Author: Kiara Ekeigwe

The authors, Taofeeq Oluwatosin Togunwa and Abdulhammed Opeyemi Babatunde, are part of a Mentored Child Health Research Project led by the Duke Center for Policy Impact in Global Health and the University of Ibadan Medical Students Association.IntroductionPneumonia is the number one infectious cause of death in childhood, causing about 700,000 deaths a year.1  India bears the highest burden, contributing to nearly 20% of global childhood pneumonia deaths.2 Pneumonia remains one of the leading causes of death among children under 5 years in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),3 threatening the achievement of target 3.2 of Sustainable Development Goal 3, the target of reducing child mortality to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births or lower by 2030. The region's high pneumonia mortality is linked to inadequate healthcare resources, poor health financing, and a high…

This blog was first published in Brookings Future Development Blog, July 22, 2024. The authors are Gavin Yamey, Shingai Machingaidze, Osondu Ogbuoji, and Marco Schäferhoff. Investments in global health research and development (R&D) have led to the launches of many life-saving health technologies. Twenty years ago, for example, we had no malaria vaccine. Today, two effective malaria vaccines are being rolled out across Africa. And the future looks bright: The pipeline of candidate products for most global health conditions is more robust than ever (though some neglected diseases, such as leprosy, scabies, and trachoma, still have too few candidate products). In theory at least, the next 20 years could be even better than the last 20 years for launching breakthrough global health technologies.However, strong headwinds are getting in the way of bringing new global health products quickly to market. The…