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96 Global Health NOW: Dispatches from Bogotà; and No Crocodile Tears Here View this email in your browser November 6, 2025 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Stories of Chinese women severely beaten and even killed by their husbands have rocketed across social media, exposing authorities’ preference for treating domestic violence as a family issue. The New York Times (gift link)    A shocking, night-vision video of a rat grabbing and killing a flying bat provides first-ever evidence of how pathogens can move from bats to rats—and then potentially spill over to humans. The Telegraph  
  Rates of drug-resistant bacterial blood infections will surge 22% to 62% among some European populations through 2030, per estimates in a new PLOS Medicine article based on the aging population and infection trends. Euronews     Just 23% of Americans got a Covid jab during the 2024-25 virus season, and that coverage will likely tumble further this year amid confusing access rules after the U.S. government narrowed its Covid vaccine recommendations. CNN  ICFP EXCLUSIVE Illustration courtesy of Rutgers ‘The Law Alone Is Not Protection’ 
Victim-survivors of sexual violence in West and Central Africa face a maze of barriers to obtain abortion care—even when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest and when safe abortion is legally permitted, per a new study from Rutgers and CERRHUD released yesterday at the International Conference on Family Planning in Bogotà, Colombia. 

• Every nine seconds in West and Central Africa, an unsafe abortion puts a woman’s life at risk. 

• The study collected testimonies from women and girls who, after being raped, tried to end their pregnancies on their own, in five countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Cameroon. 

• Barriers include requirements to prove they were assaulted that retraumatize, health workers who are uncertain on the law, procedural delays, and deep-rooted stigma. 

“Behind every unsafe abortion we recorded was a story of fear, pressure or silence—never one of free choice,” says lead researcher Jonna Both.” The law alone is not protection—that’s really clear in West and Central Africa and across the globe.” 
At an ICFP briefing yesterday, leaders from MSI Reproductive Choices and Jacaranda Health joined the Rutgers researchers to discuss the global nature of the threat, especially as the U.S. budget cuts and policy changes under the Trump administration could lead to more restrictions on access for countries around the world.   
Read more on GHN’s Dispatches From Bogotà blog  ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Defending Against Dust Storms     As dust storms in the western U.S grow more frequent and severe due to climate change, researchers are seeking new strategies to protect soil health—and human health.    A “dusty inferno”: Earlier this year, New Mexico experienced a record 50 dust storms, with winds surpassing 70 mph. Researchers say decades of drought have created “the perfect recipe” for such events.    Sweeping health impacts: Beyond causing widespread environmental damage, the storms also spread diseases like Valley Fever and cause lasting damage to respiratory health.     Seeding solutions: In over-grazed places like Lordsburg Playa, New Mexico, officials are using regenerative soil-building practices to restore protective native plants and cover crops that curb dust.    BBC  ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION No Crocodile Tears Here    It has been said that trying to explain a joke is like dissecting a frog: the frog always dies in the process.     It seems better then to keep the frogs alive and instead contemplate humor through photos of them being goofy: snoozing like a portly little prince; giving each other a leg-up; or “baptizing an unwilling convert.”     These snapshots are just a few among the "cracking collection” of finalists for this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, the annual global competition for witty wildlife photography, per USA Today.  

• Photographers submitted ~10,000 images from 108 countries this year. 

A gaggle of giggles: Other highlights include a duck on a smoke break, a trio of breakdancing foxes, and a guillemot in a headlock. QUICK HITS 20 years of tobacco control in the EU: are we moving towards a tobacco-free future? – WHO     The ‘Worst Test in Medicine’ Is Driving America’s High C-Section Rate – The New York Times (gift link)   Covid jab less harmful than the virus itself, study reveals – The Independent    ADHD services shutting door to new NHS patients as demand soars, BBC finds – BBC     Public health defends its time-tested approach against the rise of MAHA – NPR Shots  Issue No. 2817
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: Gold Mining, Mercury, and the Amazon’s Mothers; and Dispatches from Bogotà: ICFP 2025 View this email in your browser November 5, 2025 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES Nearly two-thirds of European parents with children who are overweight or obese think their kids are underweight or normal weight, per a WHO report. WHO Europe 
  Flu samples sent to the U.S. CDC by other countries have fallen by 60% this year, making it harder for the U.S. to target vaccines against flu viruses with the most pandemic potential. NPR  
  Influenza can increase stroke risk by 5X within a month of infection, per a meta-analysis of 155 studies by UCLA researchers published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. CIDRAP 
  The White House is closing in on a deal with pharma companies Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to drop the cost of their top obesity drugs to $149 per month in some cases, in return for limited Medicare coverage for the drugs. NBC  IN FOCUS Aerial view of an illegal mining camp during an operation by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources against Amazon deforestation in Roraima State, Brazil, on February 24, 2023. Alan Chaves/AFP via Getty Images Gold Mining, Mercury, and the Amazon’s Mothers     Brazilian researchers are finding mounting proof that mercury from illegal Amazon gold mining is linked to neurological disorders and disabilities among Indigenous children.    Background: As illegal mining has proliferated in the region, rivers—key to the livelihoods of Indigenous people—have become contaminated with mercury, as have the fish eaten as staple food.     Emerging evidence: In recent years, health officials have reported dozens of patients in the region—mostly children—with neurological disorders.  

• While scientists have long suspected mercury as the culprit, a groundbreaking study tracking 176 pregnant women and their babies aims to find more definitive answers. 

• Already, preliminary findings show that the mothers have mercury levels 5X higher than considered safe.  

Reuters via U.S. News  GHN EXCLUSIVE REPORT Dispatches from Bogotà: ICFP 2025    GHN is on the ground in Bogotà, Colombia, for the International Conference on Family Planning 2025!  
Here’s a snapshot of takeaways so far, starting with a startling stat:  

• For the cost of a cappuccino in many countries—$8 per person per year—we could cover the $54 billion gap in unmet demand for contraception. That’s just one eye-opening figure from the FP2030 Impact Report released as ICFP got underway earlier this week. 

• Expanding the tent: A session highlighting an effort to incorporate Islamic values into a sexual education program in Indonesia is one of several exploring ways to engage religious leaders, male allies, and other partners to boost sexual and reproductive health rights for all.  

• Fails for the win: A Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs session on normalizing failure featured panelists brave enough to share a work “fail,” and how they channeled it for growth, sharing pro tips, ideas, and resources—from hosting a “Fail Fest” to a CCP Learning from Failure module.  

Look for more ICFP news in tomorrow’s GHN—and if you’re at the conference, please let Dayna know—we’d love to hear from you!    GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES QUICK HITS Dick Cheney had five heart attacks. Here's how science helped him live until 84. – USA Today     Climate-fighting efforts show slight gain but still fall far short, UN says – AP     Increased STI diagnoses in gay men with HIV are mainly due to more testing – Aidsmap     U.K. science sector is ‘bleeding to death,’ lawmakers say in alarming report – Science  
States make progress in removing barriers to opioid use disorder medications – News Medical 
  Women must be warned of home birth risks and have access to skilled midwives, experts say – The Guardian     The Road to Secure Biological Sample Transportation in Central Africa – Africa CDC  Issue No. 2817
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 campaign for routine immunisation, nutrition, and growth monitoring will be launched in the Gaza Strip this week with the goal of reaching 44,000 children cut off from essential life-saving services due to the devastating conflict. 

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

96 Global Health NOW: An Epidemic of Inequality; and GHN’s Untold Stories Contest View this email in your browser November 4, 2025 Forward Share Post TOP STORIES The long-besieged cities of al-Fashir in Darfur and Kadugli in Sudan's south are officially in famine, according to the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Reuters 

928 million women in 128 low- and middle-income countries want to avoid pregnancy, according to one of two Guttmacher reports released at yesterday’s opening of the International Conference on Family Planning in Bogotá, Colombia. Guttmacher    
A common malaria test in Asia and South America is providing false negatives, potentially delaying treatment for people with the disease, per an October Malaria Journal article; the WHO has been investigating the finding since April. The Telegraph 
The Maldives has banned the purchase or even use of tobacco by anyone born after Jan. 1, 2007, making the island nation the first country to enact a generational smoking ban. NBC News  IN FOCUS A homeless person sleeps rough on the street outside The Hamilton Live venue, just a few hundred meters from the White House, in Washington, D.C., on May 27. STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images An Epidemic of Inequality    Economic inequality leads to entrenched disease that drives further economic vulnerability and hollowed-out health care—a “vicious cycle” that increasingly threatens global stability and outbreak response, finds a new UNAIDS-led report released ahead of this month’s G20 meetings in Johannesburg.    COVID-19, AIDS, Ebola, and mpox have all become deadlier and longer lasting because of unequal access to critical health care, housing, and work. Historically, epidemics have led to “a persistent increase in inequality” that peaked ~5 years later, found the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, UN News reports.     A snapshot of disparity: The COVID-19 pandemic pushed 165 million people into poverty and raised the debt burden of low-income countries to $3 trillion+, per Health Policy Watch.  

• Meanwhile, the world’s richest gained 25% more wealth during COVID-19. 

• “The rich had a very good pandemic … while poorer people got poorer,” said Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London. 

Breaking the cycle: The report’s policy recommendations include:  

• Remove debt. 

• Invest in social determinants of health like housing and education. 

• Ensure fair access to medicines and technology. 

• Strengthen community-led disease response. 

“Inequality is not inevitable—it’s a political choice,” said Monica Geingos, co-chair of the council.   OPPORTUNITY Traditional floating market at Lok Baintan River, Indonesia. iStock/Getty A Chance for the Spotlight 
Know of an underreported issue in global health? Enter your idea in the Untold Global Health Stories of 2026 Contest, co-sponsored by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) and Global Health NOW.  
  How it works: Just explain your idea—whether it’s something you’ve worked on or come across in your travels—and why you think it deserves more attention in 150 words or less. If you win, we’ll help you shine a spotlight on your issue. 
Extra incentive: The winner receives a free registration for the CUGH annual meeting in Washington, DC, April 9–12, 2026. 

• Nominations Deadline: November 24, 2025 

Visit GHN’s website to learn more and enter GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES QUICK HITS Trump says SNAP will be half funded in November. What does that mean? – USA Today     New deaths, hospitalizations reported in connection with listeria outbreak tied to ready-to-eat pasta – ABC News    Young Russians are being seduced by a cheap, dangerous weight-loss pill called Molecule – BBC    First clinical trial of pig kidney transplants gets underway – AP    Specific human gene can help the heart repair itself from heart attack or heart failure – The Mount Sinai Hospital via Medical Xpress  Issue No. 2816
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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Hopes for a peaceful future in post-war Syria are at risk as funding for basic services dries up, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Since 1990, the number of people using modern contraception methods has doubled globally but despite this, nearly 224 million women in mainly developing regions still do not use safe and effective family planning methods, according to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA.

As part of a new partnership with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), member doctors of Médecins francophones du Canada can now prescribe tickets to live performances.  

As part of a new partnership with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), member doctors of Médecins francophones du Canada can now prescribe tickets to live performances.