Every child deserves a healthy start in life. Thanks to the generous support of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, the Takeda Chair in Global Child Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is advancing critical research to improve child survival and health worldwide.
Every six seconds, a child dies—before they even reach their fifth birthday. In 2023 alone, 4.8 million children under the age of five died, nearly half of them newborns, with the highest concentration of these deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Most of these deaths are preventable through access to basic healthcare, nutrition, and sanitation.
In 2019, in partnership with Takeda, LSHTM established the Takeda Chair in Global Child Health to tackle the most urgent health challenges facing children today. This is the first Chair at LSHTM to be fully endowed by a company. By prioritising prevention, driving innovative research, and implementing practical, context-specific solutions, the Takeda Chair is strengthening our work on child survival and health, with a focus on regions bearing the greatest global child health burden.
Professor Debra Jackson joined LSHTM as our inaugural Takeda Chair in 2020. A global expert in maternal and child health, she previously served as Senior Health Advisor and Unit Chief at UNICEF. Her extensive experience in health systems research includes areas such as mother-to-child transmission of HIV, newborn health in emergencies, and the vital role of community health workers.
Initially, Professor Jackson focused on the immediate threat of COVID-19 to essential healthcare services for mothers and children. However, as the climate crisis became an escalating global health threat—particularly for pregnant women, newborns, and frontline health workers—her work expanded. In collaboration with the WHO and UNICEF, she began investigating climate-related health risks, including the impact of extreme heat on maternal and newborn health and healthcare delivery, and working to implement local solutions to protect at-risk communities.
Driving impact through research and action
In regions of Zimbabwe and South Africa, soaring temperatures, poor ventilation, and frequent power cuts disrupt healthcare delivery. Heat exposure worsens conditions such as preterm births, stillbirths, low birth weight, hypertension, diarrhoea, and malnutrition in both mothers and newborns. As Professor Jackson puts it: "The heat is something everyone feels."
In response, Professor Jackson and her team are working to develop innovative solutions, such as solar-powered cooling systems and community-based initiatives to enhance resilience. One notable example is the High Horizons project in Mount Darwin, Zimbabwe, where local women’s groups used photography to raise awareness of soaring temperatures in their communities. This collaboration has led to practical solutions, including work to replace gasoline generators with solar-powered systems and painting healthcare facilities white to reflect sunlight, reducing heat absorption and keeping buildings cooler.
Professor Jackson highlights that effective solutions must be locally tailored, emphasising: "It’s so important to understand the local context and work with local communities. Otherwise, you end up with solutions people can’t implement."
Takeda shares this commitment, ensuring that its support fosters sustainable, locally adapted solutions for lasting impact. Takako Ohyabu, Takeda’s Chief Global Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, echoes this approach: "Our evolution and progress have been rooted in understanding and addressing the unique needs of the communities we serve for over 240 years,"
"The collaboration between Takeda and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a powerful example of what can be achieved when organisations come together with a shared vision of implementing realistic and impactful health interventions."
Creating lasting change for future generations
The Takeda Chair is not only transforming health service delivery and global health policies but is also preparing the next generation of global health leaders. Through mentorship and collaboration, Professor Jackson and her team are equipping future researchers and policymakers with the tools and knowledge necessary to tackle the world’s most pressing health challenges.
Takeda’s support is a catalyst for change. This endowment is creating a lasting legacy that will continue to shape global child health for years to come, ensuring that more children not only survive but thrive.
Read more about our collaboration with Takeda and how their visionary support is transforming child health.