Science and tech for global health

Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, discusses science and post-2015 development. 

A panel debate at the Royal Society in London last month (6 June) brought together scientists, policymakers, NGOs and the media to discuss the role of science, technology and innovation in the post-2015 development agenda. 

Participants thrashed out ideas for how scientists can make their voices heard in dialogue around the new Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure the goals reflect science's critical role in driving development. The report published in May by the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda — and its implications for science — was a key topic for debate.

During the event, SciDev.Net spoke to Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, about his views on the importance of integrating science and technology into post-2015 development, and the urgent challenges facing the global community as it draws up the next set of development goals.  


Click here to download the full High Panel report http://www.post2015hlp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/UN-Report.pdf

Professor Peter Piot on science and post-2015 development

According to the WHO, bad air quality was responsible for 7 million deaths in 2012. In this interview Paulo Saldiva, dean of the department of pathology at the University of São Paulo, explains that there are no measures to protect people against air pollution, and so public health policies are vital to avoid serious consequences, particularly in large cities. He says the science needed to address the risks of air pollution is in place, but that poor countries lack the resources to implement it with solutions that work locally.

http://www.scidev.net/global/pollution/multimedia/local-science-tackle-air-pollution.html

Q&A: A call for local science to tackle air pollution

Find out how community-based drug outlets in the Philippines provide cheaper medicines and boost healthcare. 

How village pharmacies are aiding the Philippines’ poor

In this audio interview, economist Rana Roy discusses new evidence of the toll of air pollution in China and India.

Q&A: Putting a price on deaths from vehicle pollution

Public health responses to the Ebola crisis neglected to build trust among affected people, and more must be done to engage with the ‘human factor’ when disease outbreaks occur, anthropologist Heidi Larson warns in this audio interview. 

Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, says crisis response programmes must address public fears around disease. One critical lesson to emerge from the Ebola epidemic, she says, is that failing to focus on communication and trust-building with communities early on can lead to heightened fears and misinformation that jeopardises safety and helps a disease spread.

Social scientists and medical experts need to work hand-in-hand to devise responses, Larson says, because “a public health or medical expert and an anthropologist will look at the same situation and notice very different things”.

The interview was recorded at ‘Ebola – The 21st-century plague?’, a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine, United Kingdom, on 6 February. 

http://www.scidev.net/global/health/multimedia/community-trust-epidemics-ebola-audio.html


Q&A: How building community trust helps combat epidemics

Although antiretroviral drugs are not a cure, they can stop people infected with HIV from developing AIDS by keeping the amount of virus in the body low.

This audio feature explores a UK trial that used the antiretroviral drug Truvada to prevent a group of homosexual volunteers, considered at risk of contracting HIV, from doing so. Although the drug was successful in the United Kingdom, experts warn that more effort will be needed to develop targeted campaigns to administer the treatment  in regions where HIV is endemic, such as Sub-Saharan Africa.

HIV trial holds promise for preventing infection

SciDev.Net podcasts look at key global development issues and the ways in which science can have a positive impact on equitable and sustainable development and poverty reduction. 