Efforts to eradicate polio by 2018 must ensure that people with disabilities are included in elimination strategies, says Sue Coe.

International bodies are offering true research opportunities, but African funding is needed to prepare the ground, writes Linda Nordling.

Funding for programmes that target major diseases should be matched by investment in the health systems that underpin them, says Ghana's Irene Akua Agyepong.

Child malnutrition among refugees who fled conflict in Myanmar still needs attention, writes Sandy Barron.

TB is linked with a deadly silicosis epidemic hidden for decades in rural South Africa. Gold mining firms must make amends, says Jaine Roberts.

Disabled people are thought to make up about a seventh of the world's population, so why are they often ignored in housing research, asks Sue Coe.

By measuring the right things, health providers can improve HIV response and save lives, says Stefano Bertozzi of the Gates Foundation.

New approaches are needed to reverse the trend of disappointing vaccines against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, argues biotech expert Thomas Egwang.

Research is needed into how women and girls could use mobile phones to get help after sexual violence, says Henrietta Miers.

The murder of health workers in Pakistan means the last leg of efforts to eradicate the disease can't be business as usual, says Heidi Larson.

Research into stem cells is taking place across South-East Asia, but proven disease treatments are currently out of reach, says Crispin Maslog.

Kenya has bypassed its own biosafety watchdog in banning GM foods, which will stifle balanced debate of GM in Africa, says Linda Nordling.

Instead of limiting imports of electronic waste, the Asia–Pacific region should set up a robust recycling system, says Crispin Maslog.

More affordable and effective treatments will be the result of a binding convention on R&D in health, according to an expert.

The world's food security depends on the quality of the forward-looking agricultural studies we are carrying out today, says Mark Holderness.

Social attitudes towards vaccines are hard to cram into a mathematical model, but scientists need to take them into account, says Priya Shetty.

Ten years after introducing a Biodiversity Act, India is yet to put it to serious use, say Shalini Bhutani and Kanchi Kohli.

S&T advances should safeguard health, equity and the rights of vulnerable populations, says rural development professional Bhavani R. V.

Looking through a 'human rights lens' can improve S&T programmes, while S&T can help strengthen human rights work, says lawyer Jessica Wyndham.