Archive for category: Global Health

Information and stories about global health.

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Vaccines and Bacterial Infections in South Africa

Bacterial Infections in South AfricaTetanus has been almost completely eradicated from public life in South Africa and many other countries since the early 2000s. Although a tetanus vaccine has existed since the ’70s, infant mortality and overall cases were still high. The transition to administering two vaccines paved the way for fewer than one case per 1,000 people and a tenfold drop in the infant mortality rate.

Bacterial Infections in South Africa

Newborns are the most vulnerable group, especially regarding exposure to bacterial infections such as tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. Children are better protected when mothers receive a Tdap vaccine during the final two trimesters of pregnancy. The vaccine protects against all three illnesses. Because of the mother and child’s symbiotic relationship, the vaccine immunizes the mother and also benefits the child via the placenta.

Every year, young children, especially infants aged 0 to 1, have the highest infection rate of all three illnesses. In 2025, there were 614 reported cases of whooping cough in South Africa, with more than half occurring in children under 5 years of age. For all other age groups combined, there were fewer than 1,000 total cases during that period.

Symptoms

Tetanus symptoms include muscle spasms, muscle and jaw tightness and fever. Diphtheria causes fever, sore throat and nasal discharge. In addition to a harsh cough that starts about one to two weeks into the illness, whooping cough also causes vomiting and sneezing. It poses a long recovery time of a few weeks or more likely a few months, for infants.

Infants with these infections naturally have a much higher mortality rate. Their much narrower airways are ill-equipped to handle such severe respiratory infections. Fortunately, South African hospitals are stocked with high-end medical equipment such as ventilators to aid recovery. Tetanus is the deadliest of the three infections because almost all infants who get it will die without proper treatment. Even with such treatment, the number still exceeds 50%.

Widespread Support

Although tetanus infection rates have remained consistently low since 2002, diphtheria and whooping cough have fluctuated over the years. Widespread vaccination has consistently helped curb the infections. In addition to making the DTaP and Tdap vaccines widely available and affordable, the National Department of Health helps fund campaigns to mobilize larger groups to get vaccinated.

People did not stay up to date on their vaccines in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdowns. There were supply shortages from the pandemic, but the lack of vaccinations continued for months even after supplies became available. During that time, community members stepped in with their own campaign to remind individuals to protect their health.

While the main purpose of these campaigns was to promote the COVID-19 vaccine, citizens were also encouraged to receive other vaccines like DTaP and Tdap. People involved in the campaign set up information tables, hung vaccine banners, drove around town with signs and went door-to-door to promote vaccination.

The Path Forward

There are still 11 different countries with high rates of tetanus infections, primarily due to a lack of adequate health care resources. Although South Africa is not one of these countries, immunization rates may be much lower and infection rates higher than reported because it is more difficult to track data accurately for developing countries. However, community and government support continue to improve access to the vaccine and help keep bacterial infections low in South Africa.

– Logan Hessek

Logan is based in Northglenn, CO, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Lady Health Workers Treat Postpartum Depression in Pakistan

Postpartum Depression in PakistanAs many as one in four new mothers in low- and middle-income countries experience perinatal depression, which includes depression during and after pregnancy and rates in South Asia are among the highest in the world. Yet most affected women will never see a mental health professional. Pakistan has fewer than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people, far below the global average. Postpartum depression in Pakistan is one of the most under-treated drivers of household poverty and a program built around community health workers, rather than specialists, is helping to close that gap.

The Weight of Poverty for Pakistani Women

Poverty shapes everyday life for a large share of Pakistan’s population. The World Bank estimates that about 22.5% of Pakistanis lived below the national poverty line in fiscal year 2025, down from 25.3% the year before, with the September 2025 Pakistan Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment warning that earlier gains have been eroded by COVID-19, inflation, the 2022 floods and macroeconomic stress. Roughly 61% of the population lives in rural areas where formal mental health services are almost entirely absent. Poverty affects women differently than men.

In many low-income households, women carry the majority of unpaid caregiving and domestic work, have less independent income and less decision-making power over health spending and are more likely to be excluded from formal employment. Pakistan’s female labor force participation rate stood at around 24% in 2024, one of the lowest in South Asia. For a new mother struggling with untreated depression, the consequences ripple outward: lost wages, weaker bonds with a newborn, poorer infant nutrition and a tighter intergenerational cycle of disadvantage.

Postpartum Depression in Pakistan

Depression during and after pregnancy is one of the most common complications of childbirth and its effects reach beyond the mother. Research has linked maternal depression to pre-term birth, child under-nutrition and stunting, creating consequences that pass from one generation to the next. For families already living in poverty, the burden compounds. A mother struggling silently may find it harder to care for her infant, maintain household income or seek health services.

The stigma around mental illness deepens the problem. In a country where mental health care is concentrated in cities and where talking about depression often carries shame, rural and low-income women are the least likely to receive support and the most likely to be told their symptoms are simply part of motherhood.

Therapy Without Therapists

The response is the Thinking Healthy Program, a structured psychological intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy and designed specifically for delivery by nonspecialists. It was developed in Pakistan by Professor Atif Rahman and colleagues and tested in a landmark cluster randomized controlled trial published in The Lancet in 2008. That trial, conducted with community health workers in rural Rawalpindi, roughly halved the risk of perinatal depression among mothers and improved infant health outcomes. The results drew international attention.

In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Thinking Healthy manual and recommended the approach for treating perinatal depression in low-resource settings worldwide. The model has since been adapted across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The program works because it does not depend on scarce specialists. Community health workers are trained to help mothers recognize negative thinking patterns, build supportive routines and strengthen family support, during the same home visits they already make for maternal and child health.

Building on the Lady Health Worker Network

In Pakistan, that delivery network already exists. The Lady Health Worker Program, launched in 1994, employs more than 100,000 women who provide primary health care to communities across the country, with a focus on maternal and child health in rural areas. Each worker is recruited from the community she serves, which helps build the trust that mental health support requires. A 2025 study in the Journal of Global Health confirmed that contact with Lady Health Workers during pregnancy and after birth is associated with stronger uptake of maternal and child health services. That existing relationship makes the workforce a natural vehicle for the Thinking Healthy Program.

Researchers have also tested versions delivered by trained peer volunteers from the community rather than government health workers. Indeed, a 2025 trial published in Nature Medicine, conducted in rural Rawalpindi, found that technology-assisted peer-delivered Thinking Healthy was as effective as the standard WHO version in sustaining remission of perinatal depression, offering a way to extend care where health workers are stretched thin. The work is led by the Human Development Research Foundation, an Islamabad-based research organization. Challenges remain. A 2024 analysis found that Lady Health Worker coverage in Sindh province reached only 43% of the population, with wide district-level gaps. Expanding mental health care depends on first strengthening and sustaining the network that delivers it.

Looking Ahead

Postpartum depression in Pakistan remains widespread and under-treated and no single program will resolve it. Yet the Thinking Healthy Program shows that effective care does not require a psychiatrist in every village. By training community health workers and peers to deliver evidence-based therapy, Pakistan has built a model that is both affordable and proven. With sustained investment in the Lady Health Worker network, treatment for postpartum depression can become a route out of a hidden cycle of poverty for the rural and low-income mothers who need it most.

– Amna Al Harrazi

Amna is based in Dubai, UAE and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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How Motorcycle Ambulances in Uganda Are Saving Lives

Motorcycle Ambulances in UgandaFor many families living in remote villages, reaching a hospital can take hours. Poor roads, long travel distances and limited transportation options often delay treatment during medical emergencies. However, motorcycle ambulances in Uganda are helping thousands of people access health care more quickly, especially pregnant women, newborns and children living in rural communities.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 284 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020. Many maternal deaths occur because women are unable to reach health facilities quickly during complications. By providing emergency transportation in remote areas, motorcycle ambulances help address one of the most common barriers to care and improve access to skilled medical assistance when it is needed most.

A Lifeline for Rural Communities

Unlike traditional ambulances, motorcycle ambulances can travel on narrow dirt roads and rough terrain that larger vehicles often cannot access. These vehicles typically consist of a motorcycle attached to a covered trailer designed to transport patients safely to health facilities. The need for better transportation is especially important in rural Uganda, where distance and transportation costs often prevent families from seeking timely medical care. In some communities, people previously relied on walking, bicycles or private motorcycles to reach clinics, even during emergencies. Motorcycle ambulances in Uganda thus provide a faster alternative.

Helping Mothers Reach Care

One of the greatest benefits of motorcycle ambulances is improved access to maternal health services. Research conducted among women in eastern Uganda found that nearly half of the surveyed mothers had used motorcycle ambulances to reach health facilities for delivery and emergency care. Health workers report that these ambulances help women arrive at clinics faster, reducing delays that can lead to serious pregnancy and childbirth complications. Increased access to health facilities also encourages more women to give birth under the supervision of trained medical professionals rather than at home. This improves outcomes for both mothers and newborns and helps reduce preventable deaths.

A Cost-Effective Solution

Motorcycle ambulances are significantly less expensive to purchase and maintain than conventional ambulances. Their affordability allows local governments, health organizations and community programs to operate them in areas with limited resources.

According to Africannews, motorcycle ambulances have become an important tool for connecting isolated villages to health centers. Their ability to navigate difficult roads means patients can receive treatment sooner, even during the rainy season when travel becomes more challenging. The success of motorcycle ambulances in Uganda demonstrates how low-cost innovations can address major barriers to health care access.

Expanding Access to Health Care

The success of motorcycle ambulance programs has attracted support from international organizations focused on maternal and child health. Similar programs supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have demonstrated how innovative transportation solutions can strengthen rural health systems and increase access to life-saving services.

Motorcycle ambulances also help transport sick children and emergency patients who require urgent care. By reducing travel times, they increase the likelihood that patients receive treatment before their conditions become life-threatening.

Looking Ahead

Motorcycle ambulances in Uganda show how a simple innovation can create meaningful change. By overcoming transportation barriers, these vehicles help patients receive treatment sooner and improve access to essential health services. As motorcycle ambulances in Uganda continue to expand, they are proving that practical and affordable solutions can save lives. For many families living far from hospitals, they are more than a means of transportation—they are a pathway to healthier futures and stronger communities.

– Masa Qasim

Masa is based in Toronto, Canada and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Friendship’s 3-Tier System and Health Care in Bangladesh

Health Care in BangladeshBangladesh is at the heart of the battle against the changing climate. According to the World Bank, around 21% of the country is prone to annual flooding. This leaves many inhabitants isolated without access to health care and makes it difficult to build permanent hospitals. Approximately 12 million people live on the chars, which are river islands formed by sediment deposits due to flooding. Accessing hospitals can be difficult for these people due to damaged infrastructure.

In 2002, Bangladeshi entrepreneur Runa Khan began Friendship, a social purpose organization. The organization aims to address the challenges faced by the inhabitants of the chars with floating medical boats and other community initiatives using a three-tier system.

Friendship’s Three-Tier System

  • Tier 1: Floating Medical Boats Expand Health Care Access in Bangladesh: On the frontline of the system are three floating medical boats that serve the chars, as well as the land hospital located in Shyamnagar. The purpose of the boats is to expand medical care to those in rural areas who cannot access hospitals due to seasonal flooding, which damages roads and infrastructure. The floating medical boats offer free surgeries, check-ups, and medicine, along with pediatric, gynecological, dental and eye care. The boats help up to 175 people per day.
  • Tier 2: Satellite Clinics Focus on Prevention and Women’s Health: Satellite clinics carry out frequent visits to rural and isolated zones to educate communities on hygiene and nutrition, as well as providing basic treatments and free medicine. The main focus of these clinics is prevention and follow-ups. For instance, Friendship screens more than 18,000 women per year for cervical cancer and treats around 150 women for precancerous lesions.
  • Tier 3: Community Medic-Aids Support Health Care: The Friendship Community Medic-Aids (FCMs) are women trained by the organization to give primary health care to the communities. Some of these women are also trained as Community Skilled Birth Assistants (CSBAs) to give ante- and post-natal care, deliver children and provide basic childcare. In 2022-23, a study showed that over 90% of people asked had taken health care services from FCMs, demonstrating the impact they have on the communities.

Combining Health Care and Climate Adaptation

Friendship not only provides health care services but also addresses other issues like climate resilience. To prepare the communities for natural disasters, Friendship has carried out preventative measures such as restoring forests to protect villages from cyclones. More than 650,000 trees have been planted on the southern coast of the country, protecting at least 125,000 people.

Actions like these help combat many issues suffered due to storms. The destruction of villages and infrastructure can lead to malnutrition from a shortage of resources, a lack of health care due to isolation and an increased risk of waterborne diseases from living in flooded areas. Friendship’s three-tier system with floating medical boats, satellite clinics, and FCMs allows medical staff to reach vulnerable communities in times of need, while also implementing preventative measures to save more lives.

In 2025, Friendship was a finalist for the Earthshot Prize for its incredible work protecting the communities in Bangladesh. The organization’s holistic three-tier system demonstrates how health care and climate adaptation can work together to support the vulnerable communities in Bangladesh.

– Emma Wheeler

Emma is based in Valencia, Spain and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

 

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AI Health Care in Southeast Asia

AI Health Care in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia is a diverse and dynamic region with a population of 675 million. Southeast Asia consists of 11 countries divided into mainland and maritime Southeast Asia. Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and East Timor (Timor-Leste) are archipelagic countries. In some of these archipelagos, health care crises have persisted for a very long time. Some islands are isolated and remote, where the traditional doctor-to-patient ratio is low. Building hospitals across the scattered islands is a slow and challenging process.

However, artificial intelligence (AI) is helping address this medical challenge by transforming standard smart devices into diagnostic hubs and clinical tools instead of relying solely on the construction of physical infrastructure. Local health care workers are utilizing low-cost, AI-integrated handheld devices and natural language processing platforms to conduct clinical screening and triage at the doorstep. AI-powered health care in Southeast Asia is serving as a modern solution to these challenges.

Handheld Diagnostics

Portable handheld devices are actively reducing the need for heavy and expensive hospital equipment and machines. Clarius Ultrasound is a transportable imaging tool that is improving the workflow of community health workers. It is a wireless handheld ultrasound scanner that can be connected to a smartphone. These scanners are cordless, which makes them easy to sanitize and carry anywhere. In remote areas of Southeast Asia, expectant mothers and patients traditionally needed to travel by boat to reach the regional hospital, which often put their lives at risk. The emergence of handheld scanners is transforming this situation.

Smarter Triage

Processing a large volume of patients and identifying who needs urgent care is another major challenge. In regional clinics with limited resources and a large number of patients, traditional triaging methods can be slow and exhausting for the workforce. Bot MD and Halodoc have emerged as solutions to this challenge. Bot MD is AI-powered, providing clinical assistance and a platform for patient engagement. It is specifically designed to assist hospitals and health care workers in automating workflow and remote monitoring.

AI-integrated health care in Southeast Asia is enhanced with the emergence of platforms such as Halodoc. Halodoc is an Indonesian platform that provides digital health care services. It allows patients to access specialists and doctors round the clock through calls, text messages and video consultations. It also allows users to order prescribed medicines and health care products. Options for booking laboratory tests are also available. It is improving health care access across Indonesia’s 17,000 islands.

Optimizing the Sparse Medical Workforce

These AI-integrated health care technologies in Southeast Asia also aim at workforce optimization. In remote areas where few doctors might be handling an entire island, their time becomes extremely valuable. When AI-integrated health care technologies handle language translation, preliminary documentation and baseline image analysis, they effectively reduce the burden on doctors.

Health care workers and volunteers can conduct initial screenings and save the information. AI-powered triage systems can then identify and alert health care professionals about severe cases. Therefore, doctors are not required to focus on routine administrative intake procedures or easily treatable cases. Instead, they can devote their time and energy to high-risk patients who require immediate, complex clinical intervention. AI-integrated health care in Southeast Asia serves as a solution to these challenges of isolated and remote islands.

Conclusion

The digital health care revolution is transforming health care dynamics in Southeast Asia. It demonstrates that it does not always take massive concrete infrastructure to overcome health care challenges; equitable health care can be achieved through small, handheld AI-powered devices. Technologies such as Halodoc, Bot MD and pocket ultrasound systems are helping to bridge the health care gap. AI-powered health care in Southeast Asia is successfully improving patient treatment and access to care.

– Noor Ul Ain Ameer

Noor is based in Islamabad, Pakistan and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

 

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Nations Unite on a Historic WHO Pandemic Agreement

WHO Pandemic AgreementOn May 20, 2025, diplomats from around the world voted almost unanimously in favor of the world’s first legally binding WHO Pandemic Agreement, in response to one of the most glaring failures of COVID-19.

This failure was in stark contrast to high-income versus low-income countries during the pandemic. By November of 2023, vaccination coverage in some countries was below one-third, compared to the four-fifths of residents vaccinated in many high-income nations. Legal barriers such as patent waivers for vaccines were dismantled, yet doses still never reached the countries that needed them because of manufacturing capacity issues. One African manufacturer secured the ability to produce a vaccine, but its production lines sat idle because no African governments placed any orders.  In short, the system was broken. The Pandemic Agreement was the world’s attempt to fix it.

How the WHO Pandemic Agreement Came to Be

The World Health Assembly session launched the process in December 2021, as the Omicron variant was spreading globally and wealthy nations sat on stockpiles of doses the rest of the world could not access. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body that followed held 13 formal rounds of talks along with countless informal sessions. Negotiators overcame walkouts, last-minute standoffs and a hostile political environment, including open rejection from some political leaders as well as pressure from the private sector.

What the Pandemic Agreement Does

Critical ideas that had no legal definition during COVID-19, such as One Health or equity, now have standing in international law, offering governments a stable framework for future pandemic response, according to a J Law Med Ethics article.

At the heart of the deal is a pathogen access and benefit-sharing system (PABS). Under this mechanism, countries agree to share genetic sequence data about circulating pathogens with WHO. In return, pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate commit to making 20% of their real-time production of pandemic vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics available to WHO, with at least half of it being donations and the rest at affordable, realistic prices, according to PAHO. To put that in concrete terms, if a manufacturer makes 10 billion vaccines, around 2 billion will flow to WHO for distribution based on public health needs, particularly to developing countries.

Formal Emergency

The agreement directly links the PABS system to a formal pandemic emergency declaration under the International Health Regulations, making redistribution automatic rather than dependent on the goodwill of individual actors, according to a J Law Med Ethics article.

Beyond access to vaccines, the agreement takes a broader view of what pandemic preparedness means. It incorporates a One Health approach by recognising that around 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, so it requires countries to have surveillance systems linking human, animal, and environmental data, according to the WHO. A Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network will address gaps in medical supply chains before the next crisis. Plus, for the first time, the protection of health workers during pandemic emergencies is enshrined as an international legal obligation.

A Foundation for a Fairer Future

During COVID-19, the problem was not only a shortage of doses but also of capacity. Article 11 of the agreement pushes beyond the patent waiver model and calls on technology-holders to share know-how, skills, and proprietary information through WHO-led hubs to build genuine manufacturing capability across the Global South.

The agreement still requires work. A critical annex detailing the operational specifics of the PABS system still requires adoption at the 79th World Health Assembly in May 2026, and ratification by at least 60 countries is necessary before the WHO Pandemic Agreement enters into force. But for the first time, the architecture exists. Equity is now a legal obligation, agreed upon by the overwhelming majority of the world’s nations.

– Gia Sen

Gia is based in Mansfield, MA, USA and focuses on Business and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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PERi-Farms: Nando’s Supporting Smallholder Farmers

PERi-FarmsCountries in Southern Africa, including Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar, continue to face extreme poverty, with limited progress in recent years. About 71% of the population in Zambia, 81% in Mozambique and 69% in Madagascar live on less than $3.00 a day, while 70% of the population in Malawi lives on less than $2.15 a day. In addition, a significant share of the population across the region experiences severe malnutrition and insufficient caloric intake.

In Southern Africa, agriculture remains central to both livelihoods and economic growth, with 60% of the population depending on the sector for income and survival. Yet the region continues to face severe malnutrition, exposing a deep contradiction between reliance on agriculture and persistent food insecurity. Farmers across the region face major barriers, including limited access to technology, climate shocks and chronic food insecurity. 

These challenges make it difficult for farming households to move beyond the poverty line or earn enough to sustain themselves and their families, reinforcing a cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Nando’s PERi-Farms

In response to the challenges Southern African farmers face in earning a sustainable living, Nando’s launched a scheme to promote sustainable farming. Recognizing the region’s heavy dependence on agriculture, the company identified an opportunity to help improve the quality of life for smallholder farmers by addressing the setback created by limited resources and low incomes.

In 2012, Nandos committed to supporting smallholder farms in Southern Africa by buying chilies from farmers in Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa for use in its well-known PERi-PERi sauces. What began with just six farmers, who supplied 1.6% of Nando’s chili requirements at the time, has since grown to more than 1,400 farmers across 18 growing regions in those four countries.

Through this model, Nando’s provides smallholder farmers with a more stable income throughout the season. This stability helps protect farmers from price fluctuations driven by crop quality, climate-related disruptions and early-season pricing pressures. Regional farming organizations run the project on Nando’s behalf. 

They teach smallholder farmers in Southern Africa more sustainable farming practices and provide them with finance, materials and seedlings that they may have found hard to obtain. As a result, findings from the Impact Amplifier show that, compared with national averages in their respective countries, farmers in Nando’s supply chain are 95% more food secure, 75% more energy secure and achieve 80% higher completion rates across primary, secondary and tertiary education.

How This Makes a Difference

The Impact Amplifier has strengthened Nando’s capacity in areas such as professional development, food security, health care and education. This has enabled the company to better support independent smallholder farmers in Southern Africa. It does so by improving access to finance and agricultural inputs, providing training in efficient farming practices and offering more stable pricing throughout the growing season.

This means that smallholder farmers in Southern Africa can afford to educate their children, expand their homes, access solar power and grow their livestock herds. In turn, this helps families build more secure futures and gradually break the cycle of poverty.

Future Initiatives 

With the success of the PERi-Farms program, Nando’s has expanded its support beyond the well-known African Bird’s Eye chilies to other crop-growing areas. The scheme now also includes crops such as paprika and cayenne pepper, both key ingredients in Nando’s famous PERi-PERi sauce. This expansion is expected to increase income opportunities and extend support to more smallholder farmers.

Nando’s support for smallholder farmers also promotes gender inclusion, creating opportunities for women through female-focused farming initiatives. Ciara Carpenter, a former intern at Nando’s Malaysia, explained in an interview with The Borgen Project: “They allow women to work on the farms and they provide some form of education and teaching to enable them to progress and grow so they can get other jobs.”

Through this approach, Nando’s enables women to build independence, expand their economic opportunities and better support their families, contributing to more resilient livelihoods.

Final Remarks

“It is nice to understand how some companies are incorporating CSR and sustainability practices into their operations. The Nando’s chili farm not only farms chili but also supports education and helps women get jobs. The farms teach their farmers so that they can then progress onto new things,” Carpenter said as a closing remark in an interview with The Borgen Project.

Through its efforts to help address global poverty, Nando’s has improved the quality of life for smallholder farmers in Southern Africa. The company’s scheme has helped farming families gain access to more stable incomes, better education, improved housing conditions and greater knowledge of sustainable, long-term agricultural practices. In an interview with The Borgen Project, Ciara Carpenter also highlighted the equal opportunities Nando’s creates for women. She explained how Nando’s Malaysia contributes to the company’s wider commitment to sustainable sourcing.

– Freya Bryers

Freya is based in Surrey, UK and focuses on Good News and Technology for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Molbio Diagnostics: Improving Health Care in South Asia

Molbio DiagnosticsMolbio Diagnostics is a point-of-care diagnostics company which strives to expand access to disease detection for infectious and non-communicable diseases. By bringing accurate, lab-quality testing directly to underserved communities, the company is helping ensure earlier treatment and reducing the spread of infectious disease in countries like India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, improving the accessibility of health care in South Asia.

Truenat

Its leading product, Truenat, is a portable testing platform, which carries out the diagnosis of illnesses like tuberculosis in remote areas. Since its launch, it has become one of two rapid molecular diagnostic platforms that the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed for tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance detection and is operating in several countries right now. In particular, in India, 7,700 Truenat devices have conducted more than 30 million tests since 2021, making it the core of their National TB Elimination Program.

The greatest strength of the truant devices is their efficiency; they can test patients and administer treatment in a single day, something which has revolutionized disease transmission in resource-scarce areas. Families no longer have to save up to make multiple trips to testing sites or have to wait weeks before receiving treatment, immensely improving their chance of a cure.

For example, in Bangladesh in 2022, medical staff tested 59,000 people and found 58 of them to have drug-resistant tuberculosis, meaning they would have received the incorrect treatment if they had not been able to use the Truenat devices. Therefore, these devices have revolutionized the accessibility of health care in South Asia, allowing people from remote areas to receive diagnosis and treatment more efficiently than ever before.

Other developments

Whilst Truenat is the most used and recognized technology developed by Molbio Diagnostics, it has also developed other technologies with the same goal of improving the accessibility of health care in South Asia. For example, Prorad Atlas is a portable X-ray machine, weighing less than 3 kilograms with a fully rechargeable battery and iBreastExam is a portable breast exam machine, which has helped test more than 1.5 million women world wide for breast cancer.

Most importantly, Molbio Diagnostics put their technology and expertise to work during the COVID-19 pandemic; some features of the Truenat devices were tweaked to enable them to test for COVID-19. The Indian government approved this, allowing more than 800 sites to begin testing, something which was especially necessary in transit hubs and along borders.

Since its launch, Molbio Diagnostics has led the way in global efforts to make health care more accessible, bridging the gap between urban and rural areas across South Asia. These technologies have not only cured thousands, but they have also instilled hope in historically resource-scarce areas for the future of their health care.

– Vittoria Cortese

Vittoria is based in Washington DC, US and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Elimination of Leprosy in Chile

Leprosy in ChileAfter decades of hard work and effort, officials in the South American country of Chile have seen a substantial decrease of the potentially dangerous chronic infection, leprosy. As of March 2026, Chile became the first ever country in the Americas to eliminate the leprosy disease from inside its borders. A stunning milestone within the wide world of medicine and yet in order to apply the resources of Chile’s success directly into other viruses, it is important to understand exactly what measures are necessary to prevent the spread of the virus and to enforce leprosy eradication.

Background

Leprosy is a chronic, bacterial infection caused by the ingestion of a specific type of bacteria “Mycobacterium leprae.” Once the virus enters its host’s body, it quickly gets to work infecting the body’s skin and nerves, causing immense physical pain and discomfort to its victims. While the infection is not believed to be fatal, leprosy disease can cause various uncomfortable conditions, including severe itching, muscle fatigue, nerve weakness, and, without adequate recognition and treatment, serious disabilities. While treatment for leprosy eradication is available to those who seek it, it is challenging for victims to pursue a cure, as leprosy disease is difficult to properly identify, and symptoms don’t typically show themselves until years after the infection.

Hope is Still There

While leprosy is a dangerous disease that can leave potentially life-altering side effects, thankfully, hope is still there as there are a handful of treatments that can help with leprosy eradication in the body.

As of early March, both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) have officially verified that Chile has not recorded leprosy for as long as 30 years. While this landmark accomplishment deserves celebration, it’s important to consider that leprosy eradication in Chile not only luck, but rather a set of principles Chile has taken to reduce the spread of leprosy.

A common example includes increased surveillance around the country, intended to closely monitor and detect sicknesses as soon as they come up and treat them accordingly, rather than choosing to wait and risk harmful side effects. Those who are found infected are treated and followed up on for the disease immediately. WHO has implemented a strategic system in place which ensures that anyone who is diagnosed with leprosy receives continuous, long-term health benefits to help aid the recovery process.

Multidrug Therapy

Another important discovery that has led to complete leprosy reduction in Chile is the expanded access that patients now have to multidrug therapy (MDT), a combination of medications used to thoroughly treat leprosy. Both PAHO and WHO have cooperated to pledge their support for the implementation of the MDT method within the Americas, completely free of charge to all of its members. The frequent generosity of donors around the world has made it possible to more effectively identify the disease before it negatively impacts its respective hosts and then cure the disease, effectively reducing leprosy before it takes control.

Chile’s new methods of disease recognition have been successful in allowing for Leprosy eradication within the entire country’s border. Efforts by the WHO and PAHO organizations have paved the way for more positive treatment for disease, including increased surveillance systems to track and monitor viruses and the MDT program, which have been consistently successful as shown by the grand milestone.

The decades of time and effort spent into eradicating the leprosy virus in Chile have finally paid off, and it goes to demonstrate that threatening diseases that may at first seem impossible to truly erase are actually quite easy when governments commit to certain health strategies, as cooperation is essential for not only the elimination of viruses within certain countries, but also as a way to maintain their absence in the following years.

– Will Mancuso

Will is based in Lake Mary, FL, USA and focuses on Good News and Technology for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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The Durban Promise for African Health Sovereignty

durban promiseMany people in Africa cannot get the care or medicines they need, or they must pay for treatments themselves, causing nearly 11 million low-income Africans to fall into poverty every year. Determined to rectify this inequitable situation, participants at the 2025 Conference on Public Health held in Durban, South Africa, endorsed a pledge stating that Africa will begin to manufacture, regulate, and procure its medical items internally. Known as The Durban Promise for African health sovereignty, the assertion aims to promote health care equity by lowering costs and creating millions of jobs for its citizens, helping to alleviate poverty and provide universal health coverage to all Africans.

The Need for African Health Sovereignty

Africa currently imports about 70% of its medicines, 90% of its medical devices, and 99% of its vaccines. This drives up costs and limits medical treatment accessibility for many Africans. Adding more urgency to the situation, global health funding in Africa has declined 70% since 2021. Significant cuts to the USAID and reduced contributions from European donors seemed to make universal health care coverage (UHC) for Africa even less attainable.

However, African leaders anticipated the reductions and were actively seeking alternative sources of health care subsidies. As a result, China pledged $50 billion to support Africa’s health care program, funding that has accelerated the building of hospitals and clinics. Indeed, with significant financing, the Durban Promise is on the way to becoming a reality, bringing universal health care coverage within reach.

The Road to UHC

African governments have been working towards universal health care coverage for more than 20 years, but have faced significant obstacles. The Abuja Declaration of 2021 asserted that 15% of African national budgets should be allocated for health care, though many African countries still spend less than half that amount in the medical arena.

In 2023, African leaders signed The Lusaka Agenda, compelling governments to meet Abuja obligations and to implement actions that would lower the cost of medicine. However, this agenda was not fully successful due to challenges with domestic financing. With minimal results from these initial affirmations, in October 2025, African governments signed The Durban Promise, a roadmap for African health sovereignty and security that suggests an innovative medical financing structure to move Africa’s health care goals forward.

The 2025 G20 Summit

The annual G20 summit, which the African Union joined in 2023, brings together developed and emerging economies to address urgent global issues. The 2025 summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, marked the first time the assembly met on African terrain. The agenda from the South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa discussed the challenges of developing nations, which include the pressing issue of health insecurity. Ramaphosa’s compelling arguments led to increased funding from the World Health Organization and a Global Health Security Pact for equitable vaccines and sharing of data during global health emergencies. The pact further addresses African health security and the goals of the Durban Promise.

The Presidential Declaration

At the 39th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2026, countries made the commitment of the Durban Promise, according to AfricaCDC. The Presidential Declaration on Advancing Local Manufacturing of Health Products in Africa was issued with the objective that the African continent will produce 60% of medical products internally by 2040. The declaration includes two key strategies led by the African Center for Disease Control (CDC) focusing on securing the goal of health autonomy: The Platform for Harmonized African Health Products Manufacturing (PHAHM) and The African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM).

By creating a single health product market, the PHAHM will help align regulatory and manufacturing policies across the African Union. The APPM could enable African countries to leverage their joint bargaining power to make the market more predictable and desirable for suppliers, leading to supply security. Together, these approaches can help African health care to thrive.

Outlook for African Medical Sovereignty

There is much to do in order to achieve the goal of producing 60% of medical products on the African continent in less than 15 years. As daunting a task as it may be, with a thoughtful, well-executed plan and targeted efforts, the result can be a robust health program that will contribute to regional income and poverty reduction as articulated in The Durban Promise.

– Debbie Barto

Debbie is based in Monroe, WA, USA and focuses on Technology and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr