The phase 3 trial of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine candidate showed modest efficacy of the vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum malaria, but was not powered to assess mortality endpoints. Impact projections and cost-effectiveness estimates for longer timeframes than the trial follow-up and across a range of settings are needed to inform policy recommendations. We aimed to assess the public health impact and cost-effectiveness of routine use of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine in African settings.

As vaccine manufacturers tackle increasingly intractable pathogens, vaccines will be developed that show efficacy, but that are less efficacious than established vaccines. Consequently, regulatory and public health authorities will be faced with difficult decisions about whether such vaccines should be recommended for implementation and, if so, under what circumstances. The RTS,S/AS01 malaria candidate vaccine provides an important example of such a challenge.

The nonmedical use of prescription opioids is a major public health issue in the United States, both because of the overall high prevalence and because of marked increases in associated morbidity and mortality. In 2014, a total of 10.3 million persons reported using prescription opioids nonmedically (i.e., using medications that were not prescribed for them or were taken only for the experience or feeling that they caused).

Achieving target coverage levels for mass drug administration (MDA) is essential to elimination and control efforts for several neglected tropical diseases (NTD). To ensure program goals are met, coverage reported by drug distributors may be validated through household coverage surveys that rely on respondent recall. This is the first study to assess accuracy in such surveys.

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Antibiotics have saved countless lives and enabled the development of modern medicine over the past 70 years. However, it is clear that the success of antibiotics might only have been temporary and we now expect a long-term and perhaps never-ending challenge to fi nd new therapies to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A broader approach to address bacterial infection is needed. In this Review, we discuss alternatives to antibiotics, which we defi ned as non-compound approaches (products other than classic antibacterial agents) that target bacteria or any approaches that target the host.

Deaths from Plasmodium knowlesi malaria have been linked to delayed parenteral treatment. In Malaysia, early intravenous artesunate is now recommended for all severe malaria cases. Researchers describe P. knowlesi fatalities in Sabah, Malaysia, during 2012–2014 and report species-specific fatality rates based on 2010–2014 case notifications. Sixteen malaria-associated deaths (caused by PCR-confirmed P. knowlesi, P. falciparum, and P. vivax and microscopy-diagnosed “P. malariae” were reported during 2012–2014.