Guest edited by Mark Jit
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants, with most of the disease burden in low- and middle-income countries. Several candidate vaccines and monoclonal antibodies against RSV are showing promise in clinical trials. In this collection, BMC Medicine and BMC Infectious Diseases present a series of articles that update the evidence base on the health and economic impact of paediatric RSV in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the cost-effectiveness of preventive interventions.
The collection includes new analyses of primary health and economic data in South Africa, Kenya and Vietnam, systematic reviews and cost-effectiveness analyses that use these new data to update our understanding of the value of pipeline prophylactic innovations. In particular, hospital data from South Africa and Kenya have been analysed at a more granular age breakdown than before. These show that interventions able to prevent RSV cases very early in life (such as maternal vaccination and monoclonal antibodies) may be more cost-effective than previously estimated. The implications of this evidence for policy and funding decisions are highlighted in an editorial by Keith Klugman and Padmini Srikantiah from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The collection was developed by a consortium consisting of PATH, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Of South Africa (NICD), the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) – Wellcome Trust Research Programme, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Antwerp. The research and open access to all accepted articles was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
All articles in the collection were peer reviewed, and the responsibility for all final editorial decisions on the content for this collection was with the Chief Editor.