves and their infants in the first few vulnerable months of life against certain diseases. This strategy is a powerful approach for reaching two stages of life often underserved by current immunization programs—pregnancy and early infancy.
Jan 7, 2019
Developing a vaccine for Ebola – the case for coordination and preparedness
The first research showing that VSV-ZEBOV vaccine could help protect against Ebola brought sighs of relief. It was an incredible and humbling achievement that had only been possible due to the global collaboration of researchers, NGOs, governments, industry and funders – all working towards a unified goal.
Dec 26, 2018
12 innovations that will revolutionize the future of medicine
I would never have met Harriett were it not for our mutual friend, Linda. I’m a physician in Northern California; Harriett’s a communications executive in New York City. Linda co-founded an online personal genomics company, to which Harriett and I each sent our genetic information for analysis.
Dec 19, 2018
It’s time for a bill of data rights
It is the summer of 2023, and Rachel is broke. Sitting in a bar one evening, browsing job ads on her phone, she gets a text message. Researchers doing a study on liver function have gotten her name from the bar’s loyalty program—she’d signed up to get a happy-hour discount on nachos. They’re offering $50 a week for access to her phone’s health data stream and her bar tab for the next three months.
Dec 17, 2018
Vaccines group plots path through conflict, instability, epidemics
More children worldwide are now immunized against killer diseases but the task has become harder due to conflicts, epidemics, urbanization and migration, the head of a global vaccine group said.
Dec 3, 2018
Flu virus is a master shape-shifter
An influenza virus infecting a single cell can produce offspring with a wide variety of shapes, maximizing the virus’s chance of escaping attack by antiviral therapies.
Dec 1, 2018
Beating the world’s deadliest disease against all odds
When it comes to stopping childhood pneumonia, the odds are stacked against the poor and vulnerable; but vaccines can give them a fighting chance. In 2009, approximately 3,400 children died of pneumonia every day. Now, with investments in pneumonia prevention and treatment – including the introduction and scale up of two vaccines to prevent the most common causes of pneumonia death, Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcus – that number has fallen to 1,000.
Nov 6, 2018
No, you cannot get the flu from a vaccine: Here’s why
Flu vaccines are made using flu viruses. But there’s a simple reason that they keep us healthy without giving us the flu. The virus in the vaccine has been killed. When scientists are making the annual flu injection, they use heat or other processes to ‘inactivate’ the virus. This means it cannot infect us. Thanks science!