Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
21 March 2025
This week, in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a collaborative study in India explored bedaquiline (BDQ) resistance in TB patients previously exposed to BDQ. Among 117, 36% had BDQ-resistant strains, resulting in high mortality and treatment failure. These findings, concerning a key drug in treating multidrug resistant-TB, emphasise the need for BDQ susceptibility testing, rapid BDQ resistance tests, and further research into new TB treatments.
In PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, MSF and DNDi applied unsupervised machine learning techniques to identify biomarkers associated with disease progression in post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). Using clinical, biochemical, haematological, and immunological data, 14 markers distinguished patients with worsening PKDL. The findings deepen understanding of disease progression and this approach may be used to train future supervised algorithms for more precise diagnosis.
The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology assessed the diagnostic performance of a new hepatitis B core-related antigen rapid diagnostic test for women at high risk of hepatitis B vertical transmission. The test reliably detects at the point of care, with advantages including low cost, ease of use with minimal infrastructure, suitability for high temperatures, and a 45-minute turnaround.
In PLOS Global Public Health, a review on child public health indicators in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable (FCV) settings address the limited child public health expertise in humanitarian crises and the lack of data on outcomes and impact. It concluded that while routine measurement of outcomes in FCV settings is feasible, there is a critical need for standardised indicators.
Best regards,
Zhi Wei Ching, Lydia Lampiri, Madeleine Baxter and Holly Baker with MSF-authored article assistance from Amelia Zhao.
All MSF-authored publications can be found on the MSF Science Portal, as well as recordings, abstracts and posters from the MSF Scientific Days 2024 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
The BMJ Global Health • Article: ‘When global health meets global goals’: assessing the alignment between antimicrobial resistance and sustainable development policies in 10 African and Asian countries
Climate change and Planetary Health
The BMJ • Opinion: Artificial intelligence risks becoming an environmental disaster
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Using trauma-informed approaches: research with climate disaster affected communities
Ebola
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Barriers to community engagement during the response to an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Uganda
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Differential restriction of chikungunya virus in primary human cardiac endothelial cells occurs at multiple steps in the viral life cycle
Global health
The Lancet • Comment: A turning point for global health: challenge or opportunity?
The BMJ • Editorial: The war on equality
HIV
The Lancet • Article: Pharmacokinetics and safety of once-yearly lenacapavir: a phase 1, open-label study
The Lancet Global Health • Comment: Africa's defining moment: the time to lead the HIV response is now
The Lancet HIV • Feature: Tajikistan faces a crucial moment in HIV/AIDS response
The Lancet HIV • Article: Safety, tolerability, and acceptability of long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV prevention in cisgender female adolescents (HPTN 084-01): a single-arm, open-label, phase 2b trial
The Lancet HIV • Review: Prevention and control of HPV-related cancers in people living with HIV
PLOS Mental Health • Article: HIV and mental health provider experiences of implementing brief depression and suicide screening among people living with HIV in Tanzania: A qualitative study
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology • Comment: Preventing vertical transmission of HBV in LMICs: what could HBcrAg rapid tests add?
The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology • Article: Hepatitis B core-related antigen rapid diagnostic test for point-of-care identification of women at high risk of hepatitis B vertical transmission: a multicountry diagnostic accuracy study
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Comment: Public health priorities for mpox clade Ib in pregnant, breastfeeding, and paediatric populations in DR Congo
The BMJ • News: WHO warns “measles is back” as virus spreads across Europe, America, and Afghanistan
The BMJ Global Health • Article: The influence of fluid resuscitation strategy on outcomes from dengue shock syndrome: a review of the management of 691 children in 7 Southeast Asian hospitals
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: SARS-CoV-2 Alchemy: Understanding the dynamics of age, vaccination, and geography in the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in India
Malaria
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: 14 days of high-dose versus low-dose primaquine treatment in patients with Plasmodium vivax infection in Cambodia: a randomised, single-centre, open-label efficacy study
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Comment: High-dose primaquine reduces vivax relapses: time for change
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Evaluating the impact of two next-generation long-lasting insecticidal nets on malaria incidence in Uganda: an interrupted time-series analysis using routine health facility data
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Who benefits from the donor-supported malaria programme in Enugu State, Nigeria? A benefit incidence analysis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Genomic epidemiology of Plasmodium knowlesi reveals putative genetic drivers of adaptation in Malaysia
Transactions RSTMH • Article: Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2/3 gene deletions and repeat motifs in Chhattisgarh, India (2017–2018)
Malaria Journal • Correspondence: Spatial distribution of malaria among under-five children and associated factors in Tanzania: a spatial and multilevel analysis
Malaria Journal • Article: Bionomics and distribution of malaria vectors in Kisumu city, Western Kenya: implications for urban malaria transmission
Malaria Journal • Article: Time to loss of physical integrity of attractive targeted sugar bait (ATSB) stations in Western Province, Zambia: a survival analysis
Malaria Journal • Article: Assessment of malaria treatment interventions: a critical analysis of government initiatives and causes of treatment failure at Port Loko Government Hospital, Sierra Leone
Malaria Journal • Article: Estimating the hole surface area of insecticide-treated nets using image analysis, manual hole counting and exact hole measurements
Malaria Journal • Article: Multiple insecticide resistance in Anopheles funestus from Mopeia, Central Mozambique
Malaria Journal • Article: Characterization of insecticide resistance mechanisms in the Anopheles gambiae population of Sierra Leone
Malaria Journal • Article: Through the eyes of the participant: using photovoice to understand the experiences and effects of ivermectin MDA in the context of the BOHEMIA clinical trial in Kwale, Kenya
Malaria Journal • Article: Genome-wide scanning for genetic markers associated with anti-malarial drugs sensitivity of Plasmodium falciparumisolates from the China-Myanmar border region
Malaria Journal • Article: Comparing HemoCue® and Quantitative Buffy Coat® and Coulter Counter-measured haemoglobin concentrations in African children with acute uncomplicated malaria: a Bland–Altman analysis
Maternal and child health
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Levels and determinants of person-centred maternity care among women living in urban informal settlements: evidence from client exit surveys in Nairobi, Lusaka and Ouagadougou
The BMJ Global Health • Article: The ‘Health-2-Go’ programme’s impact on all-cause mortality and clinic utilisation for children 5 and under: a retrospective cohort analysis of an iCCM intervention in Ghana’s Barekese Subdistrict
The BMJ Global Health • Review: Identifying health outcomes and future research directions of group antenatal care among adolescents in low and middle-income countries: a scoping review
PLOS Global Public Health • other: No excuses - improving child public health outcomes in humanitarian settings requires reliable data
PLOS Global Public Health • Review***MENTIONS MSF***: Child public health indicators for fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings: A scoping review
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Use of antenatal care services among extremely marginalized indigenous population (Chepang Community) of Nepal
PLOS Global Public Health • Review: Treatment strategies for non-responders to oral iron and folic acid treatment in anemic children: A systematic review
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Assessing the global dengue burden: Incidence, mortality, and disability trends over three decades
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Stable colonization of the model kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus by Trypanosoma cruzi Y strain
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article***DNDi AUTHOR***: Unsupervised machine learning identifies biomarkers of disease progression in post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis in Sudan
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Prevalence of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection and antibodies within districts persistently endemic for trachoma, Amhara, Ethiopia
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Article: Impact of mass drug administration with ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine, and albendazole for lymphatic filariasis on hookworm and Strongyloides stercoralis infections in Papua New Guinea
PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease • Review: Leishmaniasis in deployed military populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Tuberculosis
The Lancet • Article: Effect of digital adherence technologies on treatment outcomes in people with drug-susceptible tuberculosis: four pragmatic, cluster-randomised trials
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Mortality and loss to follow-up among Tuberculosis patients on treatment in Meru County, Kenya: a retrospective cohort study
TMIH • Review: Accuracy of computer-aided chest x-ray interpretation for tuberculosis screening in people with diabetes mellitus: A systematic review
TMIH • Article: Multi-drug resistance and compensatory mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Vietnam
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Bedaquiline Resistance and Treatment Outcomes Among Patients With Tuberculosis Previously Exposed to Bedaquiline in India: A Multicentric Retrospective Cohort Study
Vaccines
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Review: Future immunisation strategies to prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae infections in children and adults
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine • Correspondence: An overview of influenza H5 vaccines
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Regional, subregional and country-level full vaccination coverage in children aged 12–23 months for 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: a global analysis using Demographic and Health Survey data
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and associated factors in Migori County, Kenya: Analysis of cross-sectional observational survey data