Ongoing fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and Congolese troops has claimed more lives and forced even more families from their homes. 

A UN treaty that addresses the global tobacco epidemic has saved millions of lives over the past two decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. 

96 Global Health NOW: The ‘Hollowing Out’ of Public Health; Reckoning With Forced Sterilization; and Renewed Focus on Road Safety View this email in your browser February 24, 2025 Forward Share Post Academic professionals, elected officials, and allies protest the Trump administration's freeze on public funding for science research. New York City, February 19. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty The ‘Hollowing Out’ of Public Health
One month into the Trump presidency, the cuts to domestic and international health programs have been staggering, with ordered funding cuts in the billions and terminations in the thousands. 

But the deeper toll—on patient care, lifesaving research, and disease prevention efforts—is just beginning to be felt, reports ProPublica, in an inventory of losses that spans from preventing maternal and infant deaths to keeping tobacco products out of children’s hands. 

• “We are hollowing out our government in a way that is going to hurt people and is going to get people killed,” said Amy Paris, who was fired while working on an initiative to overhaul the nation’s archaic organ donation system. 

Repercussions of halted research: The cancellation—and even the temporary pause—of NIH-funded research imperils ongoing efforts to study diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease—with consequences that will “reverberate for years,” reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

• A judge extended a temporary block to NIH research funding cuts on Friday, per the AP. But many grants remain frozen, as review panels have been barred from scheduling necessary meetings, reports Nature. 

Ideological shift: Scientists fear that the cuts signal a fundamental “disintegration” of the American view of science, long considered the “essential key” to national health, security, and prosperity, reports Nature. 

International impact: Worldwide, U.S.-funded health programs have shuttered, including a widely used famine warning system that has gone dark, reports NPR Goats and Soda.

• As of midnight Sunday, the Trump administration is putting nearly all of USAID's 4,700 full-time employees on paid administrative leave, and is terminating 1,600 of those positions, per a memo.

Related: 

Federal Funding Uncertainty Prompts Hiring Freezes – Inside Higher Ed

US FDA asks fired scientists to return, including some reviewing Musk’s Neuralink – Reuters

‘Death by ax.’ Fate of millions of research animals at stake in NIH payments lawsuit – Science

EDITORS’ NOTE Thank you, CUGH!
A big thanks to the Consortium of Universities for Global Health and host institutions the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Georgia, and Emory University for an excellent and inspiring conference, which wrapped up yesterday in Atlanta.
 
The opportunity to connect with passionate global health advocates from around the world provided a much-needed balm during a difficult time. For those of you who could not attend, look for GHN’s exclusive coverage of the conference in the coming days. 
 
We’re also delighted to welcome new readers from many countries—including Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, St. Kitts, and Uganda. Thanks for signing up—and, if you find GHN useful, please share our free subscribe link with your colleagues and friends back home! —Dayna & Brian SHARE GHN'S SUBSCRIBE LINK GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   A cholera outbreak in Kosti, Sudan, killed 58 people and sickened about 1,300 others last week; health officials blamed contaminated drinking water after an attack by a paramilitary group wiped out the city’s water supply facility and said that a vaccination campaign is underway in response. AP

India has banned the manufacture and export of two opioids, tapentadol and carisoprodol, after a BBC investigation exposed their role in a drug crisis in West Africa. The Independent

A preliminary paper suggesting a link between COVID-19 vaccines and symptoms associated with long COVID has been promoted by anti-vaccination proponents since its publication last week on preprint server medRxiv; the study authors emphasize that the findings need further study and should not affect people’s vaccination decisions. STAT

France will curb ‘forever chemicals,’ with its parliament voting last week to limit the production and sale of items containing PFAS—including cosmetics and clothing. France24 HUMAN RIGHTS Reckoning With Forced Sterilization 
Nearly 30 years after forced sterilization ended in Japan, victims there are finally able to apply for government compensation. 

Background: Between 1948 and 1996, at least 16,500 people were forcibly sterilized in Japan under the country’s Eugenic Protection Law, and ~60,000 more underwent abortions without or with only dubious consent. 

• Most were people with intellectual disabilities or hereditary diseases, and a large number of the victims were children. 

Other countries like Peru and the U.S. are also grappling with recent histories of forced sterilization of Indigenous people and incarcerated women—and advocates say the practice persists worldwide among ethnic minorities and those with intellectual disabilities. 

The Telegraph GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES INJURIES Renewed Focus on Road Safety
World leaders are poised to adopt a new mandate declaring road safety “an urgent public health and development priority” needing increased attention, per a joint op-ed published last week by 15 heads of UN agencies. 

• The so-called Marrakech Declaration will be issued at the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Morocco—where participants are sharing strategies to reduce road deaths and create safe, sustainable transportation infrastructure, per the WHO. 

Background: This year marks the halfway point in the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030—which aims to halve road deaths worldwide by 2030. 

Stakes: Road crashes kill ~1.2 million people each year, amid an “unprecedented wave of motorization.”

Good news: 10 countries—including some LMICs—have reduced road deaths by more than 50% in a decade, showing “that the target can be met,” reports the WHO.  OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS US measles outbreak leaves nearly 100 ill in Texas and New Mexico – BBC

'Exceptionally rare' mutation on H5N1 virus in Canada tied to antiviral drug resistance – CIDRAP

Don’t like the idea of chlorinated chicken? You ain’t seen nothing yet – The Telegraph

HKU5-CoV-2, the new bat coronavirus in China sparks global concern – The Economic Times

Climate Change, Vaccine Hesitancy And Vector-borne Diseases Are Driving Encephalitis – Health Policy Watch

AI is impersonating human therapists. Can it be stopped? – Vox

Improving the Distribution of Green Spaces in Barcelona Could Prevent 178 Premature Deaths Each Year – IS Global Barcelona Institute of Public Health

How Street Art in Singapore Is Helping People With Dementia Get Around – Reasons to be Cheerful Issue No. 2680
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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Breast cancer cases are expected to increase by 38 percent globally by 2050, with annual deaths from the disease projected to rise by 68 percent, according to a new report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialised branch of the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Nous pouvons agir collectivement pour bâtir un monde qui n’est pas celui imaginé par les milliardaires.

The latest round of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza targeting nearly 600,000 young children got underway on Saturday.

Every day, almost one in five young women are married off while still children, according to the UN reproductive and sexual health agency, UNFPA, which is urging countries to say “I don’t” to child marriage, an illegal practice that is almost universally condemned and yet remains widespread globally.

On the 3rd anniversary of Dr Paul Farmer's death, several leaders reflect on his lessons for dealing with the ongoing crisis in global health and development

96 Global Health NOW: A Deeper Look at Global Suicide; Why Latin America Needs Its Own CDC; and All Verklempt Over a Fishʼs Ascent ~740,000 suicides are reported annually worldwide—which equals one death every 43 seconds. View this email in your browser February 20, 2025 Forward Share Post A mother who lost her 19-year-old son gives a speech next to the "Silent Struggle" statue—an art project created to break the taboo surrounding suicide, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, November 4, 2024. Ana Fernandez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty A Deeper Look at Global Suicide 
Over the past 30 years, the global age-standardized suicide mortality rate fell ~40%—”indicating that intervention and prevention are working,” per the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington—which yesterday published “the most comprehensive analysis of the global burden of suicide to date” in The Lancet Public Health. 

• But: ~740,000 suicides are reported annually worldwide—which equals one death every 43 seconds. 

• And progress is not universal, with increases reported across Central Latin America, Andean Latin America, tropical Latin America, and high-income North America.

Background: The analysis draws from 204 countries and territories, and expands on previously published data spanning from 1990 to 2016. 

Key findings include: 

More deaths among men: The number of deaths for males was 2X+ that for females. 

Later in life: The mean age of death at the time of suicide has been steadily rising. Researchers posited that one reason may be suicide prevention efforts focused on younger people. 

The firearms factor: Firearms are considered the most lethal means of suicide, with the US, Uruguay, and Venezuela reporting the highest proportion of firearm-related suicide deaths. 

Related: Is suicide prevention finally working in India? Lancet study shows how suicide death rate went down by 30% from 1990 to 2021 — The Indian Express  EDITORSʼ NOTE Ready for CUGH!  
GHN has landed in Atlanta for the 16th annual Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference. If you’re here too, let us know—we’d love to hear from you!

• Stop by GHN’s exhibit booth (#20) to say hi, let us know what you’re up to, and share any story ideas.

• Find out who won this year’s Untold Global Health Story contest at the awards ceremony (Saturday, Feb. 22, 3–4 p.m., Salon West and East at the Hilton Atlanta).

• Cap off your conference and practice pitching your ideas at the Pulitzer-GHN Communications Workshop (Sunday, Feb. 23, 1:30 p.m., Room 205–207).

If you’re here, please give us a shout and send along any tips: bsimpso1@jhu.edu and dkerecm1@jhu.edu
 
All best,
Dayna and Brian GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
Mass polio vaccination in Gaza is set to continue next week, as health officials aim to reach 591,000+ children under age 10 in response to the recent detection of poliovirus in wastewater samples there. WHO

Muscle-building supplement use has been associated with muscle dysmorphia among Canadian adolescents and young adults, per a new study published in PLOS Mental Health; the study found that muscle dysmorphia symptoms increased as the number of supplements used grew. CNN

Malaria susceptibility can vary among ethnic groups due to genetic and lifestyle factors that influence immune responses, finds a new study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, which compared immune cells of children from two West-African ethnic groups. Medical Xpress

Cash rewards for mosquito captures are being offered by a village near Manila, as the Philippines faces a 40% increase in dengue cases in the country; health officials fear the move could backfire if people try to propagate mosquitos for the reward. The Guardian  Trump Administration News   RFK Jr. targets transgender protections in one of first moves at HHS – The Washington Post

Administration Fires Border Health Inspectors Who Screen For Diseases – KFF

Trump Administration Reverses Plan to End Free COVID Test Program – U.S. News & World Report

What’s next for the World Health Organization? US exit could reshape agency – Nature

Trump’s dismantling of USAid raises risk of mpox global emergency, experts warn – The Guardian GHN EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY A nurse takes care of a dengue fever patient at the Sergio Bernales National Hospital, in the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on April 17, 2024. Juan Carlos CISNEROS/AFP via Getty Why Latin America Needs Its Own CDC—Now More Than Ever
Latin American governments must champion the creation of a regional CDC, recognizing that preparedness is essential for health security, three public health leaders from Mexico and Peru argue in an exclusive GHN commentary.

Pandemic lesson: When COVID-19 swept through Latin America, it exposed the region’s lack of coordinated public health response mechanisms.

• Despite being home to 8.2% of the world’s population, Latin America accounted for 10% of global COVID-19 cases and 25% of deaths. 

But: Latin America today remains structurally vulnerable to the next pandemic, write Patricia J. García, Jorge Saavedra, and Ariel García.

• The unprecedented surge in dengue cases in the region over the past year have again exposed the limitations of fragmented national responses, they write.

The Africa CDC Model: Launched in 2017, the Africa CDC facilitated during COVID the joint procurement of vaccines and medical supplies, coordinated emergency responses, and strengthened surveillance across the continent.

Latin America needs a similar regional agency that would work alongside PAHO to ensure faster, more efficient responses to health emergencies, according to the authors.

Read the full commentary for details on next steps required for making the Latin America CDC a reality.

Patricia J. García, Jorge Saavedra, and Ariel García for Global Health NOW

Editor’s note: Drs. Garcia and Saavedra will discuss the challenges and benefits of creating a LATAM CDC during a Feb. 21 session at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference in Atlanta.

Nota del editor: GHN ha publicado una versión en español del comentario. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES USAID Mass Health Care Layoffs Across Africa
In health systems across Africa, tens of thousands of doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and other health workers at U.S.-funded programs have been laid off, as the fallout continues from the Trump administration’s abrupt freeze on foreign funding.

In Uganda, ~3,000 doctors, nurses, and other health personnel have lost their jobs, per the Ugandan Medical Association. 

In Kenya, hundreds of layoffs have already taken effect at key hospitals; ~41,000 health workers in the country are employed with funding from USAID or PEPFAR, health officials estimate.

The Quote: “It is the patients who will suffer the most,” said Salome Kimani, a physician at Gikambura Hospital in Kenya, who said that despite a U.S. federal judge’s ruling to lift the freeze, health workers’ futures remain in limbo. 

The Telegraph ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION All Verklempt Over a Fishʼs Ascent
We usually advise readers to follow the science. Today weʼre making an exception, choosing to believe that a humpback anglerfish made her way to the oceanʼs surface not because she was sick, but because she wanted to take her last breath while basking in the sun.
 
The viral "black sea monster," aka the fish with the lightbulb on its head, usually lives thousands of feet into the depths of the ocean.
 
Burying the lede almost as deep, CBS News celebrated the rare surface sighting in a run-of-the-mill “Tuesday night creature feature.” Then TikTok got to the throbbing heart of the story, and now we canʼt stop crying.
 
Much like the little anglerfish rising from the deep, TikTokkersʼ tears welled up from their emotional depths, along with many theories. 
 
While one wildlife biologist figured that the sick fish simply couldn’t “maintain zero buoyancy,” others linked her ascent to magical feminine resilience. “She finally saw a light she didnʼt have to make herself,” sobbed one user.

Who do you believe? QUICK HITS Three years of full-scale war in Ukraine roll back decades of progress for women’s rights, safety and economic opportunities – UN Women
 
mRNA vaccines show promise in pancreatic cancer in early trial – NBC News

Africa’s cholera resurgence exposes funding failures SciDev.Net

Norovirus: UK cases reach record high as hospitals struggle with capacity – The Times

Fog harvesting could provide water for arid cities – BBC

The WHO's Funding Gap: Filling the Medical Diplomacy Void – Think Global Health

Is This Common Herbicide Harming Your Health? – The New York Times (gift link) Issue No. 2679
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: Measles Gains Ground in Texas; Online Daters Kept in the Dark; and Plastic Credits Predicament View this email in your browser February 19, 2025 Forward Share Post A road sign delineating the Texas state line and welcoming visitors to Gaines County, Texas. Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Measles Gains Ground in Texas 
A swiftly spreading measles outbreak in West Texas has grown to 58 cases, and an additional eight people in neighboring eastern New Mexico also have been diagnosed, reports the AP. 

Escalation: Cases have ballooned since the first two cases were confirmed in Gaines County Jan. 30. Health officials suspect the true case count is much higher—with 200–300 people infected but untested, reports Forbes.

Texas health officials say the outbreak is the state’s largest in ~30 years and that 13 people have been hospitalized. 

• Most cases are among children who are unvaccinated, and have been concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community and among children who attend small religious schools or are homeschooled.

Bigger picture: The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, and with childhood vaccine hesitancy on the rise, the problem is likely to worsen:

• Last year, kindergarten vaccination rates fell below 93%—below the 95% threshold necessary to prevent measles outbreaks.

Reprimanding RFK: The outbreak has sparked renewed criticism of newly confirmed health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has endorsed false claims of links between the MMR vaccine and autism, reports The Hill.

• Yesterday, Kennedy vowed to scrutinize the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule—despite a promise to a U.S. senator that he would not alter it, reports the AP: “Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy said.  

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group executed three children in Bukavu last week, the UN confirmed in an alert yesterday that also condemned attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses. UN News

All eight patients hospitalized in Uganda's Ebola Sudan outbreak have been released after testing negative for the virus twice in tests conducted 72 hours apart, the WHO regional office for Africa announced yesterday; the outbreak’s toll stands at nine cases and one death. CIDRAP

A surge in dengue infections in the Philippines’ capital region—including 10 recent deaths in Quezon City—spurred Addition Hills village officials to offer residents a token bounty for mosquitoes captured dead or alive. AP

President Trump issued an executive order aimed at expanding access to IVF yesterday; he directed his assistant for domestic policy to draft policy ideas to protect IVF access and “aggressively” reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for the treatment within 90 days. NPR Shots Health and Science Cuts: The Latest ______________________________________________ Mass firings decimate U.S. science agencies – Science

Amid layoffs at HHS, experts warn about impact on public health – CIDRAP

USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them – NBC

Trump cuts reach FDA workers focused on food safety and medical devices – The Guardian

Former CDC director: Two programs reportedly on the chopping block must be saved – STAT (commentary)

Censored Science Can’t Save Lives – The New York Times (commentary; gift article)  SEXUAL VIOLENCE Online Daters Kept in the Dark 
Online romance titan Match Group, owner of over a dozen dating apps, first received reports of Stephen Matthews assaulting another member in September 2020. Numerous reports followed for three years—until he was finally arrested and sentenced to 158 years’ incarceration for offenses against 11 women. 
 
But why didn’t Match ban him after the first report?

• Users reported for assault are “banned” from all Match platforms—but members can easily rejoin or switch apps.


• The company has concealed data on users reported for drugging, assaulting, or raping their dates since at least 2016, internal documents show—and a transparency report on the offenses, which Match said would be released in 2020, has still not materialized.

The 19th  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Plastic Credits Predicament
The growing plastic credits sector is designed to address the tide of plastic waste. 

• Corporations pay for the collection and disposal of plastic waste as a way to offset their environmental footprint—ideally in a process that will result in recycled material.

But far too much plastic is unrecyclable and is burned by industries like cement plants as alternative fuel, despite mounting concerns about health risks from toxic chemicals and carbon emissions.

Worst affected: Developing countries with limited waste management, like Cambodia. 

The bigger problem: The system does nothing to stop or incentivize buyers to cease producing or using unrecyclable plastic. 

AFP via Yahoo News QUICK HITS UN rights office warns of ‘dangerous tipping point’ as abuses surge in Sudan – UN News

U.S. reverses plan to shut down free covid test program – The Washington Post (gift article) 

The wind may be partly to blame for bird flu spread between farms, a new study suggests – CNN

Japanese encephalitis virus – JEV – detected at two Queensland piggeries – ABC Australia

Landmark Study of Chagas Disease in Paraguay Supports Use of Rapid Tests to Improve Access to Diagnosis – IS Global Barcelona Institute of Public Health

Meet the ‘lepers’ of Somerset - battling stigma from the West Country – The Telegraph

The Pandemic Treaty's True Cost – Think Global Health (commentary)

Influencers to urge young people to not vape as part of UK government campaign – The Guardian Issue No. 2678
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) announced on Wednesday that the mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza which began successfully last year, will continue in the coming days.

96 Global Health NOW: Stifled Oxygen Access; Gaps at Planned Parenthood; and ‘Egg-Harvesting Scheme’ Shocks Surrogacy Sector View this email in your browser February 18, 2025 Forward Share Post Babies receiving oxygen at Damascus Hospital on January 28 in Damascus, Syria. Spencer Platt/Getty Stifled Oxygen Access
COVID-19 laid bare the need for medical oxygen—and inequities in access, the New York Times notes (gift article), leading to the formation of a Lancet Global Health Commission on medical oxygen security.
 
Now—weeks after the Trump administration freeze on aid programs, including some that could have improved oxygen access—the commission has published its findings, detailing stark disparities:

• Fewer than 1 in 3 people who need medical oxygen—for respiratory diseases, surgical complications, trauma, and maternal and child health emergencies—receive it, per Business Standard.


• Most of the ~5 billion people without oxygen access—nearly 82%—live in LMICs; coverage gaps are even higher in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Rising need: Oxygen demand is rising, driven by a growing and aging population and air pollution, the committee authors note. 
 
Call for investment: Medical oxygen is as cost-effective as routine childhood immunization, and if access is expanded, it could “benefit many health goals simultaneously,” the committee found. 
 
The collection includes articles detailing innovative solutions—including one pointing to successes in Ethiopia and another on embedding nursing involvement. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Noncommunicable diseases will cause more deaths in sub-Saharan Africa than infectious diseases by 2030, researchers announced at the recent 4th Global NCD Alliance Forum in Kigali, Rwanda; NCDs are linked to 74% of global deaths, per WHO. The Nation
 
Confirmed illnesses caused by contaminated food in the U.S. rose to 1,392 last year, a 25% increase over 2023, per a new US Public Interest Research Group report; almost all of the cases involved either Listeria, Salmonella, or Escherichia coli. CIDRAP

A U.S. pain management company called Pain MD engaged in a long-term fraud scheme that generated millions of dollars in revenue by giving patients 700,000 expensive, unnecessary injections; company president Michael Kestner was convicted of 13 health care fraud felonies in October. KFF Health News

An apparent spillover from wild birds to dairy cattle has made Arizona the 17th U.S. state in which H5N1 has been detected in dairy herds; the virus has been found in nearly 970 herds nationwide since March 2024. STAT Trump Administration News __________________________________________________
  South Africa has more people living with HIV than any other country. Trump’s aid freeze has hit hard – AP

​​STAT is backing up and monitoring CDC data in real time: See what's changing – STAT

N.I.H. Research Grants Lag $1 Billion Behind Last Year’s – The New York Times (gift article)

Health agencies lose staff in key areas as Trump firings set in – NPR  Shots

Trump’s Plan to Defund the NIH Will Ruin a National Treasure – The Nation (commentary)

The Erasing of American Science – The Atlantic REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE Gaps at Planned Parenthood
Many Planned Parenthood clinics are in crisis, as funding shortages have led to a “dire need” of upgrades, employee turnover, and lapses in patient care, an investigation by The New York Times has found. 

Lack of resources: The organization has seen its funding strained as its patient population declines, and as state governments block its clinics from receiving Medicaid payments.

• Despite a fundraising boom since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, most of that money is spent on legal and political battles. 

Impacts: Employee turnover is hovering around 50% annually because of “rock-bottom salaries.” And a growing number of patients have filed malpractice suits, alleging botched procedures and misdiagnoses.

And yet: Employees say they are hesitant to speak out due to the threat facing American reproductive rights: “We’re afraid of damaging the mission,” said Damien Hamblin, a former Planned Parenthood medical assistant. 

The New York Times (gift link) 

Related: 

Republican States Claim Zero Abortions. A Red-State Doctor Calls That ‘Ludicrous.’ – KFF Health News

Prayer and prosecutions: the US ‘hate group’ waging war over Britain’s abortion clinic buffer zones – The Guardian GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HUMAN RIGHTS ‘Egg-Harvesting Scheme’ Shocks Surrogacy Sector
The Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into human trafficking after several women who sought work there as surrogates reported being forced to have their eggs removed. 

Background: Last month, three Thai women were reportedly rescued from a house in Tbilisi. Thai police said the women were brought to Georgia by a Chinese criminal syndicate under the pretense of surrogacy—and were then forced to have their eggs removed for others’ IVF procedures. 

Impact: The accusations have sent “shockwaves” through the international surrogacy industry in Georgia, which has seen a boom since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty QUICK HITS With 10 Days Of Talks Left, It's 'Now Or Never' For Pandemic Agreement – Health Policy Watch
 
Guillain Barre Syndrome cases rise to 207: Over half of cases are in 5-km radius from Sinhagad Road, shows health dept data – The Indian Express
 
Updated bird flu vaccine for poultry gets license – Axios

Woman in cancer remission for record 19 years after CAR-T immune treatment – Nature
 
The Lingering Trauma of COVID Coverage for Italian Journalists – Nieman Reports

The Coming Democratic Baby Bust – The Atlantic

Report Recommends States Adopt Firearm Purchaser Licensing Laws That Include Five Core Components – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

How an Abba classic raised millions and saved thousands of children from abuse – The Telegraph

What are the best AI tools for research? Nature’s guide – Nature Issue No. 2677
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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Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant

Co-Principal Investigators Manisha Pahwa, CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Professor Ananya Banerjee, from McGill's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, have been awarded $449,604 from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Health Equity Research Grant