2024 Reflections from the Global Health Division at the Gates Foundation

As 2024 comes to a close, I’m reflecting on the milestones our partners and grantees have achieved over this past year that have led us closer to a healthier, more equitable world. Working alongside so many great organizations and people, our commitment to investing in groundbreaking technologies and bold ideas has brought us closer to solving some of the world's most pressing health challenges, and I’m looking ahead to the possibilities that await us in 2025. ?

To capture the breadth of innovation and progress this year, I’ve asked three of my colleagues – Nicole Benson , Zameer Brey , and Alison Kraigsley – to join me in reflecting and share the work that excited them the most in 2024. Their insights and experiences highlight the diverse and impactful efforts that are driving our mission forward.?

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Nicole Benson, Program Officer, Pneumonia & Pandemic Preparedness?

Until recently, Klebsiella pneumoniae was not widely recognized as a leading cause of neonatal sepsis and related deaths in young infants. This year, global partners came together to share data on the epidemiology of K. pneumoniae in low- and middle-income countries and to assess the potential impact of a maternal vaccine to prevent neonatal infections. These efforts culminated in the first international conference on K. pneumoniae, hosted by the Institut Pasteur , and it was exciting to have many of our partners among the more than 400 global participants join to discuss effective solutions to prevent and treat K. pneumoniae infections. ?

As we work to advance efforts for maternal immunization, we are also supporting the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) ’s NeoSep trial, set to begin enrollment in 2025. This trial will generate critical data to inform antibiotic treatment guidelines for young infants, with the aim of reducing deaths caused by hospital-acquired infections like K. pneumoniae.?

Zameer Brey, AI Task Force Lead and Deputy Director, Technology Diffusion ??

2024 has fueled my optimism for AI’s potential in transforming healthcare in LMICs. In meeting with healthcare workers, policymakers, and leaders across Africa this year, I’m inspired by the opportunity AI holds in addressing the continent’s 4.2 million healthcare worker shortage by streamlining their workloads, enhancing efficiency, and improving patient outcomes. For example, earlier this year, I met Carol, a committed community healthcare worker. We introduced a few AI-driven tools as she made her rounds, including one that helped her interpret an unexplained blood pressure reading, demonstrating how even a single interaction provides direct, practical benefit. ?

I’m excited to continue seeing AI’s impact through our groundbreaking work with AMREF and D-tree . Amref is integrating AI into their electronic Community Health Information System to deliver real-time insights, and D-tree in Tanzania is leveraging AI to support supervisors in overseeing community health workers. We are also learning together and fast from phenomenal partners like Penda Health , Viamo , PATH , and MOOVE to answer fundamental questions on using these powerful tools responsibly and effectively in LMICs. Seeing the optimism in Carol’s eyes and from leaders across Africa, I’m on the edge of my seat for what 2025 holds. ?

Alison Kraigsley, Program Officer, TB Vaccines?

This year, tuberculosis (TB) was once again named as the world’s deadliest infectious disease. A new TB vaccine for adults and adolescents is critical to fighting this disease, which is why I was excited about a new development in the TB vaccine preclinical space: the development and implementation of the Ultra-Low-Dose mouse model for evaluating TB vaccine candidates (supported by the Gates Foundation and led by Dr. Kevin Urdahl’s lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute). ?

This innovative model enables evaluation of three distinct mechanisms of protection, surpassing the single mechanism of protection provided by the standard mouse model. TB vaccine developers are now utilizing this model to better triage candidates in discovery to identify lead candidates. Most notably, the Ultra-Low-Dose mouse model is accelerating identification of novel mRNA vaccine candidates to advance into clinical trials. These efforts are crucial to advancing the development of new TB vaccine candidates quicker than ever before. ?