Adolescents who start using cannabis early and often are more likely to need health care for both mental and physical problems as they enter adulthood, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers.

Adolescents who start using cannabis early and often are more likely to need health care for both mental and physical problems as they enter adulthood, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers.

Adolescents who start using cannabis early and often are more likely to need health care for both mental and physical problems as they enter adulthood, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers.

Adolescents who start using cannabis early and often are more likely to need health care for both mental and physical problems as they enter adulthood, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers.

96 Global Health NOW: U.S., Canada Risk Measles-Free Status; WHO Warns of Tobacco Treaty Interference; and Brazil's Teen Pregnancy Turnaround View this email in your browser October 28, 2025 Forward Share Post A nurse demonstrates how to put on a mask at a measles screening point at Victoria Hospital, in London, Ontario, on July 9. Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty U.S., Canada Risk Measles-Free Status
The consequences of teetering government commitments to vaccines and falling vaccination rates are emerging across North America.    Measles-free no more: Canada and the U.S. are poised to lose their status as countries that have eliminated measles, CNN reports. Canada’s year of continuous measles transmission and its 5,000+ cases this year make it likely that a November PAHO meeting will determine the country is no longer measles free. The U.S. may soon get the same label.      Muzzled experts: Doctors and public health experts in Florida have been reluctant to speak out about a state plan to end required childhood vaccinations, per KFF News. 

• Pediatricians are afraid of losing business, county health department officials refer reporters to state officials, and University of Florida infectious disease experts were told not to speak to reporters without supervisor approval.  

Needed: “It’s really those vaccine champions from communities that help improve vaccination, spread awareness about the need for vaccination, and kind of create the positive change that we need in order to ensure that these outbreaks don’t persist and don’t continue to happen,” McGill University epidemiologist Nicole Basta told the Toronto Star.     Not needed: When a reporter asked Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo if his team had created computer models of potential outbreaks after the policy change, he replied “absolutely not,” and added that parents’ freedom of choice wasn’t a scientific matter.     Related: 
Threat to U.S. vaccines as CDC staff supporting key advisory panel laid off – The Guardian     Kansas City health experts say confusing CDC vaccine guidance risks wider spread of infections – KCUR / NPR Kansas City     Measles outbreak in South Carolina grows; Canada’s elimination status threatened – CIDRAP DATA POINT

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Portion of air pollution-linked deaths attributable to noncommunicable diseases in 2023. —Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
  The Latest One-Liners   The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia is committing grave atrocities in Darfur’s regional capital, El Fasher, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) warns, citing ethnically motivated killings, summary executions of civilians attempting to flee the area, and attacks on humanitarian volunteers attempting to administer aid. UN News
  Thousands of stillbirths—nearly 30%—occur without clear warning signs or clinical risk factors, per a large Harvard and Mass General Brigham analysis of ~2.8 million U.S. pregnancies that documented ~19,000 stillbirths between 2016 and 2022—with Black families and poorer communities bearing a disproportionate toll. The Washington Post    Cigarette butts are an “overlooked yet potent” vector for antibiotic resistance genes, according to a Chinese-led PNAS report that detected 95 potential pathogens in cigarette butts collected from 105 urban green spaces and 35 cities across China. CIDRAP
  Weight loss drugs are lowering the U.S. obesity rate, albeit slowly—from a high of 39.9% three years ago to 37% of U.S. adults this year, according to a new Gallup poll that shows a doubling in the number of people taking the drugs over the past year and a half. NPR Shots  BIG TOBACCO WHO Urges ‘Vigilance’ Against Tobacco Treaty Interference  
The tobacco industry is ramping up efforts to undermine an international treaty to reduce smoking and vaping, the WHO is warning ahead of a key meeting in Geneva next month, reports The Telegraph.

Background: The meeting will involve updates to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a 20-year-old treaty with 183 signatories that includes policies on advertising limits, health warnings, and smoking bans.

Big Tobacco tactics: But ahead of the meeting, the WHO is urging governments to “remain vigilant” to various ways the tobacco industry is infiltrating and manipulating delegations, including posing as consumer, economic, or scientific groups to promote misinformation in “a deliberate strategy to try to derail consensus.”    Meanwhile, in the UK: A British lawmaker who is pushing against a proposed ban on tobacco to anyone born after 2008 has a relative who is “very high up” at British American Tobacco, reports The Examination.  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES FAMILY PLANNING Brazil Turns Around its Teen Pregnancy Epidemic    Brazil once had one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Latin America, with ~750,000 Brazilian girls ages 15–19 giving birth in 2000.     But over 25 years, births among that age have plummeted 44%, falling below 400,000 in 2019, with ~281,000 projected for 2025.    Contraception intervention: The primary driver for the reversal has been the rapid expansion of birth control access, with free birth control, condoms, and IUDs provided by the country’s national health system, Sistema Unica de Saude.     Outreach: Community health program Saude da Familia sends educators door to door to share family planning options.     Broader change: Poverty reduction, improved education, and expanded internet access have transformed opportunities for young women.    The Telegraph   OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Texas sues Tylenol company over autism claims – The Texas Tribune

Behind the Dismantling of the C.D.C.: Reform or ‘Humiliation’? – The New York Times (gift link)

This 'minor' bird flu strain has potential to spark human pandemic – Nature

Anti-abortion pregnancy centers are looking to offer much more than ultrasounds and diapers – AP    Some viruses can play a deadly game of hide and seek inside the human body – NPR Goats and Soda    Clocks to go back: Three impacts Daylight Saving Time changes can have on you - what the science says – The Scotsman    Picture of health: going to art galleries can improve wellbeing, study reveals – The Guardian  Issue No. 2812
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: Diphtheria’s Dangerous Return; Bird Flu Rebounds; and Model of Healthy Architecture View this email in your browser October 27, 2025 Forward Share Post Pediatrician Mohamud Omar examines a child’s tonsils in the diphtheria ward of Demartino Public Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, last month. Brian Otieno/The New York Times Diphtheria’s Dangerous Return    Diphtheria, a deadly bacterial disease long controlled by vaccines, is spreading again in regions destabilized by conflict and climate-driven displacement, as hospital wards throughout parts of Africa and the Middle East fill with children struggling to breathe.    Fueling factors: Mass displacement, COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, and vaccine hesitancy have left millions of children vulnerable—especially in regions with hollowed-out health systems.  

• And global aid cuts this year have contributed to severe malnutrition and the shuttering of immunization programs.  

Global spread: Outbreaks have erupted in Chad, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen; sporadic cases are appearing in Europe among refugee and migrant communities.  

• While the U.S. rarely sees travel-related cases, full kindergarten vaccination rates including diphtheria coverage have dropped from 95% in 2020 to 92% in 2024–25. 

High danger, urgent intervention: Diphtheria now kills up to 1 in 4 infected children in low-resource settings, prompting Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to create emergency vaccine funding for boosters. 

• “We didn’t even have a diphtheria support modality, because we didn’t need one. And now we have to build out a whole new process to help countries respond,” said Katy Clark, a diphtheria expert with Gavi.  

The New York Times (gift link)  THE QUOTE
  "What is very sad is many people were cheering in the streets because they were happy there was a peace deal. Imagine, (some of) those same people are dead after they were told the war is over." ————— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general: Gaza health 'catastrophe' will last for generations – Arab News The Latest One-Liners
Gun violence is trending downward for more than three-quarters of U.S. cities with the most shootings—including Chicago, Baltimore, Memphis, and Los Angeles—per an analysis of 150 U.S. cities; the trend holds across red and blue cities and states in every region of the country. The Trace 
  South Africa regulators have approved lenacapavir—making it the first African country to register the twice-yearly anti-HIV injection, and at record speed (within 65 days); distribution could roll out as early as February 2026. Bhekisisa Thanks for the tip, Elna Schutz!    
NHS England is trialing a 15-minute blood test that distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections, allowing faster diagnoses and reducing the overprescription of antibiotics; the trial among children will run in three EDs through March. The Independent 

The recycling process increased levels of toxic chemicals in polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a type of plastic commonly used for food packaging, per a recent study in the Journal of Chromatography A that suggests a direct tie between recycling intensity and the level of chemical contamination in recycled products. Environmental Health News INFECTIOUS DISEASES Bird Flu Rebounds    After a lull in cases for the past several months, bird flu is rapidly making a comeback worldwide, leading scientists to warn of a potentially severe viral season.     In Europe, early outbreaks are being reported in the highest number of countries in at least a decade, reports Reuters via South China Morning Post. From August to mid-October, 56 outbreaks have been reported in 10 EU countries and Britain, with the most reported in Poland, the top EU poultry producer.     In the U.S., the virus has hit dozens of poultry flocks since the start of September, killing ~7 million farmed birds, including 1.3 million turkeys that will impact Thanksgiving supply, per The New York Times (gift link). Idaho, Nebraska, and Texas have reported outbreaks in dairy herds. And infections in wild birds are on the rise.   

• But the government shutdown and federal health cuts are causing scientists to question whether the U.S. has an adequate response plan and communication, reports Axios.   

Related:    Bird flu prevention zone measures introduced to prevent disease's spread – BBC    Germany culls over 400,000 poultry amid bird flu outbreak – Anadolu Ajansı    What does it mean if a deadly strain of bird flu has been found on Australia's Heard Island? – ABC News Australia  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH How Ants Model Healthy Architecture    To gain fresh insights into health-based building design, scientists just had to think a little smaller.  

• Black garden ants can quickly adapt their nest architecture to limit the spread of deadly fungal infections, finds research published in Science.

Disease defense on demand: Ants infected with the lethal fungus Metarhizium brunneum isolate themselves while others restructure their nest to include more compartments, longer and more winding paths, and fewer connections to reduce contact and protect the queen and larvae. 
  Scaling up: Scientists say such dynamic and collective strategies could one day inspire public space designs that can reduce disease transmission in humans.    NPR Goats and Soda  OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS UN alarmed by ‘terrifying’ situation in Sudan’s El Fasher, calls for immediate ceasefire – UN News     DRC: Cholera Epidemic Rapidly Spreading Across The Country – Forbes    Meet the nurse in Uganda who climbs a 1,000-foot ladder to save lives – PBS NewsHour    WHO Report Raises Alarm on Clinician Mental Health, Working Conditions – JAMA Network     New Initiative Aims To Bring Doctors Up To Speed On Down Syndrome – Disability Scoop Thanks for the tip, Chiara Jaffe!     AI chatbots are sycophants — researchers say it’s harming science – Nature  Issue No. 2811
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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Thirty-five years ago, polio, a highly infectious viral disease, paralysed around 350,000 children per year. Following a UN-led international push, that number is now less than 50.