Author Archive: Audrey Zhang
Audrey Zhang '15 is the webmaster for HCGHR and a Technology and Global Health online columnist. She is a resident of Adams House concentrating in History of Science with a focus on Medicine and Society, and a secondary field in Global Health and Health Policy. In her spare time, she enjoys competitive reading and Tazo tea.
Medicines360 and the Rise of Non-Profit Pharmaceuticals
Reproductive health is becoming an increasingly important concern in developing countries, where it represents the confluence of three essential issues: women’s rights, health, and economics. Increasing the availability of contraceptives can address all three of these issues, yet pharmaceutical companies are often reluctant to pursue these projects because the available profit margin is small. But effective solutions to this and other global health problems need not be reliant on large pharmaceutical companies.
DNA Vaccines: Scientific and Ethical Barriers to the Vaccines of the Future
As flu season rolls around once more, DNA vaccines have regained attention in scientific debates. However, the development of a universal flu vaccine has stalled due to a number of concerns including the efficacy, safety, and ethics of conducting clinical trials in developing countries.
Transgenic Mosquitoes: A New Approach to Preventing Malaria?
Malaria is preventable and curable, yet, due to gaps in systematized prevention efforts, the disease accounts for 20% of childhood deaths in Africa. As a result, groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have targeted malaria through vertical vector control programs. WHO identifies these efforts as “the only intervention that can reduce malaria transmission from very high levels to close to zero”. However, the success of top-down vector control efforts is limited because by nature they are often focused on one specific issue…
