96 Global Health NOW: Revised Recommendations for COVID-19 Vaccines; Conscripting Chatbots in the HIV Fight; and Pets as Heralds of Chemical Exposures View this email in your browser October 8, 2025 Forward Share Post Ruth Jones, an immunization nurse, holds a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Borinquen Health Care Center. Miami, Florida, May 29. Joe Raedle/Getty Revised Recommendations for COVID-19 Vaccines
   COVID-19 vaccine guidance in the U.S. is finally becoming clearer after months of confusion, reports NPR.     Who is eligible? The CDC now recommends updated COVID-19 shots for everyone 6 months+, expanding on the FDA’s narrower recommendations in August.  

• The CDC says everyone seeking a shot should first have a conversation with a health care professional about risks and benefits.  

• But prescriptions or even a doctor’s appointment aren’t required; pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are allowing self-attestation of eligibility.  

What about children? The new requirement could prove more challenging for parents seeking to vaccinate their children, reports NBC.  

• Children’s shots are typically administered in doctors’ offices, which may not be consistently stocked, especially after the delayed guidance.   

• Major pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS typically offer vaccines only to children older than a set threshold like 3 years, 5, or higher, depending on the state.  

Does insurance cover the shot? All major insurance, including Medicaid and Medicare, will cover the shots. The Vaccines for Children program, which provides vaccines to 40% of U.S. children, has begun shipping doses.     Meanwhile, in England, criteria have been limited this year so that only those age 75+, and younger patients with weakened immune systems are being offered free boosters, reports the BBC. 

• Between a third and a half of people who arrive for vaccination appointments are being turned away, leading to angry outbursts, report pharmacists. 

Related: Acting CDC director says to break up MMR shot – The Hill  DATA POINT

90,000
————
Additional microplastic particles ingested each year by bottled water drinkers, compared with tap water drinkers. —Concordia University via ScienceDaily
  The Latest One-Liners   200+ health facilities in eastern DRC have exhausted their supplies due to conflict-related looting, disruptions, and humanitarian funding declines, the ICRC reports today; in a survey last month, 85% of facilities reported medicine shortages, and 40% reported staffing shortages. ICRC (news release) 
  Nearly 28,000 injuries on the job in the U.S. each year are linked to hot weather, per a new study led by George Washington University and Harvard researchers that indicated that workers in states with workplace heat exposure standards had a lower risk of injury on hot days. George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health    A taste-based flu test has been developed by researchers who chemically engineered a sensor that reacts to viral activity in a patient's saliva and releases a tasteable reporter upon detection, per a study published in ACS Central Science; however, additional clinical studies with direct human testing are needed. News Medical    The U.S.’s federal organ transplant network has been ordered to stop some monitoring of transplant and donation outcomes amid the government shutdown, and ~25% of the staff of the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, contracted by the government to manage most network functions, have been furloughed. Axios  HIV/AIDS Conscripting Chatbots in the HIV Fight     In South Africa, the rollout next year of the injectable anti-HIV drug lenacapavir has the potential to dramatically reduce the virus’s transmission—but only if millions of people take it.  

• Convincing them to do so will involve a concerted push from doctors, nurses … and AI chatbots.  

AI ally: The country’s health department has endorsed a new chatbot, Self-Cav, a WhatsApp-based AI system devoted to helping young South Africans navigate questions about HIV, sex, and other health topics.     Target demographic: Health advocates are especially trying to reach young women ages 15–24, who account for ~40% of new HIV infections despite making up just 8% of the population. 
  Bhekisisa  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Pets as Heralds of Chemical Exposures    Understanding how pollution affects pets could yield insights that improve both animal and human health, researchers say.  

• Because pets share our air, water, and homes but live shorter lives, typically in one location, they may help scientists trace environmental risks more clearly. 

One example: Lead-screening clinics for local dogs, in Flint, Michigan, identified several animals, all living in the same household, whose results were of “extreme concern.” Officials subsequently found that the lead level of the home’s drinking water posed a clear danger to both people and animals.    Because they spend a lot of time on the ground, dogs and cats could be at elevated risk from other chemical contaminants—making them especially good “sentinel species.”  
  The New York Times (gift link)  OPPORTUNITY Stanford Global and Planetary Health Research Convening     The 12th Annual Stanford Global and Planetary Health Research Convening will be held in-person on January 28, 2026, at Stanford University—bringing together students, faculty, staff, and researchers working in global and planetary health from Stanford and beyond. There will be no virtual option to attend.      This year’s theme, Reimagining Global and Planetary Health, explores potential solutions and strategies to help address global and planetary health challenges and build resilience; researchers are invited to submit abstracts to be considered for presentation.  

• Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. PT at the Arrillaga Alumni Center, Stanford University 
• Submit an abstract by Oct. 23 
• Learn more and register 

QUICK HITS Darfur: ICC convicts Janjaweed leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity – UN News    Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs – The Washington Post (gift link)    Past surgeons general warn HHS Secretary Kennedy must go – CIDRAP    The rise of ‘nightmare bacteria’: antimicrobial resistance in five charts – Nature    Public Health Response to the First Locally Acquired Malaria Outbreaks in the US in 20 Years – JAMA Network Open    Promise and gaps in America First strategy for global health – The BMJ (commentary)     Lessons from a historic quest to heal spider bites are helping to fight neglected tropical diseases today – Phys.org    Podcast: How to Cover Science Under Trump – Undark Issue No. 2801
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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As indirect talks in Egypt seeking to end Gaza’s two-year war continue, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) says rebuilding the devastated health system is critical to securing lasting peace and stability.

96 Global Health NOW: Tobacco Use Falls, Industry Pivots; Aid Cuts Hit Yemen Amid Measles Crisis; and Conversion Therapy Goes Before the Court View this email in your browser October 7, 2025 Forward Share Post A customs officer burns cigarettes seized from illegal trade during a press conference in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on July 22. Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP via Getty Tobacco Use Falls, Industry Pivots    Global tobacco use is continuing its decades-long fall, according to a WHO report released yesterday, but the industry is fighting back by marketing new nicotine products to young people.    Positive trendlines:  

• Prevalence of tobacco use among those 15+ was 19.5% last year, dropping from 26.2% in 2010, and 33.1% in 2000. 

• Men in Southeast Asia using tobacco plummeted to 37% last year from 70% in 2000. 

Not so positive: 

• 24.1% of adult Europeans used tobacco in 2024—the world’s highest prevalence, Health Policy Watch reports.  

• In Bulgaria, nearly 36% of people smoke— Europe’s highest prevalence. 

‘New wave’ of addiction: 

• 100 million+ people globally vape, including 86 million adults and 15 million youths ages 13–15, per WHO estimates. .  

• WHO’s Etienne Krug warned of e-cigarettes’ “new wave” of nicotine addiction, per the BBC, saying: “They are marketed as harm reduction but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.”  

WHO advice: “Governments must act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco-control policies,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.    Related: How Milwaukee smoke shops are handling Wisconsin’s new vape law as confusion persists – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   The deaths of at least 14 children in India have been linked to contaminated cough syrup, the Indian-made Coldrif Syrup—which allegedly contained up to 500X the permissible limit of a toxin called diethylene glycol; Indian police have opened a manslaughter investigation into the deaths. The Telegraph 
  The U.S. has become increasingly reliant on other countries for antibiotics over the past several decades, per a new analysis by Johns Hopkins University researchers that shows that China supplies more than 60% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients U.S. antibiotics manufacturers need—and, since 2020, nearly a third of the finished antibiotics imported by the U.S. come from India. CIDRAP 
  Suicides among Gen Z adults who are now entering their late 20s are exceeding the number of millennials’ suicides a decade ago, per a Stateline analysis of CDC data; 85% of the increase is among Black and Hispanic men. Stateline  
  A historic phase 3 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of antimalarial drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy—aimed at addressing a longstanding gap in malaria research—enrolled its first patient; the trial is being conducted in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Kenya. Medicines for Malaria Venture  U.S. and Global Health Policy News CDC stops recommending COVID-19 shots for all, leaves decision to patients – AP

CDC signs off on fall Covid shots. It may not be easy to get one, depending on where you live. – NBC     Exclusive: ex-CDC director talks about why she was fired – Nature    Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary – NPR  GHN EXCLUSIVE Q&A A nurse records vital signs for a measles patient in the Médecins Sans Frontières isolation ward at Al-Wahda hospital, Dhamar, Yemen. May 27. Mohammed Khawamel/MSF Aid Cuts Hit Yemen Amid Measles Crisis    Even before conflict in Yemen escalated a decade ago, only about half the country’s population had access to health services. Today, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases are rising exponentially amid gaps in routine immunization programs and the loss of U.S. aid funding—which accounted for over 50% of the country’s humanitarian response plan funding in 2024.    “The detrimental impact [of the cuts] cannot be overstated,” Marisa Lister, a Médecins Sans Frontières medical coordinator based in Sanaa, told GHN in a Q&A.    Key challenges:  

• MSF facilities encounter vaccine-preventable diseases daily, including measles, diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus.  

• Measles cases at MSF facilities in Yemen have risen 470% since 2022. From April through July 2025, MSF saw 1,400+ measles patients—more than half of them children under 5. 

• Health care needs rise during the peak disease season (July–October). 

• Widespread malnutrition further exacerbates the challenges of treating measles. In one hospital, nearly half of all people treated for measles were classified as severely malnourished.     

For a disease as contagious as measles, “case management alone cannot and will not stop an outbreak,” says Lister. “Instead, the root causes—often inadequate vaccination coverage and poor water and sanitation—need to be tackled.”      Annalies Winny, Global Health NOW  DATA POINT

15 million
——————
Number of deaths per year that could be prevented by adoption of a “planetary health” diet, which could also head off a climate disaster. —South China Morning Post
  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HUMAN RIGHTS Conversion Therapy Goes Before the Court    This week the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments around Colorado’s conversion therapy ban in a case that could have nationwide implications not only for LGBTQ+ protections, but also for how states regulate medical care, reports STAT.     Details: Chiles v. Salazar is a challenge to a 2019 state law that bans licensed therapists from trying to change a young person’s sexual or gender identity—a practice known as conversion therapy that is widely condemned by major psychological and medical groups as ineffective and dangerous. Colorado is one of 20 states with such a ban.  

• But plaintiff Kaley Chiles, a counselor represented by conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), argues that the ban violates therapists’ First Amendment rights.  

Coopted evidence: Meanwhile, researchers say ADF has “profoundly misrepresented” their research on sexual fluidity in the arguments to support conversion therapy, reports The Guardian.    OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Bangladesh dengue cases top 50,000 in 2025 – Outbreak News Today    Haiti battles rabies with vaccines and vigilance – UN News     A three-pronged approach to combat malaria in Burundi – Médecins Sans Frontières     Their parents never got them vaccinated. As young adults, they faced a choice. – The Washington Post (gift link)     Pediatricians Can’t Bear These Costs – The Atlantic (gift link)    A bold doctor sent her kids away and helped beat one of the world's deadliest viruses – NPR Goats and Soda    He Was Expected to Get Alzheimer’s 25 Years Ago. Why Hasn’t He? – The New York Times (gift link)  Issue No. 2800
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: A Nobel Prize for Illuminating the Immune System; Mississippi’s Maternal Care Emergency; and Fishing for Parasites View this email in your browser October 6, 2025 Forward Share Post A screen displays the portraits of the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at a Karolinska Institute press conference. Stockholm, Sweden, October 6. Atila Altuntas/Anadolu via Getty A Nobel Prize for Illuminating the Immune System      Three scientists who conducted groundbreaking research into the human immune system were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine today, with the awards committee calling their discoveries “fundamental” to our understanding of immunology, reports the AP.    Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi made key discoveries to unlock an understanding of peripheral immune tolerance—how the body regulates its immune system, how immune cells are typically prevented from attacking the body, and what happens when they do.     Ongoing impact: “Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases,” wrote the Nobel Committee in a brief describing the research.     Interlocking discoveries: The three decades of research began in 1995, when Sakaguchi’s experiments with mice led to the discovery of a previously unknown set of immune cells, now known as regulatory T cells or T-regs, which protect the body against autoimmune diseases, reports The New York Times (gift link).  

• In 2001 Brunkow and Ramsdell discovered a mutation in Foxp3, a gene linked to rare human autoimmune disease, which was later found to control the development of those T-regs. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   A baby in Alberta, Canada, died of measles late last week, marking the country’s first death from the outbreak that began last spring; the baby’s mother contracted measles during pregnancy, and the baby, born prematurely, died shortly after birth. CBC    Invasive mosquitoes capable of carrying dengue, chikungunya, and Zika have been located in England for the first time, per a paper published in PLOS Global Public Health; the findings demonstrate the new threat posed by the insects as they move northward through Europe amid rising temperatures. The Telegraph    Brazilians are avoiding liquor as officials investigate a surge in methanol poisoning cases that includes 11 confirmed cases tied to alcohol, 116 suspected cases, and one death. AP    A generic form of the abortion medication mifepristone was approved by the FDA ahead of the government shutdown, per a letter to drugmaker Evita Solutions; it is the second generic version to reach the market. NBC  U.S. and Global Health Policy News Renowned U.S. climate center trims staff ahead of expected budget cuts – Science

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived. - ProPublica

After Trump's Medicaid Cuts, Patients at Rural Maine Clinics Feel the Fallout – The New York Times (gift link)

Exclusive: After months in limbo, four NIH institute directors fired – Science  THE QUOTE
  “My work isn’t dangerous, but stopping research that could lead to cures could be.” ————— ––Sarah Stanley, a University of California, Berkeley tuberculosis researcher, in a STAT commentary: The NIH ordered me to stop my ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research. It isn’t dangerous at all.
  MATERNAL HEALTH Mississippi’s Maternal Care Emergency     Last year, Mississippi reported its highest rate of infant deaths in over a decade: 10 deaths per 1,000 births. Among Black babies, the rate was markedly higher: 15.2.    The uptick led the state to declare a public health emergency in August.  

• “If having babies dying at the rate that our babies are dying is not a public health emergency, I don't know what is,” said Daniel Edney, Mississippi’s health officer.  

Convergence of crises: Cost and lack of insurance are major barriers to care, as the state resisted Medicaid expansions; and more than half of Mississippi's counties are considered “maternity care deserts.”    Bigger picture: Mississippi’s crisis is a warning for the rest of the U.S., say obstetricians, as cutting Medicaid expansions in other states could lead ~6 million women to lose coverage.     NPR Shots   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES NTDs: SOLUTIONS Fishing for Parasites     Africa’s Lake Victoria is infested with schistosomes, parasites that can infiltrate the skin and cause schistosomiasis, or bilharzia, a disease that affects 200 million people, kills ~10,000 people a year, and impairs children’s physical and cognitive development. 

• The schistosomes thrive within the lake’s abundant snail population.  

A new angle in angling: To reduce the snail (and parasite) population, scientists have turned to catfish—a natural predator that has steadily disappeared from the lake in recent years, per a study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.  

• Restocking catfish cut snail numbers by 57% and bilharzia infections by 55%. 

The Economist   OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS All in one ‘super’ Covid vaccines could slow next pandemic, study finds – The Telegraph

Russia spiralling into an HIV crisis – The Lancet (commentary)

Afghanistan: Ban on Girls’ Education Linked to Rise in Forced and Child Marriage – IPS

Yes, Amish people do have autism, but we still don’t know how many do – – STAT (commentary)

Fresh Insights Into the Stubborn Problem of Lead Water Pipes – Undark

Millions could be living with hidden smell loss after COVID without knowing – NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine via ScienceDaily

Cannabis and Breastfeeding: What’s the Harm? – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

With makeshift jump ropes and hide and seek, kids play to cope with crisis – NPR Goats and Soda Issue No. 2799
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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Although there are fewer smokers now than 15 years ago, one in five adults worldwide is still hooked on tobacco.

Health authorities in Haiti are turning deaths caused by rabies-infected dogs into a public health awakening with the support of the UN’s health agency in the region, PAHO.

Researchers at McGill’s Centre of Genomics and Policy (CGP) have launched a first-of-its-kind guide to help Canadian health-care providers offer more inclusive, respectful and affirming care to intersex adults.

96 Global Health NOW: The Collapse of Malaria Care in Cameroon; What’s Driving Turkey’s Diabetes Spike? And The Fattest Fat Bear Week View this email in your browser October 2, 2025 Forward Share Post A nurse prepares a dose of malaria vaccine at a district hospital. Soa, Cameroon. April 17, 2024. Kepseu/Xinhua via Getty The Collapse of Malaria Care in Cameroon     For families in places like northern Cameroon, the cascading effects of U.S. aid cuts have resulted in a simple, stark reality: When their children contract malaria, there is increasingly nowhere to turn.     The unraveling of care in the region, where the U.S. had played a leading role in the malaria response for ~10 years, has led to a ~15% spike in malaria deaths in the first half of this year—notably among babies, medical workers say.     The current overview:     Loss of community health care: Today, 2,100+ of 2,354 U.S.-funded community health workers in Northern Cameroon are inactive—meaning no one is traveling to the region's most remote villages to administer care.     Critically low stocks of injectable artesunate, a lifesaving malaria drug once supplied through U.S. funds, mean that even families who reach health clinics have limited options for care.     Unknown toll: Even as cases and deaths escalate, researchers say they don’t know the true number, as data collection is also a casualty of funding cuts. As the toll of similar disruptions becomes clear in other African nations, health experts warn that years of hard-won gains in malaria control risk being reversed. 

• Cameroon had previously seen major progress, with deaths dropping from 1,519 in 2020 to 653 in 2024, largely thanks to funding from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. That fund now faces a 47% cut in the 2026 budget.  

Reuters via Yahoo News  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   59 people are still missing after an Indonesian school collapsed Monday in the town of Sidoarjo, but rescuers say they’re not seeing any more signs of life under the rubble; at least five students have been confirmed killed and ~100 injured after the building’s foundation pillars buckled during an unauthorized expansion. BBC  
  The DRC has reported seven new Ebola virus cases in the latest outbreak—making 64 cases total and 42 deaths—but there are signs that transmission is lessening, credited to surveillance and clinical care improvements, per a WHO African regional office update this week. CIDRAP      Australia pulled ~20 more sunscreens from shelves after a regulatory investigation exposed more brands for falling short of their advertised protection levels and raised “significant concerns” about a testing laboratory at the center of the scandal that started in June; the country has the world’s highest rates of skin cancer. The Independent    The Trump administration plans to block funding to groups that promote diversity policies abroad, in the same vein as the Mexico City Policy that prevents foreign groups receiving any U.S. global health funding from providing or promoting abortions—even if those activities are paid for with non-U.S. government funding. Politico  NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES What’s Driving Turkey’s Diabetes Spike? 
Diabetes rates in Turkey have risen sharply over the last 20 years, from 9.9% in 2002 to 16.6% in 2022—double the EU average, and the highest rate in the European region.    A range of factors is driving the rapid surge, say doctors and researchers, including:   

• Poor management: Many cases go undiagnosed or poorly treated; hospitalizations for uncontrolled diabetes far exceed OECD averages.

• Inadequate policy: Weak food industry regulations have led to an influx of cheap, sugary foods and drinks, and a lack of public health intervention means many people remain unaware of risks. 

• Obesity: 66.8% of Turkey’s population is overweight or obese, per a 2022 WHO Report—putting more people at risk for developing diabetes. 

DW   RIP JANE GOODALL DISASTERS Infections in the Wake of Pakistan’s Floods    Cholera, diarrhea, malaria, and dengue are surging as floodwaters recede in Pakistan—putting millions of displaced people at risk, say doctors.     Deadly deluge, widespread displacement: ~2.5 million people have been displaced by massive flooding along the Chenab River; the monsoon rains that started in June have now led to the deaths of ~1,000 people, including 250 children, per the UN.    Overcrowded camps, overwhelmed hospitals: Millions are now crammed into camps where poor sanitation, limited clean drinking water, and stagnant standing water create conditions for rapidly spreading disease.  

• And nearby hospitals in Multan report a doubling of cholera and malaria cases, with doctors treating ~100 patients daily for gastrointestinal issues. 

The Guardian   ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION The Fattest Fat Bear Week    Fat Bear Week was launched in 2014 to raise awareness of the ursine excellence in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. With a record 1.5 million public votes under its ever-expanding belt this year, it’s safe to say: We’re aware. 

• The contest tracks and celebrates Katmai bears’ widening waistlines as they prepare for winter hibernation.  

Weighing in at over 1,200 pounds, a voluptuous veteran, the “ludicrously capacious” 32 Chunk triumphed despite a broken jaw that threatened his salmon intake. 
  Undeterred, Chunk ended up “gaining girth beyond what anybody could have possibly imagined with that injury,” beamed superfan Naomi Boak, The Guardian reports. 
  Votes have closed for the year, but the most magical of livestreams is still live. In this corner of the internet, you may peep a majestic bear sitting pensively on a rock—or just an endless stream of a stream. Either way, it’s the ultimate diversion.  QUICK HITS A new documentary about a dastardly worm and a heroic effort by Jimmy Carter – NPR    Reproductive health challenges in coastal Bangladesh: a silent threat of water salinity – BMC Women’s Health    Risk of long COVID in children may be twice as high after a second infection – Medical Xpress    Walmart plans to remove artificial colors and other food additives from store brands by 2027 – AP    Black mamba venom has a deadly hidden second strike – University of Queensland via ScienceDaily    “You can’t see what you’ve never had to live”—Cultivating imagination and solution spaces in global health and development – PLOS Global Public Health     These 99 'lab hacks' will make your scientific work easier – Nature  Issue No. 2798
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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Nearly 42,000 people in Gaza are living with life-changing injuries from the ongoing conflict – including more than 10,000 children – as the health system collapses under relentless strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday.

McGill University researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can detect previously invisible disease markers inside single cells.

In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate how the tool, called DOLPHIN, could one day be used by doctors to catch diseases earlier and guide treatment options.

96 Global Health NOW: U.S. Government Shutdown Centers on Health Care; Bangladesh Bets on British Malaria Vaccine; and Inside China’s Detention Camps Plus: President Trump's deal with Pfizer to lower Medicaid drug prices View this email in your browser October 1, 2025 Forward Share Post The U.S. Capitol at dawn on October 1, in Washington, D.C. Al Drago/Getty Images Health Care Hangs in the Balance as U.S. Government Shuts Down    Funding for the U.S. government has halted amid a Congressional deadlock over federal health spending—further imperiling health agencies in an already tumultuous period, reports KFF Health News.    Subsidies at the center: The impasse centers on Affordable Care Act subsidies, set to expire after 2025. Democrats want an extension, as well as a restoration of Medicaid cuts enacted over the summer; Republicans demand reforms first. 

• Without renewed subsidies, insurers warn of double-digit premium increases.  

Health services at risk: If a shutdown drags on, impacts to health operations include:  

• ~40% of HHS workers furloughed 

• NIH clinical trials put on hold 

• FDA food safety efforts curtailed  

• Disease surveillance and local CDC support disrupted 

• Community health centers at risk of closure 

Drug price deal: Meanwhile, yesterday President Trump announced a deal with Pfizer to lower Medicaid drug prices and sell discounted drugs via a direct-to-consumer site dubbed TrumpRx.gov, reports NPR—part of an effort to align drug prices in the U.S. with those in other countries.  

• U.S. patients often pay nearly 3X more for prescription drugs than patients in other developed nations, where governments set rates, reports Reuters.  

• Prices on the TrumpRx site, launching in 2026, follow a “most-favored-nation” model, matching the lowest rates in other developed countries. The deal targets uninsured consumers, and experts say most Americans will see limited savings overall. 

More U.S. Health Policy News:     Trump orders $50M for AI in pediatric cancer research – Axios    Medicaid work requirements have not boosted insurance coverage or employment, study finds – British Medical Journal via Medical Xpress  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
A surge of visceral leishmaniasis, also known as Kala-azar, has led a Kenyan county to declare a public health emergency; 850 infections of the deadly parasitic disease were recorded between June 2024 and August 2025. The Kenya Times    Rohingya urgently need an influx of international support, says the UN’s refugee chief, as in Myanmar they continue to “live with the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention, with restricted access to health care and education”; at the same time, the humanitarian response to the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh “remains chronically underfunded.” Anadolu Agency    Mpox response across Africa is being analyzed at a gathering of countries’ health officials and Africa CDC officials in Addis Ababa this week, per AllAfrica; meanwhile, vaccine experts are warning that waning immunity to smallpox ~50 years after the last vaccination campaign is leading to increased vulnerability to mpox, per Science Nigeria.    The rise of early-onset cancers in U.S. adults could be due to increased detection and overdiagnosis rather than a true spike in the disease, suggests a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, which looked at the eight cancers with the fastest-rising incidence among adults under 50. Euronews  MALARIA Bangladesh Bets on British Vaccine    Over the last decade, Bangladesh has made huge strides against malaria: Cases in the south Asian nation dropped from ~57,000 in 2014 to 13,000 in 2024. 

• But the disease has a final stronghold: The Chittagong Hill Tracts, a region bordering India and Myanmar, where ~90% of Bangladesh’s remaining malaria cases are found.   

In an attempt to eliminate the disease, researchers are traveling across the remote region to immunize thousands of villagers, in the first mass rollout in Asia of the British malaria vaccine R21.  

• Researchers say the approach could speed up elimination efforts in hard-to-reach areas exponentially, allowing more countries to follow the likes of China, Sri Lanka, and Belize in wiping out the illness. 

The Telegraph  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HUMAN RIGHTS Inside China’s Detention Camps    A former schoolteacher coerced into working in mass detention camps in Xinjiang, China, has publicly spoken about the conditions inside, which included torture, forced labor, and forced sterilization.  

• Over 1 million Muslims from ethnic groups such as the Uyghurs have been detained in these high-security camps, which the Chinese government claims are vocational centers—but rights groups allege involve genocide. 

Eyewitness testimony: Qalbinur Sidiq, who is ethnically Uzbek, was a Chinese elementary school teacher before she was forced to work as a Chinese teacher in two camps. Sidiq, 55, was eventually sterilized against her will and reports seeing young women forcibly sterilized.     Sidiq received asylum in the Netherlands in 2019. Now, she speaks out against China’s policies toward Uyghurs and Muslim minorities.     Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty  QUICK HITS ‘Will my baby be born in a tent? Will it have food?’: what it’s like to be pregnant in Gaza – The Guardian    Listeria found in Walmart, Trader Joe’s meals may be linked to deadly outbreak – CNN    Kentucky has kicked people off food benefits using data that doesn’t tell the full story – AP    AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds – Science     Should the Autism Spectrum Be Split Apart? – The New York Times (gift link) 

Manifesting isn't all "woo-woo." Science says you can train your brain – Axios Issue No. 2797
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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Immunisation experts at the UN World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that global protection against preventable diseases is under threat, in part because of an “information and trust crisis” regarding vaccines.

Jérôme Fortin, Paul Masset, and Simon Thebault have received the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Award from Brain Canada for their research in brain cognition, brain cancer, and neurological disabilities.  

The McGill researchers are among 22 successful applicants from across the country. They will each receive $100,000 in research funding distributed over a period of two years. 

96 Global Health NOW: A New Vaccine for the Meningitis Belt; How Early Unions Endanger Girls; and Bologna Slows Down—and Sparks a Showdown View this email in your browser September 30, 2025 Forward Share Post A New Vaccine for the Meningitis Belt    A century of meningitis outbreaks across a wide strip of sub-Saharan Africa may be dramatically reduced thanks to a new vaccine that prevents the lethal disease.  

• Outbreaks from Senegal to Ethiopia have claimed tens of thousands of lives every few years.  

How will the new vaccine help? Men5CV targets the five Neisseria meningitidis bacteria that cause most epidemic meningitis across the belt. Bacteria can infect the meninges (the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord) and kill within hours, if untreated.  

• The vaccine has been distributed in Niger and Nigeria and will roll out in other countries soon.  

• Men5CV, developed by India’s Serum Institute of India and the Seattle-based PATH, is expected to cost $3 per dose. 

Why is there a meningitis belt? Dust storms across the region can cause sand and dust to damage people’s airways, allowing bacteria to enter the bloodstream and then lead to new infections of close contacts. 
  The Quote: “It’s a powerful new weapon that, with wider rollout, has the potential to protect millions of vulnerable people,” said the University of Southampton’s Michael Head. 
  The Telegraph  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who inhaled heparin were half as likely to require ventilation and had a significantly lower risk of dying compared with those receiving standard care, per an Australian National University and King's College London study of data from ~500 patients across six countries. News Medical

A new, affordable human papillomavirus test delivers results in less than an hour with no specialized laboratory required, per research in Nature Communications led by Rice University, in collaboration with colleagues in Mozambique and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Rice University (news release)    More than 99% of people suffering first-time heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure also had at least one of four risk factors for cardiovascular disease: “suboptimal” high blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood glucose, or smoking, a prospective cohort study reveals—a far higher prevalence of warning signs than previous studies found. STAT 
  Opioid use disorder diagnoses among commercially insured U.S. patients soared ~40% post-pandemic—from 386 patients per 100,000 in 2021 to 539 patients per 100,000 in 2024, FAIR Health's Opioid Tracker shows; the hardest-hit states were Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Delaware. Axios    U.S. and Global Health Policy News Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting. – The Washington Post (gift link)    Fragile N.C. Residents Lose Medicaid Support for Food and Housing Health – The New York Times (gift link)    HHS would furlough nearly 32,500 in shutdown – Axios     Researchers are relieved at Trump’s likely pick for National Cancer Institute – Science

Energy Dept. adds ‘climate change’ and ‘emissions’ to banned words list – Politico 

Cannabis stocks soar after Trump shares video promoting drug’s use for seniors – The Guardian  CHILD MARRIAGE How Early Unions Endanger Girls    Child marriage—both formal and informal—continues to harm millions of girls globally, finds Plan International’s 2025 State of the World’s Girls report, which drew from interviews with 250+ girls across 15 countries.     Even in countries with laws prohibiting child marriage, there are few protections against cohabitations or informal marriages, reports CNN.  

• The report found that a significant number of girls in early unions face intimate partner violence and have lost access to education or employment. 

Lack of agency: The most common reasons girls in the study said they married young were economic hardship, familial pressure, and cultural norms.    Breakthrough in Bolivia: Bolivia has banned all marriages and unions under age 18 with no exceptions, in a major victory for girls’ rights, per Plan International. Previously, the law allowed for exceptions through parental or judicial authorization.
  Related: When I was married at 13 I was told refusal would end in my death. Now girls in Iraq as young as nine face the same fate – The Guardian (commentary)   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ROAD SAFETY Bologna Slows Down—and Sparks a Showdown     Last year, Bologna became Italy’s first major city to adopt a 30 km/h (19 mph) speed limit on most streets in an effort to reduce crashes, pollution, and noise. 

• Crash deaths dropped significantly in 2024, and no pedestrian deaths were recorded.  

However, the policy drew fierce opposition from conservative national leaders, who argued that the limit created a burden on industries that rely on drivers and have since moved to block enforcement and pursue legal challenges against the local policy. 
  Unclear future: Enforcement gaps and national pushback have weakened the policy’s impact, advocates say, and crash fatalities rose again in 2025. 

• But other Italian cities—including Milan and Rome—have now followed Bologna’s lead, issuing their own slow-street policies.  

Bloomberg CityLab  OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Halal concerns drive vaccine hesitancy as Indonesia fights measles outbreak – AP

‘I wanted to be dead’: Survivors of Assad’s prisons battle trauma and disease – The Telegraph    Louisiana issues warrant for California doctor accused of mailing abortion pills – The Guardian    Ecuadorian scientists cleared of criminal charges in COVID-19 testing case – Science     Mpox Outbreaks Expose Global Vulnerability As Smallpox Immunity Fades, Experts Warn – Science Nigeria    Gender differences in opioid and stimulant poisoning in the central region of Iran – Nature Scientific Reports    Gaps in the global health research landscape for mpox – BMC Medicine / BioMed Central BMC Medicine     Want to do disruptive science? Include more rookie researchers – Nature  Issue No. 2796
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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Doctors in Gaza are warning of a surge in respiratory illnesses as families – cut off from basic supplies – burn plastic and cardboard to cook and keep warm. They say the outbreak will worsen unless life-saving medicines, fuel and food are allowed into the devastated territory.

Faced with a deadly outbreak of cholera and a lack of sanitation infrastructure, one Haitian mother sparked a community movement that has transformed her neighbourhood – and saved multiple lives.

96 Global Health NOW: New Consensus to Tackle NCDs—Without the U.S.; Wrapping Babies in Malaria Protection; and Contraceptive Stigma in Sierra Leone View this email in your browser September 29, 2025 Forward Share Post Rural doctor Zhu Daqing (L) and another doctor measure a patient's blood pressure in Xinshui Village. Guizhou Province, China, July 19, 2023. Yang Wenbin/Xinhua via Getty New Consensus to Tackle NCDs—Without the U.S.    A UN declaration to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health will move forward with wide global support, despite being derailed by the U.S. at a High-Level General Assembly session, reports Health Policy Watch.     Broad support: The declaration sets 2030 targets for ongoing efforts in areas like tobacco reduction and hypertension control and introduces goals around mental health access for the first time, per the WHO. The draft was widely supported by UN blocs, with leaders of countries like the Philippines saying “the investment case is clear.”  
  RFK Jr.’s rejection: But the draft could not be adopted by consensus after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the country would “reject” the declaration. 

• Kennedy said the declaration overreached while failing to address key health issues—though he did not elaborate on those problems, reports NPR Goats and Soda. He also cited concerns over gender identity and abortion, though the declaration does not address either of those issues.  

• The declaration will still be submitted for a vote at the UN General Assembly in October; advocates remain optimistic about its adoption without U.S. support.  

Critical components missing: Key tax measures on unhealthy products were weakened by corporate lobbying, reports The Guardian.  

• “We saw specifically language changing from having countries implement health taxes … to now have countries consider health taxes, and we saw the removal of targets,” Mary-Ann Etiebet, president and CEO of Vital Strategies, told Bhekisisa’s Mia Malan (video). 

• And air pollution goals omitted any mention of fossil fuels, which “is like pledging to tackle smoking without mentioning tobacco,” said the Clean Air Fund’s Jane Burston, per Devex. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES DATA POINT

~3.3 million
———————
The number of lives saved around the world by American foreign aid in 2023. —Our World in Data
  The Latest One-Liners   1,000+ children in Indonesia fell ill with food poisoning last week, per the BBC—bringing total cases to 6,000+ since January—in a spate of incidents tied to an ambitious push to deliver ~80 million free meals; President Prabowo Subianto defended the program today and announced steps to improve safety. The Jakarta Post     The U.S. FDA announced plans last Friday to review the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone, in a move that could lead to new dispensing restrictions. CBS    A distinct form of diabetes with symptoms meeting neither type 1 nor type 2 criteria has been named type 5 diabetes by the International Diabetes Federation in a commentary published in The Lancet Global Health that urges other health entities to adopt the name for the condition, which could affect ~25 million people. NPR Goats and Soda     Flu in U.S. children is leading to more cases of severe encephalopathy and related deaths, per new CDC data; the nation logged 280 pediatric flu deaths last year—the deadliest apart from the H1N1 pandemic in 2009–2010—as fewer children receive flu vaccines. NBC  U.S. and Global Health Policy News Ebere Okereke: America First in Global Health: How Africa Should Respond – Think Global Health (commentary)     Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars – Bloomberg CityLab    ‘Completely shattered.’ Changes to NSF’s graduate student fellowship spur outcry – Science    White House considers funding advantage for colleges that align with Trump policies – The Washington Post (gift link)    Medical Groups Warn Against Visa Fees for Foreign Doctors – The New York Times (gift link) 

WHO Staff in Geneva Call for Freeze in Layoffs and Independent Review of Downsizing Plans – Health Policy Watch  MALARIA Wrapping Babies in a New Protection    Infants in Uganda spend much of their first two years carried snugly in cloth wraps called lesus. Such wraps could potentially provide even greater security against malaria once treated with mosquito repellent, finds a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.     Key findings: Among 400 pairs of moms and children who used baby wraps treated with permethrin—an insecticide commonly sprayed on bed nets and clothes—malaria infections fell by ~65%, per the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.  

• The benefit held through 24 weeks, with fewer hospitalizations and no serious side effects. 

Wraps to address gaps: The wraps could offer low-cost protection for infants too young for vaccination.  

• “There’s a lot of the day when you’re not under a net. Baby wraps fill in some of those gaps when a net isn’t particularly helpful,” author Ross Boyce told MedPage Today.  

Thanks for the tip, Michael Macdonald!   GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES Thanks for the tip, Dave Cundiff!  FAMILY PLANNING Contraceptive Stigma in Sierra Leone    Stigma around contraceptive implants in women is an ongoing barrier to family planning in Sierra Leone, even as the country seeks to improve reproductive health services.    No women spared: The stigma applies both to single women, who are expected to abstain from sex, and to married women, who are encouraged to embrace having children.  

• “Societal pressure has driven many girls to remove the implant or switch to less visible methods,” said Eunice Dumbuya, an activist in Freetown.  

And yet: The country is seeing progress in access. Contraceptive prevalence is 24% for all women in Sierra Leone, per the country’s 2019 Demographic and Health Survey.  

• The country is part of the FP2030 initiative, which aims to make modern contraception available to all women and girls by 2030. 

IPS 

Related: Why more Kenyan women are turning to IUDs for family planning – The Standard OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS They fled war and sexual violence and found a safe space in Athens. Then the aid cuts hit – The Guardian

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers were badly wounded in Gaza. Here's what saved them – NPR Goats and Soda

The forgotten pandemic: Hong Kong influenza in Australia (1968–1970) – Medical Journal of Australia

For Indigenous Infants, This Devastating Virus Finally Meets a Formidable Foe – Scientific American

Twenty-Five Years of Mifepristone: How Activists Brought the Abortion Pill to America and Changed Reproductive Health Forever – Ms.

Nearly 7 in 10 COVID survivors tested didn't know they had a dulled sense of smell – CIDRAP

Some people tape their mouths shut at night. Doctors wish they wouldn’t – AP Issue No. 2795
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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Le devoir de mémoire est aussi celui de l’action vers la décolonisation.

World leaders have thrown their weight behind the first-ever United Nations global political declaration tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health together.