Show Notes
Tuberculosis claimed more than 1.25 million lives in 2023, overtaking COVID as the world’s deadliest infectious disease. For the last century, there has been a vaccine protecting children from TB. Now, there is hope for a new solution: a potential vaccine for adolescents and adults.
On this episode, reporter Elna Schütz visits an M72 TB vaccine trial site in Worcester, South Africa, one of the world’s TB epicenters. First, Elna speaks with participants about their experiences in the M72 trial and with TB more generally. She also interviews South Africa Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) Director Mark Hatherill and Angelique Luabeya Kany-Kany, SATVI’s chief research officer. SATVI runs part of the M72 trial in Worcester.
Then, journalist Chhavi Sachdev interviews Soumya Swaminathan, principal advisor on tuberculosis for the health ministry of India and former WHO chief scientist, about what is needed to end TB as an epidemic. Dr. Swaminathan is also the head of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, a nonprofit advancing sustainable rural development and climate resilience.
The Threshold is made possible in part through funding from the Gates Foundation.
Guests and organizations:
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former WHO chief scientist and current principal advisor on TB for the health ministry of India.
Prof. Mark Hatherill, University of Cape Town and Director of SATVI, the South Africa Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.
Prof. Angelique Luabeya Kany-Kany, University of Cape Town and Chief Research Officer of SATVI, the South Africa Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.
More from The Threshold
We hosted a live virtual podcast taping of The Threshold on World Neglected Tropical Disease Day. Host Henry Bonsu spoke with Sabena Solomon, GSK vice president and head of global health access, and Sam Macintosh, the END Fund’s vice president of global strategic partnerships, about pharmaceutical companies’ unique role in the fight to end NTDs. Since 2000, dozens of countries have eliminated at least one NTD. This is in part thanks to pharmaceutical industry partners, who have donated over 30 billion tablets and vials toward ending NTDs. During this special event, which was made possible through funding from the Gates Foundation, we explored what is needed in this current moment to keep the momentum towards ending neglected tropical diseases.
In our season finale of The Threshold, we delve into what it will take to end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which impact about 1.5 billion people. The World Health Organization considers 21 diseases to be NTDs, a classification that marks a disease as underfunded and prioritized relative to its burden. What is encouraging is that a growing number of neglected tropical diseases are closer than ever to being eliminated.
What are the best ways to stop the spread of infectious diseases? One key element is diagnostics. For diseases like tuberculosis, there are millions of people unaware that they have the disease. So improving diagnostic tests and making them accessible are critical.
Malaria kills nearly six hundred thousand people every year, with 95 percent of deaths occurring in Africa. Most of them are children under five. While progress on curbing malaria has flattened in recent years, new scientific breakthroughs may bring the world closer than ever not only to controlling malaria outbreaks, but potentially also eradicating the disease.
What could end HIV and AIDS as a public health threat? While there is still no vaccine or cure, long-acting tools like Lenacapavir, the recently approved twice-yearly HIV prevention shot, could significantly reduce new infections. Many health experts believe this may get us toward the end of HIV as an epidemic.