Excited to host SS03 – Transforming TB detection through tongue swab-based molecular testing at #UnionConf2025 in Copenhagen (19 Nov, 08:00–09:00). Exploring new near‑POC diagnostics that could expand TB case detection and decentralise care.

$2.1 billion is the equivalent of 🌍 military expenditure every 8h

$2.1 billion is the price of 1 stealth bomber

$2.1 billion is 1/4 of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising & promotion every year.

It seems somebody switched the price tags on what is truly valuable in our world.

#WHA78

The R2D2 TB Network Consortium has released a preprint on the first study evaluating novel swab-based near-POC MTB assays for TB detection in adults and adolescents.

🔗 Read the preprint here: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

#R2D2TBNetwork #Tuberculosis #DiagnosticAccuracy #GlobalHealth

In 15 yrs of reporting, I've never had so many health & biomed researchers & outreach orgs tell me they're afraid to talk w/press or barred from speaking bc of new comms policies.

I understand the fear of losing funds. I don't know if silence does more harm than good. If you can speak up, pls do.

1/ Let’s start by acknowledging the obvious: we’re operating in a broken system. The global health system is built on patching up an unfair world with band-aids—aid programs, NGOs, public-private partnerships, and the like.

But this system is unsustainable. It will come down. The question is how.

“Instead of a careful handover, we’re being pushed off a cliff,” said Kate Rees, an epidemiologist with South Africa’s Anova Health Institute, which has also seen its funding terminated.
Story on the devastating cuts to the HIV/AIDS field by my colleague @cohenjon.bsky.social 🧪 #IDsky

"No one wants bears in their backyard, but no one wants to invest in institutions doing the unglamorous work to keep them out either."

Published October 13, 2020:

NEW: Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs.

Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.

Revealed: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war

WHO Chief Scientist Jeremy Farrar shares what’s on his desk the first week in January and why it’s a big deal for global health. pro.politico.eu/news/the-yea... @who.int

With new funding and rapidly expanding R2D2 TB Network, we are looking for new team members to join our Technology Team!

Scientific Project Lead: karriere.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php?ac...

Technology Officer: karriere.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php?ac...

#hiring #jobopening #IDsky

The very 1st PQed TB test..
www.who.int/news/item/05...
#TB

Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease that continues to devastate the most vulnerable communities.

Unified response is needed to tackle #TB among refugee and migrant populations, write Tereza Kasaeva and colleagues
www.bmj.com/content/387/...