Madhukar Pai | |
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Born | Vellore, India |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Tuberculosis and public health research, equity advocacy |
Awards |
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Madhukar Pai (also known as Madhu Pai) is an Indian medical doctor, academic, advocate, [1] writer, [2] and university professor. Pai's work is around global health, specifically advocacy for better treatment for tuberculosis [3] with a focus on South Africa and India. [4] [5] Pai is the inaugural Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health in the School of Population and Global Health [6] and holds a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University. [7]
Pai completed medical training and his community medicine residency at the Christian Medical College [8] Vellore, India. [4] He received his Ph.D in epidemiology from University of California, Berkeley. [4] He also did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. [4]
Pai serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of FIND (the global alliance for diagnostics) [4] and is on the World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics and the Access Advisory Committee of TB Alliance. [4] He is the Chair of the Public-Private Mix Working Group of the Stop TB Partnership. [4] Pai is also on the editorial boards of BMJ Global Health, PLoS Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, [4] and is an Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Global Public Health. [9]
Pai is a frequent media commentator on the COVID-19 pandemic in India, [10] [2] [11] and in 2021 drew comparisons of the collective global action taken in response to the COVID19 pandemic versus the relative inaction towards tuberculosis. [12] His 2021 paper in PLOS Medicine addressed power asymmetries in global health. [13]
In 2020 [14] and in 2021 [15] he published papers and contributions about the decolonisation of global health work.
In 2021, Pai was critical of the global failure to widely vaccinate people against COVID-19, accused high-income nations of vaccine hoarding, and called for a waiver of intellectual property laws regarding COVID19 vaccines. [16] In 2022 he described the global response to COVID-19 as an "unmitigated disaster". [17]
Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB). It is named after its inventors Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin. In countries where tuberculosis or leprosy is common, one dose is recommended in healthy babies as soon after birth as possible. In areas where tuberculosis is not common, only children at high risk are typically immunized, while suspected cases of tuberculosis are individually tested for and treated. Adults who do not have tuberculosis and have not been previously immunized, but are frequently exposed, may be immunized, as well. BCG also has some effectiveness against Buruli ulcer infection and other nontuberculous mycobacterial infections. Additionally, it is sometimes used as part of the treatment of bladder cancer.
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis. Around 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected. Typical symptoms of active TB are chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.
Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are often emphasized. Thus, global health is about worldwide health improvement, reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders, including the most common causes of human death and years of life lost from a global perspective.
Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a form of tuberculosis caused by bacteria that are resistant to some of the most effective anti-TB drugs. XDR-TB strains have arisen after the mismanagement of individuals with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
Thomas R. Frieden is an American infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225 million, five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease.
FIND is a global health non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland. FIND functions as a product development partnership, engaging in active collaboration with over 150 partners to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases. The organisation's Geneva headquarters are in Campus Biotech. Country offices are located in New Delhi, India; Cape Town, South Africa; and Hanoi, Viet Nam.
Sir Alimuddin Zumla,, FRCP, FRCPath, FRSB is a British-Zambian professor of infectious diseases and international health at University College London Medical School. He specialises in infectious and tropical diseases, clinical immunology, and internal medicine, with a special interest in HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, and diseases of poverty. He is known for his leadership of infectious/tropical diseases research and capacity development activities. He was awarded a Knighthood in the 2017 Queens Birthday Honours list for services to public health and protection from infectious disease. In 2012, he was awarded Zambia's highest civilian honour, the Order of the Grand Commander of Distinguished services - First Division. In 2023, for the sixth consecutive year, Zumla was recognised by Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science as one of the world's top 1% most cited researchers. In 2021 Sir Zumla was elected as Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences.
Tuberculosis in India is a major health problem, causing about 220,000 deaths every year. In 2020, the Indian government made statements to eliminate tuberculosis from the country by 2025 through its National TB Elimination Program. Interventions in this program include major investment in health care, providing supplemental nutrition credit through the Nikshay Poshan Yojana, organizing a national epidemiological survey for tuberculosis, and organizing a national campaign to tie together the Indian government and private health infrastructure for the goal of eliminating the disease.
Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, MMed, MS(Epi), FFPHM, FFPath (Virol), DipData, PhD, DSc(hc), FRS is a South African public health physician, epidemiologist and virologist who has played a leading role in the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic. His scientific contributions have impacted the landscape of HIV prevention and treatment, saving thousands of lives.
Soumya Swaminathan is an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV. From 2019 to 2022, she served as the chief scientist at the World Health Organization under the leadership of Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Previously, from October 2017 to March 2019, she was the Deputy Director General of Programmes (DDP) at the World Health Organization.
The Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) founded in 2010 by Heidi Larson, was developed in response to hesitancy and misinformation on vaccination programmes such as those that caused a boycott of polio eradication efforts in Northern Nigeria in 2003–04. It is an early warning system to identify and evaluate public confidence in vaccines, with the purpose of tackling the problem early, when it is likely to be manageable.
Shabir Ahmed Madhi, is a South African physician who is professor of vaccinology and director of the South African Medical Research Council Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, and National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. In January 2021, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Gavin Mark Yamey is a British-American physician and global health researcher. He is the director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke University and a professor of the practice of global health and public policy.
Catharina Boehme is the Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Governance of the World Health Organization. She previously served as WHO Chef de Cabinet, and is known for her work in developing diagnostic tests for diseases such as tuberculosis and for advocating for increased testing for the COVID-19 disease.
Tuberculosis elimination is the effort to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases to less than one per 1 million population, contrasted with the effort to completely eradicate infection in humans worldwide. The goal of tuberculosis elimination is hampered by the lack of rapid testing, short and effective treatment courses, and completely effective vaccine. The WHO as well as the Stop TB Partnership aim for the full elimination of TB by 2050—requiring a 1000-fold reduction in tuberculosis incidence. As of 2017, tuberculosis has not been eliminated from any country.
Vaccine equity means ensuring that everyone in the world has equal access to vaccines. The importance of vaccine equity has been emphasized by researchers and public health experts during the COVID-19 pandemic but is relevant to other illnesses and vaccines as well. Historically, world-wide immunization campaigns have led to the eradication of smallpox and significantly reduced polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.
Rachel Kiddell-Monroe LL.M is a Montreal-based academic, activist, and lawyer. She is the General Director of See Change Initiative and faculty at McGill University where she teaches about humanitarian aid.
From 1929 to 1933, 251 infants in Lübeck, northern Germany, were given three doses of the oral BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, which was accidentally contaminated with the bacteria responsible for the disease. 173 later developed signs of the illness and 72 died.
Nina Schwalbe is an American public health researcher who is the founder of Spark Street Advisors, a public health think tank based in New York City. Schwalbe specializes in vaccines. She has previously worked at Gavi, UNICEF and USAID.
Ethel Leonor Noia Maciel is a Brazilian PhD, epidemiologist, nurse, and current Secretary of Health Surveillance and Environment, an internal secretary of Brazil's Ministry of Health and the Chairperson for the Tuberculosis Research Network from World Health Organization. She is a researcher in infectious diseases with a special focus on tuberculosis.