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Sarah Bachar

Senior Program Assistant

Sarah Bachar

Sarah Bachar supports the GHTC Executive Director and GHTC team on a variety of activities, including member and partner engagement. Sarah interacts with a broad range of individuals, including the GHTC Steering Committee, GHTC member organizations, and partners across the globe, as well as a variety of critical multilateral partners. Prior to joining GHTC, Sarah spent several years working in politics and public affairs in Washington, D.C. Her experience has primarily been in government relations and communications across a variety of diverse policy areas, including advocacy for increased support for fundamental research. On a personal level, she is passionate about global health equity and volunteers annually in East Africa on projects helping to bring basic human services to under-resourced rural communities. 

Sarah received her BA in Global Studies and Political Philosophy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sarah is originally from Colorado and enjoys spending her free time hiking, skiing, and exploring DC’s amazing restaurant scene.

Blog posts written by Sarah

Total of 1 blog post

US Department of State
August 26, 2024

Research Roundup: New COVID vaccine approved, New drug-resistant TB regimens, Mass azithromycin distribution

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Sarah Bachar / GHTC
Read time:
Interested in more global health innovation news? Every week GHTC scours media reports worldwide to deliver essential global health R&D news and content to your inbox. Sign up now to receive our weekly R&D News Roundup email. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that target the KP.2 virus strain, which emerged from the highly contagious JN.1 variant that began circulating widely in the United States last winter. The new shots are expected to be available within days amid spiking case rates and hospitalizations for COVID-19. Experts also hope the vaccines will provide cross-protection against closely related subtypes of the virus, including KP.3.1.1 and KP.3, which are now spreading rapidly and account for 36 and 17 percent of all new cases, respectively. The FDA has not yet approved a third vaccine from drugmaker Novavax.The World Health Organization (WHO) this week recommended three new oral regimens for multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (TB) that can cure patients more quickly and successfully than the current painful injectable regimens. These regimens—which include the use of new and repurposed medicines like bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and delamanid—can be offered to nearly all patients and can improve treatment success by shortening treatment time to six to nine months, rather than the usual 18 months, while reducing treatment toxicity and the spread of drug-resistant forms of TB. WHO’s recommendations are based on results from the BEAT-TB clinical trial conducted in South Africa and the endTB trial conducted in seven countries between 2017 and 2023 by Médecins Sans Frontières, Partners In Health, and Interactive Research and Development and funded by Unitaid.  A new study found that giving azithromycin to all children up to five years old can greatly reduce childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, more so than by limiting the distribution of the antibiotic to younger children, as recommended by WHO. The study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that twice-yearly distribution of azithromycin to children ages 1 to 59 months in rural communities in Niger reduced childhood mortality by 14 percent when compared with children who received a placebo. Further, the study found that targeting only children ages 1 to 11 months (recommended by WHO in 2020) did not lead to a significant reduction in childhood mortality. However, concerns remain about the effect of routinely distributing the antibiotic to all children under five on antimicrobial resistance.