96 Global Health NOW: The Struggle to Protect Women in a Warming World; and A Delayed and Deadly Measles Complication Plus: Condé Nasty: Why Have a Dogue in This Fight? View this email in your browser March 19, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES 150,000+ previously uncounted COVID-19 deaths occurred in 2020 and 2021 in the U.S., likely outside of hospitals, finds a new study published in Science Advances, which drew on data from death certificates and found that the undiagnosed people who died were more likely to be Hispanic people and other people of color, largely in the South and Southwest. U.S. News & World Report 

Social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, which involve algorithm-driven scrolling, are worse for mental health than social connection platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook, finds The World Happiness Report—which reported that excessive use of social media is driving unhappiness worldwide. The Guardian  

Ozempic and Wegovy will soon become generic for billions of people, as Novo Nordisk is set to lose patent protection for the drugs in several of the world’s most populous countries including China, India, and Brazil—leading to significantly lower drug costs. The New York Times (gift link) 

China will regulate some traditional medicines, issuing draft guidelines requiring companies that produce traditional Chinese medicine injections to provide evidence that they are safe and effective and explain how they work, or face removal from the market; the guidelines will apply only to products that are injected intramuscularly or intravenously. Science  IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE Pregnant women attend a demonstration of the “Plac de ot o!” climate literacy tool at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. May 2025. Mama–Pikin Foundation The Struggle to Protect Women in a Warming World
In climate-vulnerable Sierra Leone, pregnant women, new mothers, and young children face heightened risks of extreme heat every day: Fainting from dehydration, missing prenatal visits, or struggling to breastfeed.  

Disproportionate dangers: Climate stress affects all aspects of reproductive care from contraception to postnatal treatment—especially in low-income countries. It leads to higher risks of stillbirths, low birth weights, and pregnancy complications, while also increasing gender-based violence and displacement.

• Climate adaptation for sexual and reproductive health remains “the most neglected corner of the climate response,” with <0.5% of climate-health financing reaching health initiatives—and even less supporting women’s health. 

The big impact of small foundations: Nonprofits like the Mama–Pikin Foundation have shown measurable progress helping women better understand the dangers of extreme heat and how to adopt simple strategies to protect themselves and their families.

But they, too, are imperiled: Funding delays and shrinking grants have forced programs to scale down and close their doors, even as programs are getting off the ground.

A need to adapt: Foundations are seeking new ways to diversify funding sources, including private-sector partnerships and long-term investment strategies. The need is urgent: Power brokers in developing countries “are still dreaming that some miraculous tech is going to save us. But for developing countries, [the impacts are] happening now,” said Sono Aibe, a consultant who has worked with the Mama–Pikin Foundation. 
 

Annalies Winny for Global Health NOW 

MEASLES  A Delayed and Deadly Complication
As measles cases mount in the U.S., infectious disease experts are warning doctors to be on the lookout for increased cases of a rare but fatal neurological disorder called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE.  
 
Details: Described as a “delayed echo” of measles, SSPE results from a persistent form of the virus leading to inflammation in the brain, usually years after the primary infection. It leads to neurological deterioration and almost always results in death.  

• While it affects just 1 in 10,000 people who get the measles virus, the risk is higher for those who contract measles before age 5. 

Preventable danger: Scientists are seeking to educate U.S. clinicians about the condition, but lament having to do so: “The problem could be solved with vaccination,” said Roberto Cattaneo, a molecular biologist who studies SSPE at the Mayo Clinic.  
 
KFF Health News 
 
Related:  
 
Florida is trying to ignore measles until it can’t – The Atlantic 
 
In South Carolina, measles shows how far apart neighbors can be on vaccines – NPR  OPPORTUNITY Media-Savvy Skills for Scientists
Join us for an interactive pre-conference workshop, Communications Skills that Transform Science into Action, co-led by the CUGH Research Committee, the Pulitzer Center, and Global Health NOW, ahead of the 2026 CUGH Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., on April. 9.  

• Amplify your work and translate evidence into impact with hands-on exercises aimed at equipping global health scientists, researchers, and students with practical media skills to influence global health dialogue, policy, and action.
   
• Deepen your understanding of current communication challenges with panel discussions featuring leading journalists, communicators, and academics.  

Pre-conference sessions are free, in-person, and open to the public! 

• April 9, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. EDT 

• Sign Up for the Workshop 

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Condé Nasty: Why Have a Dogue in This Fight?
They say you should pick your battles. For Condé Nast—the publisher of Vogue magazine—that battle is “who gets to photograph a vizsla in a turtleneck,” The New York Times reports (gift link). 

In the publishing equivalent of a bull mastiff chasing a Pomeranian, the company unleashed its legal fury on Dogue magazine, arguing the one-woman pet project with sub-100 subscribers could damage the iconic brand “irreparably.” They demanded the “destruction” of every adorable edition!  

• After coexisting for years, Condé Nast barked only after Vogue published its own dog-centric issue called … wait for it … DOGUE! So remind us—who copied who? 

We object! The faltering Conde Nast—which writer Michael Grynbaum describes as “a husk of its former self”—can only be bolstered by the spinoff featuring labradoodles in trench coats. 

On the GHN jury, it comes down to this: What’s more fashionable—a magazine with 600 pages of ads and excess, or one showcasing go-getter ingenuity and an Italian greyhound in opera gloves?  

On charges of being furry and fabulous, Dogue is guilty on all counts. 

QUICK HITS Birth control skepticism, teen fertility education center stage at Trump’s women’s health summit – CNN

‘Worst-case scenario’: Middle East nuclear concerns haunt top health officials – Politico

Women Hitting Menopause Before 40 May Face a Long Window of Cardiac Risk – MedPage Today

A step towards a first global system to track health before pregnancy – University of Southampton via Medical Xpress

The Myanmar nurses dodging drones to graduate from a secret jungle school – The Guardian

A New Level of Vaccine Purgatory – The Atlantic Issue No. 2883
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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Funds will help acquire and develop cutting-edge infrastructure to advance research capacity

Five researchers from The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) are leading innovative new projects that have received major funding from Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Innovation Fund. They will be funded for a total of $14.5 million, part of $42 million going to McGill University scientists.

96 Global Health NOW: Easing the NIH Funding Freeze; and A New Tool to Curb Overprescribing View this email in your browser March 18, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES ~5 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including ~2.3 million newborns, per a new UN report, which found that most deaths are preventable—including ~100,000 from severe acute malnutrition—and noted that progress in child mortality has slowed by 60%+ since 2015. UN News    Argentina, a founding member of the WHO, has officially left the agency, completing the process one year after requesting its withdrawal—following in the footsteps of the U.S. under President Donald Trump. Buenos Aires Herald

Self-harm among young people in Canada increased 2X+ between 2000 and 2024, finds new research published in JAMA Pediatrics that charted a rise of self-harm among young people across 12 high-income countries; in Canada, the steepest increase was among girls, who reported a 3.6% increase each year. CBC

Warmer, wetter weather driven by climate change is fueling mosquito-borne disease epidemics, per new research published in One Earth, which analyzed Peru’s record-breaking dengue outbreak in 2023 that was 10X larger than normal. Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment  IN FOCUS Workers walk to the metro station in front of NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. May 20, 2025. Wesley Lapointe/For The Washington Post via Getty Easing the NIH Funding Freeze     One year after dramatic cuts to NIH grant funding under the second Trump administration, spending will soon begin flowing back to researchers, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya assured lawmakers yesterday in a congressional subcommittee hearing, reports Science.   

• “My job is to make sure every single dollar goes out, and it will go out by the end of the year, on excellent science,” Bhattacharya said. 

A year of paralysis: Grant awards had “dwindled to a trickle” under the administration’s restrictions this past year, cutbacks that lawmakers of both parties criticized.  

• Lawmakers rejected outright the Trump administration’s proposed 40% budget cuts and instead approved a modest increase, per The Washington Post (gift link).  

• But those funds were still held up pending White House budget approval, which was finalized this week. 

Expected acceleration: The spending approvals mean hiring and grantmaking can proceed, including funding for new grants. This fiscal year, money has mostly gone toward grant renewals.     Shift in funding strategy: Meanwhile, NIH is moving away from agency-directed projects toward investigator-led proposals, reports Nature—drastically cutting its “solicited” calls for research proposals for certain fields of study. 

• While proponents say this boosts innovation, many researchers worry it could hinder collaborative research that benefits from NIH coordination, and fear the new model will lead to gaps in understudied areas of science. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE A New Tool to Curb Overprescribing    In rural Rwandan clinics, antibiotics can often seem like an inevitable part of care. Nurses see as many as ~60 patients a day from remote regions and often prescribe antibiotics as a precaution to prevent unnecessary travel.     The result: 71% of children’s visits at 32 clinics led to antibiotic prescriptions—far higher than levels considered safe to prevent antibiotic resistance, per a recent study published in PLOS Medicine.     A new method: Researchers developed ePOCT+, a tablet-based system that guides nurses step-by-step through an algorithm-driven diagnostic process to better specify treatment plans—and identify key distinctions between bacterial illnesses and other pathogens.    Dramatic impact: Clinics that adopted ePOCT+ saw antibiotic prescription rates drop from 71% to ~25% without harming patient outcomes.    NPR’s All Things Considered     Related: How unregulated antibiotics are fueling drug-resistant UTIs – Devex (free registration required)    OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Namibia reports significant malaria resurgence in early 2026 – Outbreak News Today     Health Groups Hailed a Vaccine Ruling, but Their Relief May Be Short-Lived – The New York Times (gift link)     Missed opportunity: 12% of teens at health system weren’t HPV-vaccinated before being sexually active – CIDRAP    Reproductive health clinics scramble as Title X funding cliff approaches – NPR    Severe COVID-19 Linked to Higher Lung Cancer Risk – EMJ     Crops irrigated with wastewater store drugs in their leaves – Johns Hopkins University via ScienceDaily    Chad launches national effort to tackle air pollution and methane – Stockholm Environment Institute    Kenya’s capital experiments with giving workers menstrual leave – AP    The snip shift: March Madness used to drive vasectomies. Now abortion bans do – The 19th  Issue No. 2882
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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A new injectable gel developed by researchers at McGill University and Kyoto University could enable stem cell-based treatments for swallowing disorders.

While stem cells have the potential to repair damaged swallowing muscles, ensuring their survival after injection has been a major challenge. In a preclinical study published in Biomaterials, the new approach improved stem-cell survival by more than five times compared with traditional methods.

96 Global Health NOW: As Temperatures Soar, Physical Activity Drops—With Deadly Consequences; and Pregnant Minors Stranded at San Benito View this email in your browser March 17, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Afghanistan reported that 400 people died and ~250 were injured after a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul yesterday, while Pakistan denied the accusation that it had hit the 2,000-bed facility; the tragedy marks a sharp escalation in the conflict that began in late February. AP
  The U.S. State Department may withhold assistance to people with HIV in Zambia unless its government signs a deal handing the U.S. more access to its critical minerals, per a draft memo obtained by The New York Times; ~1.3 million people in Zambia rely on daily HIV treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The New York Times (gift link)

A U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked sweeping vaccine policy changes recommended by health secretary RFK, Jr.’s handpicked advisory committee; in response to the decision—related to a lawsuit brought by medical associations—the administration said the advisory committee’s planned meeting this week will be postponed. Axios     Mosquitoes could serve up a surprising vaccine delivery system—carrying vaccines against rabies and Nipah viruses in their saliva, to be transferred to bats feeding on the insects (or when the insects feed on the bats), per Chinese-led research detailed in Science Advances; the method would require extensive safety assessments and regulatory approval. The Telegraph  IN FOCUS A boy pours water on his face to get some relief from a heat wave on a hot summer afternoon on May 29, 2024, in New Delhi, India. Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty As Temperatures Soar, Physical Activity Drops—With Deadly Consequences
Driving instead of walking. Skipping a too-hot trip to the playground or an evening walk.

In a warming world, these decisions have a dire, if less obvious impact on global health, according to a new Lancet Global Health study estimating the long-term impact of forgoing physical activity because of unbearable heat, The Washington Post reports (gfit link).  

• Globally, reduced physical activity could result in 470,000–520,000 additional deaths by 2050 and billions of dollars in productivity losses every year, a group of Latin American scientists found.  

The calculations: The researchers analyzed physical activity surveys and temperature records across 156 countries from 2000 to 2022.  

• Each additional month where the average temperature exceeded 82F (27.8C) degrees coincided with a 1.4 percentage point increase in physical inactivity.  

Striking disparity: LMICs were projected to see the biggest impact of “rising heat and falling activity,” the Post reports, while high-income countries showed no statistically significant change—perhaps because of better access to air conditioning, gyms, and flexible work arrangements, researchers theorized.

The link between sedentary lifestyles and chronic disease is well known—but a third of people worldwide already do not meet the WHO’s recommended amount of physical activity. “… Any compromise to achieving regular exercise—in this case excessively hot temperatures—will pose broad public health risks,” said Jonathan Patz of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the study.

While the study, based on self-reported data and national temperature averages, has limitations, the projections point to a clear need for heat-proofing physical activity, such as subsidizing climate-controlled gyms and public spaces for those at risk.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS Pregnant Minors Stranded at San Benito    Since last July, the Trump administration has been sending all unaccompanied pregnant migrant girls to one facility in San Benito, Texas—a center with a poor track record of care in a state with one of the strictest abortion bans. 

• At least half of the minors are estimated to be pregnant from rape, and some are as young as 13.  

Abortion access in question: The girls are supposed to be informed of their options, including abortion—but lawyers and activists warn that doctors may refuse to treat them for fear of prosecution.  

• Plus: A new federal proposal could repeal the rule that requires minors seeking abortions to be transferred to a state where it is legal. 

 EL PAÍS  QUICK HITS When Children Miss Vaccines, Polio Risks Re-emerge: Lessons from Kebbi State – Nigeria Health Watch     A forgotten social media post may hold key clues to COVID-19’s origin – Science      They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth. – ProPublica    13 years, 6 doctors and a lawsuit: The road to an endometriosis diagnosis – The New York Times (gift link)    E. coli linked to cheddar cheese made with raw milk sickens 7 in the US – AP 

How Foreign-Trained Health Workers Saved the NHS £14 Billion – Center for Global Development  
PhD students are turning to side hustles to make ends meet, finds Nature poll – Nature

Irish Cancer Society provided ‘almost 30,000 free lifts to treatment in 2025’ – Irish Times Issue No. 2881
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns, according to new United Nations estimates released on Tuesday – highlighting a worrying slowdown in global progress on child survival.

96 Global Health NOW: Cuba’s Drug Crisis Hits a Health System Under Strain; and A Cross‑Border Commitment to End River Blindness View this email in your browser March 16, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES The WHO has verified the deaths of 12 doctors, paramedics, and nurses killed Friday in an Israeli strike on Lebanon’s Bourj Qalaouiyeh primary health care center, per a Reuters report citing WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; in Israel, 58 people were injured last Thursday by glass shrapnel after an Iranian missile hit a complex of four private homes in the town of Zarzir, per i24NEWS.
  A meningitis outbreak at the University of Kent in the U.K. has killed two and left 11 seriously ill; the U.K. Health Security Agency said it provided antibiotics to students in the area to stem cases of invasive meningococcal disease, a combination of meningitis and septicemia. The Guardian
  U.S. flu vaccines had some of the lowest effectiveness rates in decades this past flu season, partially due to the circulation of a new strain, H3N2 subclade K; this season’s vaccines were ~25%–30% effective in preventing adult clinic or hospital visits, per a new CDC report, while officials generally aim for a  40%–60% effectiveness rate. AP   A multinational consortium to find a hepatitis B cure has been launched by Johns Hopkins Medicine after being awarded a five-year, $24 million NIH grant; the consortium—which includes research groups from Brazil, India, Senegal, Uganda, and the U.S.—aims to enroll ~450 people with both HIV and chronic hepatitis B and 225 with only chronic hepatitis B in treatment and various studies. The Hub from Johns Hopkins University  IN FOCUS Young people in rehabilitation and pastors talk outside The Rescue House (Casa de Rescate). Havana, Cuba; August 22, 2025. Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Cuba’s Drug Crisis Hits a Health System Under Strain    Drug use has surged in Cuba amid the country’s deepening economic crisis, as cheap synthetic substances flood the market and the country’s fragile health system struggles to respond, reports the AP.     New threat: Drugs, once rare in the zero-tolerance country, have become increasingly accessible in the form of “químico,” a potent synthetic cannabinoid originating from the U.S.  

• ER visits for drug emergencies in Havana more than doubled from 467 in 2024 to 886 in 2025—a spike that has “overwhelmed the country’s capacity to address it,” says one father whose son is in recovery. It has also driven Cuban authorities to create a National Drug Observatory.  

• The mounting crisis arrives as Cuba’s health system is already under severe strain from medicine and energy shortages due to the U.S. blockade, per another AP report.  

Brigades return home: At the same time, amid mounting U.S. pressure, countries like Jamaica, Guyana, and Honduras are sending hundreds of doctors back to Cuba after ending decades-long contracts with the country’s medical brigades, reports The Miami Herald. 

• Cuba has historically dispatched tens of thousands of health care workers internationally in contracts with other countries. Critics have called the system exploitative, saying doctors are paid minimal amounts by the Cuban government, which funds the country’s own health system with the revenues, reports Politico.  

• But the abrupt departure of the doctors could have a significant impact on host countries’ health systems, officials say. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES NEGLECTED DISEASES A Cross‑Border Commitment to End River Blindness    Benin and Nigeria have each made major strides toward eliminating onchocerciasis—the parasitic disease also known as river blindness—but they now face a joint challenge: securing the vulnerable regions at shared borders.    Shared rivers, shared threats: Communities along both countries’ contiguous river basins experience higher rates of onchocerciasis due to population movement, disjointed surveillance, and unsynchronized mass drug administration.  

• “To a cross-border threat, there must be a cross-border response,” stated the opening address at the Benin–Nigeria Cross-Border Meeting on Onchocerciasis.  

Roadmap for shared response: Delegates agreed on a joint list of next steps, including implementing a formal agreement between the countries and creating an action plan for coordinated drug campaigns and routine shared surveillance.     Nigeria Health Watch OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Beyond the battlefield: The global ripple effects of the Iran war – Devex (free registration required)

Six years later, COVID symptoms linger for many Latino farmworkers in Washington – The Spokesman-Review

Confidential Report Calls for Sweeping Changes to Track Covid Vaccine Harms – The New York Times (gift link)

‘My Lungs Had Nothing Left.’ Inside The Epidemic Killing Countertop Stonecutters – Capital and Main

Peru takes steps against bad drugs – but we still have questions – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

‘We’re not wombs’: Japan women seek rights to sterilization – AFP via Canadian Affairs

Influencers push 'parasite cleanses' but doctors say to steer clear – NPR

Michelle Bachelet, Running for UN Chief, Says Global Cooperation Can Save Humanity – PassBlue  Issue No. 2880
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing another $2 million in emergency funds to support health systems in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria as strikes against Iran by the US and Israeli continue amid counterstrikes across the Gulf and wider region by Tehran.

96 Global Health NOW: Migrant Workers Stranded Between Worlds; and Dangers Flowing Downstream in Alberta View this email in your browser March 12, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Health crises across the Middle East have escalated, including 18 WHO-verified attacks on health care in Iran and 25 such attacks in Lebanon since the initial strikes on Iran in February; meanwhile public health risks are rising as ~800,000 people face internal displacement. WHO    One-third of Americans say that to cover their health care expenses they have resorted to cutting daily spending—such as food or driving—or have had to borrow money to cover health bills, per a new survey from West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America, conducted with ~20,000 adults. CNN    Efforts to curb antimicrobial resistance have led to some recent “bright spots,” per the latest Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark report, which highlighted the recent approval of two new gonorrhea drugs—zoliflodacin and gepotidacin—as a pivotal development for treating the infection as cases rise and standard treatments become less effective. CIDRAP    Two U.S. vaccine advisory panels are weighing the future of COVID-19 and flu vaccines, with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices abandoning efforts to attack mRNA vaccines amid fears that such a move could harm Republicans in the midterms, per The Washington Post (gift link); meanwhile, FDA vaccine advisers to meet publicly for the first time since the Biden administration to recommend strains for fall flu shots, after last year’s meeting was canceled, per CIDRAP. IN FOCUS Essential and Exposed: Migrant Workers Stranded Between Worlds 
Across Asia and the Middle East, millions of migrant workers are critical to the health care, construction, and domestic labor sectors of the economy. And yet these migrants—many from Southeast Asia—are often left stranded and unprotected when conflict and illness strike.     Fired after falling ill: In some of Asia’s richest cities like Hong Kong and Singapore, migrant domestic workers who develop critical illnesses are often terminated, cutting them off from health care access and leaving them stuck between worlds, reports The Telegraph. 

• In many countries, employers are legally required to provide medical care—but face little recourse for sudden firings. Some workers are forced to return to their home countries without treatment while others remain stuck in legal limbo.

• “Then their situation deteriorates. It’s almost like a death sentence,” said Rachel Li, with the Hong Kong charity HELP for Domestic Workers 

Caught up in conflict: As the fallout from the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran widens to the Gulf states, 24 million+ migrants in the region are stranded, reports Bloomberg via South China Morning Post.  

• Fatalities have been reported among Filipino, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi workers, and governments of migrants' home nations say they are preparing for emergency evacuations and potential repatriation.  

• Migrants have faced total abandonment in previous Middle East conflicts, often stuck without wages or travel documents. 

INFECTIOUS DISEASES Dangers Flowing Downstream in Alberta 
Indigenous groups in northern Alberta have become increasingly alarmed by signs of toxic pollution in their environment: Vanishing wildlife, contaminated fish, and surging cancer rates within communities.     The problems have flowed from Canada’s massive oil drilling operations, say scientists and advocates. 

• The sites rely on ponds to hold toxic wastewater, known as oil sands tailings—which may leak up to ~11 million liters of pollutants like arsenic, mercury, and other carcinogenic chemicals daily.  

And more contamination could be coming, warn community leaders: The Canadian government is considering allowing treated wastewater releases into the river system; but scientists say there are no methods for fully eliminating dangerous compounds.    The quote: “The food that kept us alive for thousands of years is killing us. Where do they expect us to go?” said Ron Campbell, an elder living in Fort Chipewyan.     The New York Times (gift link) SPONSORED Give to GHN Today
Global Health NOW helps you by providing critical news about research, emerging health threats, and solutions from around the world at no cost.     Can you help us today?      A gift from you helps sustain our work, ensuring that timely, trusted global health news and analysis remain available—without a paywall.      Bonus: A $35 gift not only helps us; it earns you a spiffy, limited-edition Hopkins sesquicentennial backpack!      Please give to Global Health NOW today!    Thank you! —Team GHN ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION This Is a Lot to Unpack 
Did you happen to lose a bionic knee on your red-eye from Boston to Los Angeles?   

It might be in Scottsboro, Alabama. 

In America’s mecca for orphaned luggage, the retailer Unclaimed Baggage has been collecting and reselling abandoned bags and their contents for 55+ years—and just published its latest Found Report. 

• “We often believe we've seen it all. But then we uncover something like a matching set of Samurai swords…,” says the company’s owner, Bryan Owens. 

To Owens, it’s not just stuff, but cultural study via suitcase. (How many shoulder pads went unclaimed in the ’80s?!)  

Our take is more psychological: What’s going through the mind of someone who bothers to pack a full beekeeping suit … or a teak didgeridoo … or a taxidermy deer form … and simply shrugs when it vanishes into the abyss?! If you don’t go looking for your suitcase full of rat poison … was it ever really yours?  

Does the fact that an orphaned Miss North Dakota USA 2025 costume clearly belongs to this person make its recovery more sad ... or less? Do they even want to be reunited?! 

All that to say: If you really care about your custom diamond-studded grills, we have two words of advice: Carry. On. 

QUICK HITS ‘Tour de force’ mouse study shows a gut microbe can promote memory loss – Science

Mental health crisis after 2023 Maui wildfires extends beyond burn zones – University of Hawaii at Manoa via Medical Xpress

Global Fund Faces $5bn Shortfall as France Slashes Support, EU Delays Pledge – Health Policy Watch

The Current Threat to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and Why It Matters – Annals of Internal Medicine (commentary)

The Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony Is Moving to Europe (after 35 years in the USA) – Improbable Research Issue No. 2879
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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Professors Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey and Jill Baumgartner will lead innovative research focusing on anti-Black carceral systems and climate-related health risks respectively 

96 Global Health NOW: Solving the Global Stagnation in Physical Movement; and Reimagining Transit for Blind Commuters View this email in your browser March 11, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES The pipeline of new drugs to combat superbugs remains “worryingly thin,” shrinking by 35% in the last five years from 92 to 60 medicines in development, per a new Access to Medicine Foundation report; the Netherlands-based researchers predict that annual deaths linked to drug-resistant infections globally will double to 8 million by 2050. The Guardian
  China will boost its science spending, with officials announcing that the country’s overall research and development expenditure will increase by ~7% over the next five years, and that this year’s science and technology budget will increase 10% over 2025’s budget—amounting to billions in new investments. Nature    The FDA has walked back claims made by U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials about the drug leucovorin’s effectiveness for autism; while the agency approved the generic medication for a rare brain folate deficiency this week, officials estimate the condition impacts fewer than one in a million people in the U.S. AP
  Psilocybin shows promise as a smoking cessation tool, per a new study published in JAMA Network Open, which found that participants who received one dose of the psychedelic had 6X+ greater odds of being abstinent from cigarettes after six months than counterparts who relied on a nicotine substitute. NPR  IN FOCUS A Chinese martial arts teacher demonstrates an exercise to students in Freetown at the Confucius Institute University of Sierra Leone. October 15, 2024. Saidu Bah BAH/AFP via Getty Solving the Global Stagnation in Physical Movement     Over the last two decades, governments worldwide have adopted policies promoting physical activity. But physical activity prevalence in most countries remains unchanged, finds a new study published in Nature Health.  

• 1 in 3 adults and 80% of adolescents still fail to meet the WHO physical activity guidelines of ~150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly. 

• While 92% of countries have policies that address movement, inactivity rates have remained flat since 2012. 

Why so ineffective? Narrow policy and poor implementation are likely limiting impact, say researchers in a related Nature commentary.  

• Most policies approach movement through a metabolic and cardiovascular health lens, rather than demonstrating the wide, holistic scope of benefits—including mental health improvements, improved immunity, and cancer prevention.  

Major equality gaps: In high-income nations, 30%+ of total physical activity comes from “choice-based” leisure like sports; in low-income nations, just 10% of physical activity is choice-based, with the remaining 90% related to transport and occupational necessity, reports News Medical.     Needed actions: Physical activity policy should emphasize not just individual impact but population-level benefits, and should be prioritized in community sectors beyond health care—including education and transportation, researchers told Medical Xpress. 

• “Physical activity should be embedded in the way we design our cities, helping create communities where people want to live and move more,” said the study’s principal investigator Andrea Ramírez Varela. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ROAD SAFETY Reimagining Transit for Blind Commuters   For blind commuters in the U.S., everyday barriers remain all too common in public transit and walkways, even in major cities like New York, where 200,000+ people report vision loss or blindness.  

• Two-thirds of New York’s subways are not ADA-compliant, and 90% of the city’s 40,000 intersections still lack audible crossing signals. 

Designing for inclusion: Advocates say improvements like tactile paving, curb ramps, and subway station elevators are emerging—but such shifts are often catalyzed by lawsuits. 

• Still needed: Real-time audio updates and improved cell and Wi-Fi connectivity, including in tunnels, are critical for maintaining accessibility and safety.  

Global examples: Cities like Tokyo, Sydney, and Marburg, Germany, have all made major shifts in making public transit safer and wayfinding more tactile for blind commuters.     Bloomberg CityLab   OPPORTUNITY Attend the Hopkins India Conference in DC   Hosted by the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the Hopkins India Conference will take place on April 1, 2026, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Under the theme Ideas, Innovation & Impact for a Shared Future, the conference brings together leaders from government, industry, academia, and civil society to explore India–U.S. collaboration across technology, health, education, and the global economy.     This year’s confirmed speakers include: 

• Namgya C. Khampa: Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India in the U.S.
• Sunil Wadhwani: Cofounder and CEO, Mastech Inc. and IGATE
• Seema Chaturvedi: Founder and Managing Partner, Achieving Women Equity Funds 

  Learn more about the conference and register   QUICK HITS Ethiopia’s blame game after videos reveal starving displaced people in Tigray – The New Humanitarian    Seeking Abortion Care Across State Lines After the Dobbs Decision – JAMA Network Open     RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers drop proposal to revisit covid-19 shot – The Washington Post (gift link)    Recent pandemic viruses, including SAR-CoV-2, spread directly to people without adaptation, researchers say – CIDRAP    Prison sentences for pair who attacked gay men hailed as sign of hope for Kenya’s LGBTQ+ community – The Guardian    Keep calm and be transparent: advice from scientists who retracted their papers – Nature    These diseases were thought to be incurable. Now AI is unlocking new treatments – BBC    Could acne be prevented with a vaccine? – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance  Issue No. 2878
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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96 Global Health NOW: Iran Attacks’ Dangerous Fallout; and India Launches Pivotal HPV Vaccine Drive View this email in your browser March 10, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Thousands of Black kidney transplant candidates in the U.S. got moved up on the transplant waiting list as part of an effort to help correct for an earlier race-based formula used to test kidney function—which made their kidneys appear healthier than they were, delaying transplant referral; that test was discontinued in 2022. AP
  Taking a daily multivitamin can slow some signs of biological aging; in older adults in a Nature Medicine study who took the daily supplement for two years certain biomakers of aging were slowed by around four months, compared with those who did not; the effect was greater in people who were already biologically older than their years. Nature
  The U.S. FDA signaled openness yesterday to considering e-cigarettes in flavors deemed appealing to adults, such as mint, coffees, teas, and spices—but would continue to reject fruit- and candy-flavored versions thought to be more appealing to teenagers that continue to flood the market. The New York Times (gift link)
  Stimulant prescriptions—mostly to treat ADHD—doubled among adults in Ontario since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a new study published in CMAJ; the findings may reflect improved recognition and treatment of adult ADHD, but the authors suggest more research to understand the causes and potential impacts of the rapid rise. CIDRAP IN FOCUS Smoke and flames rise at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot on March 7, in Tehran. Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Iran Attacks’ Dangerous Fallout
     Thousands of people killed or wounded, toxic rain, damaged water infrastructure, and regional instability have followed attacks by U.S. and Israel on Iran.     Casualties: At least 1,255 people—including 200 children and 11 health care workers—have been killed, Iran's deputy health minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera yesterday.  

• 12,000+ people have been wounded—the majority of which are burn and crush injuries. 

Toxic rain: Israel’s bombardment of oil facilities has caused “a major environmental incident,” per the Conflict and Environment Observatory.   

• Black smoke billowed from Tehran facilities, posing “serious acute and long-term health concerns” for Tehran’s 9 million+ people. 

• Oil-heavy, toxic rain later fell on the city, NBC reports.   

Water war: Two desalination plants—one in Iran and the other in Bahrain—have been bombed, sparking concerns of more attacks on the region’s essential water facilities, per The New York Times (gift link).  

• The Iranian desalination plant provided water for 30 villages, said an Iranian official. 

• Much of the country has already endured a years-long drought—last year’s rainfall was nearly half the normal amount. 

Regional crisis: 700,000+ people—including 200,000 children—in Lebanon have been forced to leave their homes, according to UN News, as food insecurity and food prices increase in the region.     Related: 
U.S. Tomahawk Hit Naval Base Beside Iranian School, Video Shows – The New York Times (gift link)       Lebanon: Israel Unlawfully Using White Phosphorus – Human Rights Watch   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES CERVICAL CANCER India Launches Pivotal HPV Vaccine Drive
    India has launched the world’s largest free HPV vaccination campaign, offering shots to ~11.5 million 14-year-old girls each year in an effort to prevent cervical cancer, reports The Telegraph.     Meeting a high burden: India accounts for roughly a quarter of global cervical cancer cases, reporting ~130,000 new cases and ~80,000 deaths each year from the disease.  

• The country has also historically had some of the lowest rates of HPV vaccination coverage in the world.  

Details: The campaign, which has been rolled out this month, will mostly use a single dose of Gardasil, per NDTV.    Thanks for the tip, Mira Johri!    OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS ‘Extraordinary cruelty’: images show longterm ‘starvation strategy’ in Sudan – The Guardian     Federal autism advisory board cancels first public meeting since overhaul – STAT    What Congress Doesn't Want to Hear About the Chemicals in Your Child's Body – Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health    Women in Leadership: Global Health's Missing Dose – Think Global Health (commentary)    A U.S. scholarship thrills a teacher in India. Then came the soul-crushing questions – NPR (commentary)  Issue No. 2877
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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96 Global Health NOW: How Political Messaging Rapidly Reshapes Care; and China’s Push for a ‘Childbirth-friendly’ Culture View this email in your browser March 9, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES At least 13 hospitals and health sites have been hit during the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, per the WHO, and evacuation orders have forced health facility closures in Lebanon; the WHO’s logistics hub for global health emergencies in Dubai has also paused operations, threatening emergency supply requests to 25 countries and Gaza. The Guardian    A landmark human rights ruling has ordered Peru to pay reparations for the 1997 death of an Indigenous woman who died while undergoing forced, government-ordered sterilization; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights judgment is the first to address the policy, which systematically targeted impoverished and Indigenous women in the 1990s. AP    UK women experiencing miscarriage often face further trauma and distress due to inadequate follow-up care, per a new report by the UK’s Miscarriage Association, which found that ~65% of 1,000+ women reported insufficient follow-up care and that ~42% of those who sought mental health support did not receive it. The Independent 

Top U.S. FDA vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad will leave the agency at the end of April; his departure follows controversial decisions including declining to review Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine application (a decision that was later reversed) and rejecting approvals for multiple rare disease drugs. Axios  IN FOCUS Pills spill out of an open bottle of Tylenol brand pain reliever medication, in New York City, on November 3, 2025. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty How Political Messaging Rapidly Reshapes Care    In the weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Tylenol causes autism, emergency room prescriptions of the medication to pregnant women dropped ~10%, finds new research published in The Lancet—a reflection of how swiftly political messaging can influence health behaviors, reports the AP.    The statement: At a September 2025 White House briefing, Trump warned pregnant women against taking Tylenol, generically known as acetaminophen and paracetamol, claiming it could cause autism—over physician recommendations and widespread scientific consensus that there is no causal link.  

• He also touted leucovorin as a promising autism treatment for children, despite no new supporting evidence. 

The study: An analysis of hospital electronic health records found that acetaminophen orders in emergency departments for pregnant women plunged quickly, reaching a ~20% decrease in the third week after the briefing, reports CIDRAP. Use in non-pregnant women did not change.  

• Prescriptions returned to earlier levels by December, but scientists say the research does not account for cold and flu season, or reflect the rates of acetaminophen taken at home, reports The New York Times (gift link). 

The bigger picture: The findings show “just how much political leaders can steer health behavior even when there has been no change in the evidence for these therapies,” said coauthor Michael Barnett in a Brown University news release.     Impact on children’s prescribing: Meanwhile, outpatient leucovorin prescriptions for children spiked ~71% after Trump’s statements, despite limited evidence that it helps most autistic children—further demonstrating how “political messages are driving and impacting care,” pediatrician Susan Sirota told the AP.   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES POPULATIONS China’s Push for a ‘Childbirth-Friendly’ Culture    Chinese authorities have released a five-year plan to cultivate a “childbirth-friendly society” in an effort to boost the country’s falling population rate.    Background: China’s population contracted for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birth rate plunged to a record low, per data released in January.     Policies include: Improved reproductive health services, housing support for families with children, and improved policies on free preschool education.      Plus: Preparing for a “silver economy”: Officials also acknowledged an urgent need for policies that meet the needs of a rapidly aging population, as the number of people ages 60+ is poised to reach 400 million by 2035.  

• Priorities include increasing medical care services, plus “refining the social security system.”  

Reuters via The Straits Times  SPONSORED Train Here. Change the World.    Fast-track your education with the Summer Institutes at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Choose from over 125 credit or noncredit courses in public health to gain experience and get ahead. Built for busy schedules, classes range from a single day to a few weeks and can be taken on-campus or online.

• Learn more and register for courses 

QUICK HITS Measles patients in Utah are developing severe complications, including anemia and liver inflammation, health officials say – NBC    Can a “Living Drug” Cure Autoimmune Diseases? – The New Yorker    Cancer patients ditch NHS for private chemotherapy – The Telegraph    Monopolies like Nestlé Used COVID to Discredit Breast Milk: Study – Mexico Solidarity    The surprising way breast cancer screenings could reveal heart disease – The Washington Post (gift link)    Dozens advocate for academic research amid funding cuts at UNC rally – Raleigh News & Observer    Reconnecting with culture through innovative Indian Health Service programming – ICT/ IndiJ Public Media Thanks for the tip, Cecilia Meisner!    Jarring alarms out, quieter alerts in. New firehouse dispatch systems aim to ease stress – AP Issue No. 2876
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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96 Global Health NOW: The Addiction-Fighting Promise of GLP-1s; and Punished for Pregnancy Loss in El Salvador Plus: Just a Little R & R.I.P. View this email in your browser March 5, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Chile has eliminated leprosy—the first country in the Americas to do so and the second globally; WHO and PAHO verified the achievement after the country reached 30+ years without a locally acquired case, the result of decades of surveillance, early detection, treatment, and monitoring. WHO    Cuts to RNA vaccine research threaten to stall three decades of high-stakes scientific research into infectious diseases, cancer, and vaccine development, per a cross-sectional study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, which found that RNA technology had the potential to “impact virtually every aspect of human health.” CIDRAP    Breast cancer cases worldwide among women are expected to reach ~3.56 million by 2050, up from ~2.30 million cases in 2023, finds a new statistical analysis, which projected that the mounting burden will disproportionately affect “the world's most vulnerable populations” and “will further exacerbate health inequalities across the globe without decisive immediate action.” The Lancet Oncology    Global sea levels could be far higher than previously understood, as inaccurate modeling has led to the levels being underestimated, finds new research published in Nature that could “significantly” affect current and future assessments of climate change on coastal communities. The Guardian  IN FOCUS Basak Gurbuz Derman/Getty Images The Addiction-Fighting Promise of GLP-1s    A large new study adds to building evidence that GLP-1s could be a powerful tool in curbing and even preventing addiction to a wide range of substances, offering new insights and new hope in the field of addiction treatment, reports NBC News.    Details: The study, published in the BMJ, followed 600,000+ U.S. veterans with type 2 diabetes, and compared the impact of GLP-1 drugs to another diabetes treatment.    Strong risk reductions: Those with existing substance-use disorders who took the GLP-1s saw the following outcomes, per Scientific American: 

• 31% fewer ER visits 

• 26% fewer hospitalizations 

• 39% fewer overdoses 

• 25% fewer suicide attempts 

• 50% fewer drug-related deaths 

Meanwhile, GLP-1 users without prior addiction showed a 14% lower risk of developing substance use disorders to alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, cocaine, and opioids.    Across-the-board-impact: The GLP-1 drugs had a consistent effect across a range of substance types, suggesting a future clinical approach to addiction's root causes. 

• “[Existing] treatments have been targeting substances one at a time, when the right target was craving, the engine that drives addiction across substances,” wrote lead study author Ziyad Al-Aly in a STAT commentary.  

Growing insight: Researchers believe GLP-1s quiet ‘drug noise’ by acting on brain reward and impulse control circuits—similar to quelling food cravings when treating obesity.  

• Or in the words of one Rhode Island mother who was able to reach sobriety from alcohol with the help of a separate pilot program that used GLP-1s: “I could walk past those bottles and not care,” she told WBUR’s Here & Now. 

Next steps: While scientists say the findings are groundbreaking, they emphasize that randomized trials are still needed before GLP-1 drugs can be recommended as standard addiction treatments, reports Science. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Punished for Pregnancy Loss in El Salvador    After years of slow but sustained progress freeing women jailed under El Salvador’s total abortion ban, advocates warn that President Nayib Bukele’s suspension of due process is leading to renewed criminalization of pregnancy loss.    Background: El Salvador has long had one of the world’s harshest anti-abortion laws, with women facing criminal suspicion and even arrest for obstetric emergencies including miscarriages and stillbirths.  

• Still, steady advocacy between 2009–2023 led to the release of 81 women imprisoned for abortion-related charges. 

Renewed crackdown: Starting in 2022, Bukele suspended a range of civil liberties in an emergency declaration known as the “state of exception” to combat gang violence.  

• Since then, ~29 women have faced prosecution following miscarriages or obstetric emergencies—“a new spiral of criminalization against women,” said advocate Morena Herrera.  

The Guardian  OPPORTUNITY Global Mental Health Speaker Series: “Who is the Provider?” 
Mental health care is delivered in many ways and by many people across diverse settings around the world. The 2026 Virtual Speaker Series from the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Mental Health convenes practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and community leaders to explore a central question: Who provides mental health support, and in what contexts?    Lara Gregorio, LCSW, of 4C Mental Health kicks off the monthly virtual series on March 11, 2026. Subsequent sessions will feature speakers from around the world, including Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital, Utrecht University, the University of Zimbabwe, King’s College London, and more.  

• Held via Zoom the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 9 a.m. ET 

• Learn more and register 

CORRECTION Capital A-Minus 
Michael Bourgon brought us so much joy with his side-splitting account of a turkey face-off last week. And how did we thank him? By misspelling his home city. Canada's capital, no less. It’s Ottawa, of course—not Ottowa. We regret the error. Please don’t send the turkeys after us.—The Editors  ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Just a Little R & R.I.P. 
It can be hard to get certain workaholic types to chill out. Spas and meditation retreats just don’t always cut it for the “I’ll-rest-when-I’m-dead” set.     But a coffin just might do the trick!     A Japanese wellness trend promotes reclining in a coffin as a way to put things in perspective, reports The Times. (Such perspective can be gained via closed-or open-lidded casket options.)     In this case, the box is not a final resting place: A typical 30-minute coffin-lying stint (which can cost ~2,000 yen, or $12–$13 USD) offers just enough time “to gaze at life through being conscious of death,” explains designer and custom coffin-maker Mikako Fuse.    Immortalize your memento mori: “Cute coffins” are bedecked with Instagrammable designs including ginghams and florals, reports Vice. It's all part of making existential dread, the inevitability of mortality, and the staring into oblivion ...“bright and not so scary."  QUICK HITS Scientists create autism panel, citing RFK Jr.’s politicization of research – The Washington Post (gift link)   Emergency supplies for nuclear or chemical attack distributed across Middle East, says WHO – The Telegraph    Sudan Declared 'Cholera Free' Amid Rise in Dengue, Malaria, Measles – Dabanga via AllAfrica    Study warns of underrecognized Lassa fever threat with global implications – UNC Health via Medical Xpress    Navigating conversations with children about war, conflict and other traumatic events – AP Issue No. 2875
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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96 Global Health NOW: Stemming the Tide of Stigma; and An Aid Vacuum Leading to Violence View this email in your browser March 4, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES The UN issued an urgent call for the protection of civilians amid the Israeli and U.S. airstrikes against Iran, which are displacing thousands and disrupting humanitarian services as violence and instability spreads through the Middle East; UN officials also called for a “prompt, impartial and thorough investigation” into the Saturday airstrike that hit a Minab school, killing dozens—many children—and injuring dozens more. UN News    26 Médecins Sans Frontières staffers remain unaccounted for a month after two of the organization’s medical facilities in South Sudan’s Jonglei State were attacked, per an MSF statement that said the staff fled with much of the local population into rural regions with limited communication connectivity amid ongoing violence. The Independent 
A breakthrough shipment of 11 routine vaccines to South Sudan’s South Kordofan state will “restore lifesaving immunization services” to communities cut off from vaccine deliveries since July 2023 because of conflict and siege; the two truckloads of supplies include shots for TB, polio, and measles, and the pentavalent vaccine. Save the Children 
  U.S. maternal deaths dropped in 2024, per a new CDC analysis that found that 649 mothers died in 2024 during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, compared to 669 in 2023—a continued decline from a COVID-19 era spike; the report also found the Black maternal death rate was 3X+ that of the white and Hispanic rates. AP  IN FOCUS Stemming the Tide of Stigma    The health impacts of stigma on people with mental illness can be severe—including delays in seeking treatment, lower-quality care, and reduced rates of recovery.     A push for policy: Such impacts are why stigma reduction must play a critical role not just in grassroots advocacy but in national health policy, say Danish health authorities, who adopted a sustained anti-stigma initiative in 2021, reports The New York Times (gift link). 

• “Stigma has such an effect that people do not seek psychiatric services,” said Niels Sandø, the former director of prevention and inequity at the Danish Health Authority, who explained that to strengthen overall treatment, “we have to do something about the stigmatization.” 

What Denmark’s anti-stigma program looks like: Denmark’s “One of Us” program recruits people with lived experience of mental illness to serve as trained “ambassadors” who share their stories with professionals in hospitals, schools, and police settings—key places where people with mental health illness can encounter help or further harm.     Early impact: Initial evaluations suggest that after meeting the ambassadors, 98% of Danish health workers feel more equipped to meet and care for patients with mental disorders, and 89% said they expected to change their behavior to be less stigmatizing.  

• Such policy-based priorities resonate with a key message of 2022 Lancet Commission guidance: “We cannot change the status quo on mental health without tackling stigma and discrimination.” 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES VIOLENCE  An Aid Vacuum Leading to Violence
The abrupt closure of U.S.-funded youth programs in Colombia’s Chocó province last year has left thousands of at-risk young people without a stable source of community, leading gangs to fill that role.     Background: Violence prevention programs like Youth Resilience and Black Boys Chocó once provided mentoring, leadership training, and social activities like dance to thousands of young people, helping to keep them out of gangs.  

• But in the months since USAID funds ceased, those initiatives have struggled to stay afloat.  

Gangs fill the void: Meanwhile, armed groups now run their own social activities and offer jobs in illegal mining and drug economies, drawing many youths back toward gangs and unraveling years of prevention work, advocates say.    Devex OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS A new single-pill treatment for HIV shows promising results – NPR 
Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers – Science    Leana S. Wen: The CDC is in chaos. But here’s where it’s devastating. – The Washington Post (commentary)    How Kennedy Is Trying to Revamp Medical School – The New York Times (gift link)     Investigation finds ‘secretly’ added chemicals of unknown safety in US food supply – CNN    Syngenta says it will stop making pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease – The Guardian    Climate shocks, not just warming, threaten malaria control efforts in Africa – Nature    Why Is America Fixated on Protein? – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Issue No. 2874
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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Clashes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have continued for a seventh straight day, with humanitarian access to affected areas still restricted, the UN said on Wednesday.

96 Global Health NOW: India’s ‘Blood Deserts’; and A ‘Game Changer’ for Sleeping Sickness View this email in your browser March 3, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES U.S. health officials asked to postpone a PAHO-convened panel to review the U.S. measles elimination status, originally set for April, until November—after the midterm elections; the Health and Human Services Department said it needs more time to analyze its measles data. The New York Times (gift link)
  The malaria vaccine is reducing hospitalizations and deaths of children in northwestern Nigeria, state health workers say, with hospital cases declining up to 50% a year after the malaria vaccine was added to the routine immunization schedule in Nigeria’s Kebbi State; 200,000+ children have received at least a first dose. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
  A UN drug alert blocked a shipment of chemicals that could have produced ~1.4 to 3.3 tons of fentanyl—up to 1.6 billion potentially lethal doses; the UN International Narcotics Control Board released news of the March 2025 seizure as an “international success story” to demonstrate the importance of the early warning system. UN Wire
  Consumer Reports found heavy metals in more than half of infant formulas it tested in the U.S.—despite an FDA pledge to tighten oversight; 26 of 49 formulas contained inorganic arsenic at or above CR's level of concern; more than a quarter of the products tested revealed PFAS, “forever chemicals,” and three exceeded CR’s lead level of concern, though CR stressed none of the levels were high enough to cause immediate harm. Axios  IN FOCUS Employees of a private company donating blood in a LG Mega Blood Donation Camp. March 27, 2025, Noida, India. Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty India’s ‘Blood Deserts’    Families of patients needing donated blood in India routinely post desperate pleas on social media because the blood system in states like Jharkhand lacks sufficient supplies, per an IndiaSpend investigation. 

• Large parts of India are considered “blood deserts” where local timely, affordable demand goes unmet in at least 75% of transfusion cases.  

• Patients with the inherited blood disorder thalassemia require frequent blood transfusions, so unreliable blood supplies can make tracking down the correct blood group an ordeal for each procedure.   

Shortfall: While the government claims that 70% of blood donation is voluntary, critics say it falls far short of that goal. (Voluntarily donated blood to blood banks is less likely to transmit disease than replacement blood given by relatives or others.) 
Unreliable blood testing: Even when donor blood is obtained, procedures for testing the blood for HIV and other pathogens aren’t always followed. 

• Three members of a Jharkhand family were infected with HIV in January after the mother received a blood transfusion during labor, according to the Indian Express. 

Blood donation rate: Though India’s blood donation rate is twice the average of lower middle-income countries, it’s less than a third of that of high-income countries, IndiaSpend reports in a second article.  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES NEGLECTED DISEASES A ‘Game Changer’ for Sleeping Sickness  
A new treatment for sleeping sickness is being heralded as “truly spectacular”—and a potential key toward eliminating the parasitic disease by 2030, reports Science.   The disease is spread through bites of tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa and dramatically impacts the nervous system. It is almost always fatal if left untreated.     The new drug acoziborole—a one-dose, three-pill treatment for sleeping sickness made by Sanofi—received endorsement from the European Medicines Agency last week, paving the way for approval across Africa, reports the AP.     What makes it different:  

• The pill treats both mild and severe cases, eliminating invasive diagnostics that can include spinal taps. 

• It is one dose and easily transportable to remote regions. 

• And it is effective: A study found that 95%+ of treated patients were cured after 18 months.  

“It’s a game changer,” said Wilfried Mutombo, a sleeping sickness expert leading the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative’s clinical operations in West and Central Africa.  OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Threat of Child Malnutrition in Iran Amid U.S.-Iran Conflict – Hunger Notes

US Speeds up Signing of Bilateral Health Agreements, DRC Lawyers Challenge Minerals Deal – Health Policy Watch    Acting CDC director Bhattacharya urges measles vaccines – The Hill     Egyptian Women Are Still Being Asked to Prove Their Virginity – More to Her Story (commentary)    States Move to Limit Access to H.I.V. Treatment – The New York Times (gift link)    Malawi bans dual jobs for health workers – DW (audio)     Made-in-America Guns Are Fueling Death and Destruction in Mexico – The Intercept    Will the next World Food Programme chief answer to Trump? – The New Humanitarian    Should tick safety be as popular as 'slip, slop, slap'? – ABC Australia  Issue No. 2873
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

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Pre-teens who struggle to control their video gaming habits are more likely to have psychotic-like experiences a year later, a new study has found.

McGill University researchers and colleagues at Maastricht University found that 12-year-olds who showed signs of problematic gaming were more likely to experience mild paranoia, unusual beliefs or disturbed perceptions at age 13.

96 Global Health NOW: Warnings of Human Toll as Middle East Conflict Widens; and High-Impact, Home-Based Prevention View this email in your browser March 2, 2026 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces deliberately targeted and killed people with disabilities during and after the takeover of El Fasher last October, per a Human Rights Watch report published last week drawing on interviews with 22 survivors and witnesses. The New Humanitarian 
Both the DRC and Guinea have forged health cooperation agreements with the U.S.—the latest of several bilateral deals the U.S. has made in Africa after dismantling its former USAID health funding last year; Guinea’s agreement totals ~$143 million in funding over the next five years, per Reuters via Yahoo!, and the DRC’s agreement totals $1.2 billion through 2030, per Devidiscourse.    Spain reported a possible infection with the swine flu virus—the A(H1N1)v variant—that may have been transmitted between humans, but a Catalonia region health official said the risk of transmission to other people was very low; the WHO is conducting additional tests to confirm the diagnosis and rule out contamination or external interference. Reuters via Yahoo!    Meningococcal B vaccine is not effective at preventing gonorrhea infection in high-risk groups, per the results of a randomized controlled trial presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Infections last week ; the findings show that gonorrhea incidence among gay and bisexual men with a history of gonorrhea infection was essentially the same whether they received the vaccine or a placebo. CIDRAP  IN FOCUS Severe damage is seen at Gandi Hospital, in northern Tehran, following U.S. and Israeli joint strikes on the Iranian capital, on March 2. Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Warnings of Human Toll as Middle East Conflict Widens
   As conflict spreads rapidly across the Middle East following joint U.S.-Israel strikes across Iran this weekend, global leaders are warning against escalating humanitarian impacts throughout the region—including attacks on health care and other civilian institutions:     “Health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law,” asserted WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to “extremely worrying” reports that Tehran's Gandhi Hospital was struck during bombardment, per NDTV's report—details that WHO leaders were still working to verify today.  

• In Israel, health care facilities have moved operations underground and to other protected spaces, reports the Times of Israel.  

Humanitarian groups are investigating reports of a strike on a primary school in Minab in southern Iran, after Iranian authorities reported ~150 killed, per France24; U.S. and Israeli leaders have not confirmed the attack.  

• UNESCO has decried such a strike as “a grave violation of humanitarian law.” 

Meanwhile, UN leaders called for immediate de-escalation, per UN News, as ongoing fallout could lead to “destruction on a potentially unimaginable scale ... across the Middle East region,” warned Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights: 

• “As always, in any armed conflict, it is civilians who end up paying the ultimate price,” said Türk. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HIV/AIDS High-Impact, Home-Based Prevention    New HIV infections can be dramatically reduced through targeted, home-based care, finds a large-scale study out of Kenya and Uganda, which saw new infection rates cut 70%.     Details: The Sustainable East Africa Research in Community Health (SEARCH) study involved ~80,000 people across 16 communities with 8–16% HIV prevalence, all located in rural regions where access to clinics was difficult.  

• ~500 community health workers delivered tests and PrEP/PEP drugs directly to homes and coordinated follow-up care via smartphone apps. 

• Overall, the intervention led to a 4X increase in use of anti-HIV drugs in people who were not infected with the virus.   

Future impact: Utilizing the “community precision health” model plus the adoption of long-acting injectables could push incidence near zero, researchers say.     Science    Related: Kenya to offer patients free six-month HIV 'breakthrough' prevention jab – RFI  DATA POINT

1,100+
————
US measles cases so far in 2026, per the CDC—with a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Outbreak Response Innovation tracker placing the number of confirmed cases at 1,153 since January 1.—CNN

Related: Measles outbreaks are costing the U.S. millions of dollars. The true losses can't be counted. – NBC LETTER TO THE EDITOR Correcting the Story on Australia’s Cigarette Taxes     Regarding the February 17 GHN summary on a New York Times article (gift link) highlighting the recent increase in illicit cigarettes in Australia, the newspaper missed crucial parts of this important story. As noted, when cigarette taxes and prices increase dramatically, some smokers may shift to illicit cigarettes.      However, experiences in other countries including the U.K. and Montenegro demonstrate that straightforward measures to secure the supply chain mitigate the illegal market. In the U.K., prices are comparable to Australia’s, but illicit trade is a manageable ~10%. They did this through strong policies including registering vendors who are adequately punished for tax violations; placing their customs officials in source countries through mutual agreements; and developing a tracking and tracing system for all tobacco products that permits tax authorities to know precisely where products are.      Australia, however, has done little along these lines, which is their real challenge. Contrary to this reporting, higher taxes are not the central problem but rather a proven public health success.     Jeffrey Drope, PhD  QUICK HITS White House stalls release of approved US science budgets – Nature     More Parents Say 'No' to Vitamin K Shots for Newborns – MedPage Today    Why new doctors aren't specializing in infectious diseases – Axios

Families Defend Disability Services Amid Medicaid Cuts – KFF Health News

Ivermectin is making a post-pandemic comeback, among cancer patients – NPR     Why We Vaccinate Our Dogs and Cats – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health   Issue No. 2872
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Contributors include Brian W. Simpson, MPH, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, Jackie Powder, and Rin Swann. Write us: dkerecm1@jhu.edu, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @globalhealth.now and X @GHN_News.

Please send the Global Health NOW free sign-up link to friends and colleagues: http://www.globalhealthnow.org/subscribe

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  Copyright 2026 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. Views and opinions expressed in Global Health NOW do not necessarily reflect those of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health or Johns Hopkins University.


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UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Friday that the Epstein and Gisèle Pellicot scandals are an illustration of intensifying threats to women and girls forced to suffer in silence.