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Nekkab, Malinga, Braunack-Mayer et al. discuss how modelling can be incorporated early on in the research and development of malaria tools alongside clinical evidence and expert opinion. In addition, population models can provide estimates of potential effectiveness of novel interventions to inform product criteria and support decision-making.
HIV remains a major global health issue, with the burden of the epidemic disproportionately falling on low- and middle-income countries. Progress in HIV prevention, most notably pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been slow to reach those most in need.
Koh, Papanikolaou et al. discuss the application of artificial intelligence in cancer imaging. The authors highlight opportunities for exploiting machine learning algorithms in this field, and outline barriers in their implementation and how these might be addressed.
Traditionally, there has been a reluctance to involve pregnant people in clinical trials due to complex ethical issues surrounding the risk to unborn babies. However it is crucial that new interventions are safe and effective for all patients and ensuring this can be difficult to achieve in the absence of clinical trials.
Calder, Tong et al. discuss how the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines benefited from HIV/AIDS research. They highlight lessons learned from the COVID-19 vaccine development experience that could accelerate and re-energize the development of a safe and efficacious HIV vaccine.
Clinical trials are required to ensure new treatments are safe and effective for patients. The involvement of participants in the planning and execution of clinical trials is critical not only to their success but also so that the participating communities can benefit from them.
Szarfman et al. discuss the importance of efficient, easy access to large quantities of health data to improve medical care and further medical research. They outline the issues currently experienced accessing and exchanging data in the USA and provide recommendations for how to improve data access and exchange.
Zimmer et al. discuss the importance of cough assessment in clinical management of tuberculosis (TB). They describe how acoustic epidemiology, which uses recording devices and artificial intelligence to detect, record and analyze cough, can be used in TB control and individual patient management.
Recent years have seen rapid advances in the preclinical development and clinical evaluation of oncolytic (cancer-lysing) virus-based therapies, and these are emerging as treatment modality for some cancers. There are challenges to address, however, if we are to maximize the impact of these therapies in patients.
Despite the significant advances made in our understanding of cancer and how to treat it over the last hundred years, there are wide global disparities in access to cancer care and in who gets to benefit from cutting-edge cancer research.
