Global Health

Malaria kills almost 600,000 people every year, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa, while tuberculosis is evolving more dangerously than ever with the emergence of lethal drug-resistant strains of the disease. These diseases and dozens more are preventable and mostly occur in low-income developing nations. As people continue to die and suffer from these diseases, western-style technology has passed them by.

Burness has been at the center of the drive to develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for neglected disease. We’ve elevated the issues and the promising solutions on behalf of major players in the global health space, including several product development partnerships funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the leading global society on tropical disease. For example, we’ve worked from the beginning with the partnership that developed the first vaccine designed specifically for Africa. Since campaigns started in 2010, MenAfriVac®, an innovative and affordable vaccine, has all but rid the meningitis belt of a major cause of deadly epidemics.