Biotope

WHO visits UCD to discuss project transforming pneumonia care for children in Malawi

Childhood pneumonia remains the single biggest killer of children under 5 years of age across the world. To tackle this we have developed the BIOTOPE (BIOmarkers To diagnose PnEumonia) initiative. This was initially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2016 and in 2023 we were awarded a runner up prize from Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Aid. We have now recruited 2,700 children to this project and are working with the Ministry of Health in Malawi and the World Health Organisation to further evaluate its findings and translate it into clinical practice. So far the project has identified ways to identify children most at risk of severe illness who needed hospital admission using AI approaches and proteins in the blood that could be used to help identify which children needed antibiotics.