Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death for people living in poverty, globally. [iii] Lack of access to quality housing, safe water and sanitation – as well as lack of access to medical innovations that can detect, treat and surveil the impact and spread of infectious disease – are all factors that make underserved communities more vulnerable to infectious disease. Complex and chronic infectious diseases pose major challenges to improving the health of people in low- and middle-income countries – and they can have a profound impact on economic development, too.
At BD, we focus our Global Public Health programming and investments on two of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases – Tuberculosis (TB) and Sepsis. Sepsis is the body’s extreme, life-threatening response to an infection, has a disproportionate impact on people living with HIV and TB, and is the leading cause of death, worldwide.
- Sepsis arises when an infection alters the body’s normal response, causing injury to tissue and organs. Every year, sepsis affects 30 million people, worldwide. Of these, about six million die from sepsis including up to 500,000 newborns, and causes one out of every 10 maternal deaths. [iv] The earlier sepsis can be diagnosed in a patient, the more likely it can be effectively treated. That’s why BD is committed to increasing access to tools and training that can help healthcare workers detect sepsis.
o In Kenya, BD partnered with the Ministry of Health to provide training on the Best Practices for the collection of blood cultures. Blood culture testing provides clinicians critical information on how manage patients with sepsis.
- Approximately one fourth of the world’s population is infected with Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria; and 5-10% of those people are expected to develop TB in their lifetime. Without treatment, the mortality rate for TB can be as high as 50%. [v] BD is working to deploy a strategic combination of resources and technologies aimed at strengthening health systems’ ability to conduct diagnostic testing to diagnose TB, so patients can receive early treatment.
o Perhaps the best example of this work is our multi-year partnership with BD the U.S. Agency for International Development and in-country Ministries of Health to improve access to and increase capacity for TB testing in India and Indonesia, through the Strengthening TB Resistance Testing and Diagnostic Systems (STRIDES) program.
o BD has also partnered with Project HOPE to strengthen the national reference laboratory system in Indonesia, by training workers at 20+ public sector laboratories on best practices in TB culture and drug susceptibility testing.
- BD responded with technology innovation and global health programming from the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and continues to support testing globally. Many of our Global Health programs are built on the learnings we gained from the HIV/AIDS response. The BD 14-year partnership with the U.S. Centers of Disease Control, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Ministries of Health in several African countries helped nearly 20 laboratories in Africa and India to strengthen their lab capabilities, build a more competent laboratory workforce and improve treatment efficiencies. BD lab technicians and microbiologists supported this partnership’s treatment of more than 7.7 million patients living with HIV/AIDS. We are developing free, online educational content about laboratory quality, which has been viewed by millions and cultivated 55,000 subscribers in 20+ countries.
Our Global Public Health Priorities
Safety
[iii] Bhutta ZA, Sommerfeld J, Lassi ZS, Salam RA, Das JK. Global burden, distribution, and interventions for infectious diseases of poverty. Infect Dis Poverty. 2014 Jul 31;3:21. doi: 10.1186/2049-9957-3-21. PMID: 25110585; PMCID: PMC4126350
[iv]https://www.paho.org/en/topics/sepsis#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20approximately%2031%20million,of%20maternal%20and%20neonatal%20death; accessed 11/03/2023
[v] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis, accessed 11/03/2023