96 Global Health NOW: MAHA Commission Report; Online Abuse Is Undermining the Right to Health; and What Would You Do For a Labubu? MAHA report expected to outline causes of chronic disease in children, without specific policy proposals. View this email in your browser May 22, 2025 Forward Share Post MAHA Commission Report Set for Release
Today the White House is expected to release the first report from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again Commission, which aims to outline causes of chronic disease in children, reports The New York Times (gift link). 

Background: President Trump tasked the commission in February to examine what he called the “growing health crisis in America,” starting with the “childhood chronic disease crisis,” per USA Today. 

Potential report highlights: Ultra-processed foods, pharmaceutical drugs, and environmental toxins are expected to be named in the report as key drivers of obesity, cancer, depression, and ADHD.

• It presents a broad assessment without specific policy proposals and calls for further investigation, people familiar with the report told the Times. 

Critics say recent actions by the administration, such as ending school produce programs, eliminating funding for childhood diet research, and cuts to maternal health appear to conflict with the report’s health-focused goals.

Pushback from agricultural groups and some Republican lawmakers has started, as they expressed worry about the report’s expected focus on chemicals such as the herbicide glyphosate, reports the AP. 

• Kennedy has said the report is “not going to do anything to jeopardize” farmers’ business model.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES EDITORSʼ NOTE No GHN Monday!
In observance of the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S., GHN will not publish on Monday, May 26.

Weʼll be back Tuesday with more news! –The Editors The Latest One-Liners
Vitamin D supplementation may help slow cellular aging by protecting telomeres, the DNA caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten during aging and are linked to disease development, finds new research from a trial of vitamin D3 published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. EurekaAlert

A cross-border effort to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis has been launched by nine African countries, as leaders from the countries signed a joint strategy for surveillance, treatment, and disease control during a World Health Assembly event. Health Policy Watch

A new malaria battle tactic could involve targeting the parasite carried by mosquitoes instead of mosquitoes themselves, finds a study published in Nature—which determined that a drug cocktail applied to bed nets then absorbed through mosquitoes’ legs successfully eliminated the parasite from the insects. BBC

A commercial chicken farm in Brazil's central Tocantins state is free from bird flu, preliminary tests from the state's farm agency show—a “boon” following Brazil’s first outbreak reported last week, which led to trade bans and restrictions for the world’s top poultry exporter. Reuters GHN EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY Online Abuse Is Undermining the Right to Health  
In Kenya, a 14-year-old was evicted from her home when a health care provider texted a reminder about her HIV status to a shared family phone.
 
In Ghana, a gay man was lured to a meeting by fake romantic messages, then ambushed by men carrying machetes and sticks.
 
In Colombia, transgender sex workers were tracked to their homes after their details were shared online without consent.
 
These examples, from a new report by The University of Warwick’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, reveal rising online abuse against young adults living with HIV, sex workers, and LGBTQ+ individuals in low- and middle-income countries.
 
“These abuses aren’t just horrifying—they are becoming normalized,” write several of the report’s co-authors in this exclusive commentary.

• Victims rarely see justice; some are criminalized instead.

• Police often dismiss complaints; digital platforms often fail to respond.

• And the fear of exposure leads many to stop seeking care altogether.

Online abuse is now a structural barrier to equitable health access, the authors argue—particularly in contexts where digital tools are increasingly central to public health delivery. They call on UN agencies, governments, and lawmakers to take urgent action against technology-facilitated abuse—outlining steps to strengthen privacy protections, invest in digital inclusion, and more.
 
Meg Davis, Catalina Gonzalez-Uribe, Bernard Koomson, and Allan Maleche for Global Health NOW GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES VACCINES ‘Gamechanger’ Gonorrhea Vaccine Program Launched
England will launch the world’s first gonorrhea vaccination program, as cases continue to reach record highs in the country. 

Rising infections: 85,000+ gonorrhea cases were recorded in England in 2023, an all-time high. 

Antibiotic resistance: Health officials have also warned that drugs are becoming ineffective against some strains of gonorrhea, highlighting the need for novel interventions, per a paper published in the BMJ.

Vaccine details: The 4CMenB vaccine, originally for meningococcal B, shows 32.7%-42% effectiveness against gonorrhea.

• While not fully preventative, the vaccine reduces transmission risk, and helps combat antibiotic resistance, with sexual health advocates calling the shot a “landmark moment” and a “gamechanger.”

The Guardian ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION What Would You Do For a Labubu?
If youʼve recently peered down to admire an expensive handbag, only to be glared at by a plush gremlin dangling from its strap—then youʼve met Labubu. 

The clip-on creatures that boast a “slightly grotesque charm and wide emotional range” are a Gen Z sensation, Mashable explains. While cuteness may be in the eye of the beholder, thereʼs no denying that this plushie punches above its weight.

Whatʼs the appeal? For starters, they …

• Are both ugly and cute.

• Wear fabulous outfits.

• Can hang on purses and also have their own purses.

• Have driven their makerʼs meteoric growth.

• Are apparently trade-war resistant, CNN reports.

And last but not least, their most powerful magic: They can make people stand in line. For a very long time. QUICK HITS FDA crackdown on off-brand Ozempic products set to take effect, threatening supply and access for many – CNN

West Nile virus detected in UK mosquitoes for first time as climate change linked to spread – Euronews

Indonesia on alert as COVID-19 surges across Asia – The Jakarta Post

6-year study of deer home range, habitat preference could help officials manage CWD – CIDRAP

When measles struck, a surge of parents stepped up to vaccinate their children – NBC News 

A husband and wife photographed each other during her cancer journey. Here is what they learned – STAT Issue No. 2730
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: Narrowing Eligibility for COVID-19 Shots; Starved for Care; and Australia’s HIV Priority Shift View this email in your browser May 21, 2025 Forward Share Post Narrowing Eligibility for COVID-19 Shots
The FDA has announced new guidelines for which Americans will be eligible for the seasonal COVID-19 vaccine, limiting boosters to adults 65+ and others at high risk while more trials are conducted for younger, healthier people, reports the AP.

The new rationale, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, marks a shift from the previous policy recommending annual boosters for nearly all Americans ages 6 months+, raising questions about whether people who want the vaccine will be able to get it. 

Details: The current vaccine approval process will remain in place for older and high-risk groups, but vaccine manufacturers will need to conduct clinical trials before boosters are approved for healthier people.

• While the FDA says 100 million+ Americans fall in the eligible category, it remains unclear how eligibility would be determined. 

Concerns: Critics say guidelines exclude people who want vaccines to protect vulnerable family members or who want to avoid long COVID. 

• They also warn it undermines trust in reliably safe vaccines and could limit access by reducing insurance coverage, reports NPR Shots.

Debate: The guidelines come ahead of an FDA advisory committee meeting this week to discuss the boosters’ composition and a June CDC advisory panel meeting to update standards, with some experts saying there are legitimate questions about the benefits of yearly boosters. 

• It is unclear what this decision will have on those deliberations, with critics saying this decision preempts advisory panels’ role, reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   China has pledged $500 million to the WHO, with the country now poised to replace the U.S. as the organization’s top donor—another sign of China’s expanded global health influence in the wake of the U.S. departure. The Washington Post

Metabolites from ultraprocessed foods can be identified in blood and urine, per a new study published in PLOS Medicine; the findings could help researchers better understand links between these foods and diseases like cancer and diabetes. Nature

A new Indonesian bill will allow broadcasters to censor LBGT content on digital platforms, including social media; advocates against the bill, which is still under deliberation, say it seeks to discriminate and control the country’s LGBT population. Global Press Journal

Urban rats are spreading bacteria that can cause leptospirosis in humans, finds a six-year study led by Tufts University published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases; the research generated new insights by analyzing DNA samples from rat kidneys. SciTechDaily World Health Assembly News Global leaders reaffirm commitment to WHO with at least US$ 170 million raised at World Health Assembly 2025 pledging event – UN News

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr Extends Olive Branch to WHO – With Strings Attached – Health Policy Watch

The world now has its first ever pandemic treaty. Will it make a difference? – NPR Goats and Soda

Director-General’s Award for Global Health given to Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck and Professor Sir Brian Greenwood – WHO (news release) DATA POINT   Nearly $700,000 —————————
The total average annual cost associated with each case of opioid use disorder in the U.S. —Axios MENTAL HEALTH Starved for Care
Eating disorders claim over 10,000 lives every year—but new data from the University of Louisville’s Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab show that health insurers are creating formidable barriers for those seeking care. 

An EAT survey of patients with eating disorders published last year shows the most common reasons insurers deny their claims:

• 43% reported that their insurer did not cover the appropriate level of care. 


• 43% said theyʻd been discouraged from seeking treatment because they didnʻt seem “sick enough.”


• 36% reported there were no eating disorder treatment providers in their insurer’s network.

Overall: 96% of patients and their families reported encountering at least one barrier to accessing treatment; 81% encountered financial barriers.

The Pulitzer Center GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HIV/AIDS Australia’s HIV Priority Shift
Women are no longer considered a “priority group” in Australia’s HIV elimination strategy, despite frequently being diagnosed late—years after their health has deteriorated.

• Nationally, 38% of women are diagnosed late—a figure that jumps to 50% in some territories. 


• Cases among women have not fallen nearly as much as among men; a recent 10-year span showed a 6% dip for women compared to a 36% decrease for men. 

Roadblocks: HIV remains highly stigmatized; the biggest barrier for women is a lack of information and testing beyond screening during pregnancy.

Call to action: Normalize HIV testing for women, increase access to support services in high-risk regional areas, and improve representation of women in research.

ABC Australia OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Crippling tropical diseases threaten to surge after U.S. funding cuts – Science

U.S. funding halted Africa’s HIV crisis. Trump’s cuts have forced a reckoning. – The Washington Post (gift link) Thanks for the tip, Steven Hansch! 

Pets Might Be Adding To Antibiotic Resistance – U.S. News & World Report

Bird flu vaccine for cattle aces early test – Nature

Family likely infected with histoplasmosis in bat-colonized cave – CIDRAP

It’s time to stop the great food heist powered by big business. That means taxation, regulation and healthy school meals – The Guardian (commentary)

9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything – The New York Times (gift link)  Issue No. 2729
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: WHO Pandemic Agreement Is a Done Deal; U.S. Funding Cuts Stop Crucial HIV Research Work; and The Puzzling Drop in Human H5N1 Cases View this email in your browser May 20, 2025 Forward Share Post WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva. May 19. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Done Deal: WHO Pandemic Agreement   After three years of arduous negotiations, the Pandemic Agreement was formally adopted by the World Health Assembly in Geneva this morning—though a key global player was notably absent.
 
Takeaways:

• The agreement improves future pandemic prevention and response by strengthening disease surveillance and access to vaccines and other medicines, The Telegraph reports.


• The WHO cannot control individual states’ responses such as travel restrictions, vaccine mandates, or lockdowns.


• Participating manufacturers must share “a target of 20% of their vaccines, medicines, and tests to the WHO during a pandemic to ensure poorer countries have access,” per Reuters.


• Today’s approval followed a vote yesterday in which Member States registered 124 in favor of the agreement with no objections and 11 abstentions, per the WHO.

Not quite done: Member States must negotiate details of the controversial pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system, which will establish how countries that “share information about pathogens with pandemic potential may benefit if pharmaceutical products are developed as a result,” reports Health Policy Watch.
 
No show: U.S. negotiators stopped participating in Pandemic Agreement discussions on January 20 when President Trump began the 12-month process to withdraw from the WHO.
 
Because it didn’t participate in the agreement, the U.S. is not bound by it, per Reuters.
 
The Quote: “It contains critical provisions, especially in research and development, that—if implemented—could shift the global pandemic response toward greater equity,” Michelle Childs, of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, told Reuters.

Related:

A Pandemic Treaty Without Teeth Will Leave Africa and the World Exposed – Think Global Health (commentary)
 
For the first time, the U.S. is absent from WHO's annual assembly. What's the impact? – NPR Goats and Soda

After US cuts funding, WHO chief defends $2.1B budget request by comparing it with cost of war – AP GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Papua New Guinea has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem—the country’s first elimination of an NTD—with the WHO crediting PNG’s robust disease surveillance, noting that many other countries’ trachoma elimination efforts required surgery campaigns, antibiotic mass drug administration, and targeted water, sanitation and hygiene improvements. WHO (news release)

The U.K. is ‘the sick person of the wealthy world,’ per a Health Foundation report led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that underscored that, even as mortality from cancer and heart disease has decreased, deaths from drugs, suicide, and violence have increased. The Guardian

Austria, Norway, Oman, and Singapore earned recognition from the WHO at the World Health Assembly for their efforts to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from their food supplies; other countries are welcome to apply by August 31 to be considered for the third cycle of the TFA (trans-fatty acids) elimination validation program. WHO (news release)

Surgeons from Keck Medicine of USC and UCLA Health performed the world’s first in-human bladder transplant at UCLA earlier this month, restoring bladder function to a 41-year-old patient who had been dialysis-dependent for seven years. Keck Medicine of USC (news release) U.S. and Global Health Policy News Executive Order to Lower U.S. Drug Prices Could Hurt the Poorest Countries – Think Global Health (commentary)

Trump’s science adviser defends funding cuts as a chance to ‘revitalize’ U.S. science – Science

Trump’s NIH Chief Lets Loose on Fauci, Vaccines and Covid Cover-Ups – Politico

Exclusive: NIH grant rejections have more than doubled amid Trump chaos – Nature

RFK Jr. calls for healthier school meals as Trump cancels program that funded them – Reuters GHN EXCLUSIVE An aid worker who used to work with children orphaned by the AIDS virus poses for a photo at her home near Mbombela, South Africa. March 13. Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty US Cuts Stop Crucial HIV Research in Its Tracks
JOHANNESBURG—All the groundwork had been laid and the official approvals for a Phase 1 clinical trial were secured. But now, vials of a valuable medicine sit untouched in laboratory refrigerators.
 
U.S. government research funding cuts halted the seminal mRNA HIV vaccine study, part of the BRILLIANT consortium, mere days before its planned start in March 2025, writes Elna Schütz.

• Such a vaccine could fundamentally change the HIV burden for South Africa, which reports the world’s highest number of people living with HIV.

The U.S. administration’s executive order to cut all aid funding to the country, along with cuts to other programs, also disrupted HIV prevention and care—and will likely lead to thousands of deaths as clinics that provide people with treatment sit empty, with hundreds of staff let go.

And, as the world’s third largest contributor to HIV research, South Africa is facing a unique double-whammy—with both researchers and people who receive clinical care feeling the impact.
 
Just six months ago, there was optimism around controlling the HIV epidemic, says Linda-Gail Bekker, director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre. “We were really in a position where we could maybe tame the tiger and put it back in its cage,” she says.
 
Now, she says, it feels like the cage’s doors have been opened wide and the key thrown away.
 
Ed. Note: This article was produced in collaboration with Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health. READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY ELNA SCHÜTZ GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES AVIAN FLU The Puzzling Drop in Human H5N1 Cases
Three months have passed since a human bird flu case was reported in the U.S., but epidemiologists are not sure why—especially as animal outbreaks are ongoing. 

Potential explanations include: 

Seasonal factors: The U.S. could be experiencing a natural, though possibly temporary, decline in cases, given that bird flu often peaks in fall and winter, the CDC told doctors earlier this month.

Underreporting: Fear among migrant farmworkers amid the federal immigration crackdown may mean they are not seeking treatment for or reporting cases.

Weakened surveillance: Widespread government staffing cuts at the USDA and FDA, plus reduced targeted surveillance, could be hindering detection efforts.

AP DISASTERS How Warnings Failed as Helene Loomed
As Hurricane Helene bore down on the mountains of western North Carolina, the advisories from the National Weather Service grew grim, then apocalyptic as it warned Helene could be the region’s most destructive weather event “in the modern era.” 

But in small communities in places like Yancey County, those warnings did not translate to evacuation orders—even in the most vulnerable locations. 

Why? 

Lack of preparedness: Hurricanes were not a feature of disaster planning for emergency officials in the region. Warning and evacuation systems were not in place.

Underestimating danger: Unfamiliar with the level of flooding or landslides brought by Helene, many people downplayed or did not heed warnings that were issued. 

Communication collapse: During the storm, cell service and communication systems went down, and volunteer responders were overwhelmed.

ProPublica QUICK HITS Biden’s sudden diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer is unfortunately all too common – AP

Scabies on the Rise Worldwide, Even in High-Income Countries – Medscape

Poll: 83% of Americans say benefits of MMR vaccines outweigh risks – CIDRAP

2-in-1 COVID-flu vaccine looks promising in trial — but experts say approval may be delayed – Live Science

Why sunblock in the U.S. is so much worse than in the E.U. – STAT (commentary)

Can AI therapists really be an alternative to human help? – BBC

This Is Your Priest on Drugs – The New Yorker Issue No. 2728
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: ‘New Levels of Horror’ as Attacks on Health Care Increase; Eroded Protections for Children; and Poisonous Profits View this email in your browser May 19, 2025 Forward Share Post Rescue workers provide medical aid to a wounded patient in a hospital damaged by a Russian drone strike on March 1, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Ivan Samoilov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty ‘New Levels of Horror’ as Attacks on Health Care Increase
Health workers, hospitals, and clinics were attacked in 3,623 incidents in 2024, finds a new report from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition—a record figure that reflects an increasing disregard for humanitarian law, reports The Guardian. 

The attacks are up 15% from 2023 and 62% from 2022, including, bombings, looting, armed facility takeovers, and the detention of health workers. 

By the numbers: 

• 927 health care workers were killed, 473 were arrested, and 140 were kidnapped. 


• 1,111 incidents led to damaged and destroyed health facilities. 


• The numbers are likely an undercount, the report states. 

Hotspots: More than a third of the attacks (1,300+) occurred in Gaza and the West Bank, with hundreds more occurring in Ukraine, Lebanon, Burma (Myanmar), and Sudan.

Increased devastation: Explosive weapons accounted for 48% of incidents last year—an increase as drone strikes become more common, reports IPS.

No recourse: The rise in attacks reflects a “complete erosion in the respect for international humanitarian law and the responsibility to protect healthcare in conflict,” said Christina Wille, who led the report’s data collection. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
Yellow fever cases in the Americas more than tripled in 2024, with five countries confirming 212 cases and 85 related deaths—a 40% case-fatality rate, per a new WHO report; Brazil recorded the highest number of cases and fatalities. CIDRAP

The FDA has approved Novavax’s COVID-19 shot, but has included new restrictions: The vaccine is approved for use only in adults 65+, or those ages 12–64 with health problems putting them at increased risk from COVID. AP

Girls with healthier diets tend to get their first periods later, regardless of BMI, per an observational study in Human Reproduction from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center that looked at the records of 7,500+ children ages 9–14; more research is needed to understand the linkage. NBC

Bangladesh’s air pollution could be lowered by a simple intervention: stacking bricks fired in kilns differently, finds a new study published in Science; the improved stacking pattern improves the airflow and efficiency of kilns, reducing black smoke emissions. NPR Goats and Soda IMMIGRATION POLICY Eroded Protections for Children
The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), historically tasked with protecting immigrant children, is increasingly aiding immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, per a joint report by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune.

Shift in role: The ORR was formed to play a humanitarian role, assisting unaccompanied migrant children. 

• But in the last several months, current and former staffers say the office is being forced to share data used to target children and their sponsors for deportation.

Added risk: Critics say the shift will make already vulnerable children more susceptible to dangerous living and working conditions out of deportation fears. 

Forgoing medical care: Meanwhile, migrants fearing ICE are going without vital medical services for medical conditions including chronic illness, high-risk pregnancies, and injuries, doctors told The New York Times (gift link). 

• Children are especially at risk when their parents avoid the medical system. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Poisonous Profits
Despite being a potent neurotoxin, mercury remains the primary method for extracting gold from ore in West Africa’s booming informal mining sector. 

• Miners mix the liquid metal into crushed ore, then heat the mixture to evaporate the mercury, leaving the gold behind.


• Once released, mercury spreads through air, water, and soil. After heavy rains, it contaminates rivers, poisons fish, and accumulates up the food chain.

The process is cheap, effective—and dangerous: Mercury exposure can cause irreversible brain damage, developmental delays, birth defects, tremors, and loss of vision, hearing, and coordination. 

According to the UN Environment Programme, artisanal and small-scale gold mining is the largest global source of mercury emissions.

For many, the risk is worthwhile: Senegalese gold processors earn $370–$745 per month—more than double the national average salary.

AP

ICYMI: Peru’s Illegal Mining Surges … and Destroys – Global Health NOW OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Spike in Saudi Mers cases sparks outbreak fears ahead of Hajj – The Telegraph

Reports of sexual violence in Eastern DRC surge by almost 700% in March as armed conflict intensifies – ActionAid via ReliefWeb

Africa Turns to Mpox Lessons to Fight Cholera – Africa CDC & Cholera Plan to Map Hotspots in Five African Countries – Africa CDC

‘The fans just circulate hot air’: how indoor heat is making life unbearable in India’s sweltering cities – The Guardian

US brain drain: Nature’s guide to the initiatives drawing scientists abroad – Nature

How do middle-aged folks get dementia? It could be these proteins – University of California - San Francisco via ScienceDaily

Why we fall for fake health information — and how it spreads faster than facts – Kansas Reflector (commentary)

TikTok brings ‘raw milk’ craze to Britain – despite it being 45 times more likely to put you in hospital – The Telegraph

A pickled pepper maker knows exactly how hard it is to switch to natural food dyes – NPR Shots Issue No. 2727
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: Tuberculosis Prevention Cuts in India; Kennedy Faces Congress; and Lollipop Guilt: Click and Ye Shall Receive View this email in your browser May 15, 2025 Forward Share Post GHN EXCLUSIVE REPORT Dr. Renu Singh checks a patient for possible signs of tuberculosis in the district TB center in Patna, Bihar, India. August 10, 2010. Lynsey Addario via Getty Tuberculosis Prevention Cuts in India  
DELHI, India—India’s path to eliminating tuberculosis has multiple barriers. The latest: U.S. funding cuts to prevention programs.
 
Example: The Karnataka Health Project Trust supported a “TB buddy” system that helps TB patients with documentation, offers emotional support, and ensures treatment completion.

• The project helped those with latent TB infection (LTBI)—those infected with TB bacteria but who do not have the disease.


• ~360,000 Indian children under 5 were eligible for LTBI treatment, with 5%–10% at risk of developing active TB (when people feel ill and can spread TB germs to others), per a 2023 WHO report.

Other projects lost: USAID had contributed more than $140 million to the TB Mukt Bharat (TB Free India) prevention program. Also canceled is USAID’s support for the Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative, which helped the urban poor, tribal communities, migrants, and industrial workers.
 
The Quote: “The [TB] doctors in … hospitals cater to hundreds of patients a day and have minimal time for explanations or comprehensive care … which leads to many patients dropping out of the program,” says Akshata Acharya, a MDR-TB survivor and author of a book about overcoming TB. “This is where NGOs have played a significant role in ensuring the patients continue their treatment.” READ CHEENA KAPOOR'S FULL STORY GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
U.S. overdose deaths fell 27% last year, the largest one-year decline ever seen; the ~30,000 reduction in deaths has been attributed to a range of factors from naloxone availability and expanded addiction treatment to shifts in drug use trends. AP
  The WHO has cut its management team by half and will scale back operations as the organization’s 2026–2027 budget is reduced 21% following the U.S. decision to leave the agency and drop funding. Reuters via AOL

Suicide is the leading cause of death for medical residents, finds a new study published in JAMA Network Open; the risk is especially high during the first academic quarter of the first residency year. MedPage Today

Treating parasitic worms known as helminths may become easier, as researchers have developed a new formulation of the only drug used to treat the worms, per findings published in ACS Applied Nano Materials; the updates include making doses smaller, water soluble, and more efficiently absorbed. Medical Xpress U.S. HEALTH POLICY Kennedy Faces Congress
U.S. lawmakers from both parties sharply questioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during congressional hearings yesterday, asking him about deep staffing cuts, funding freezes, and vaccine messaging, as Kennedy defended his goals for restructuring the nation’s health department, reports the AP.

Takeaways:  

Budget cuts and department restructuring: Lawmakers described how thousands of job cuts and funding freezes have impacted their districts, including interruptions in constituents’ medical care, reports Science. 

• Kennedy defended reducing HHS staff by ~20,000 people and consolidating divisions, arguing the agency was inefficient and overly bureaucratic. He said the HHS will “do a lot more with less,” but acknowledged that further 2026 budget cuts “are going to hurt,” per CIDRAP. 

Vaccine views: Several lawmakers criticized Kennedy’s refusal to endorse childhood vaccines, saying his lack of clarity on the matter jeopardized children’s health amid a growing U.S. measles outbreak. 

• In response to questions about whether he would vaccinate his own child against measles, Kennedy said, “I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me,” reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES TOBACCO The High Cost of Vietnam’s Cheap Cigarettes
Vietnam’s tobacco products remain cheap and widely accessible compared to other countries, leading to high tobacco usage and a growing health toll, say the nation’s health officials. 

Low tax, high usage: Vietnam’s tobacco retail tax rate is just 36%, far below WHO’s recommended rate of 70–75%.

• It is also far lower than regional peers including the Philippines (71.3%), Singapore (67.5%), and Thailand (78.6%). 


• The affordability means cigarettes are easily accessible to first-time users and even children. 

Health burden: Tobacco use remains one of the leading causes of disease and premature death in Vietnam, causing ~104,300 deaths annually.

Reform needed: Vietnam health leaders are urging regular tax hikes to outpace income growth and align with international standards.

Vietnam News Agency via MSN ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Lollipop Guilt: Click and Ye Shall Receive
If you thought ordering a viral face cream at 3 a.m. was an impulse purchase, you havenʼt met Liam.

With a couple of clicks, the 8-year-old Kentucky boy ordered nearly 70,000 Dum-Dums lollipops on Amazon, USA Today reports.

“Mom, my suckers are here!” he exclaimed, intending to host a carnival for his friends.

“I just about fainted,” said his mom Holly LaFavers, who last weekend found the “double ramparts of suckers” stacked on her doorstep, and a $4,200 charge that sent her bank account into the red, per The New York Times reports (gift link).

While the retail snafu sucked the fun out of her Sunday, LaFavers was ultimately refunded and found loving homes for the pops. But more shocking than the boyʼs dream is that his whimsy could be actualized literally overnight. 

Whoever runs the lollipop supply chain is no dum-dum. OPPORTUNITY Apply to the In-Sight Humanitarian Mentorship Program
In-Sight, a co-learning collaborative of global humanitarian practitioners, activists, nonprofit workers, displaced people, and others is currently accepting applications for its 6-week mentorship program this summer. 

• Designed to help anyone in—or considering a career in—international relations, peace building, humanitarian work, or related fields learn more about leadership in the humanitarian sector.


• The program, with five cohorts, is offered in English, Spanish, and Arabic, and will run from June 30 to August 11, 2025.

The program aims to be accessible to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds; program attendees are asked to "pay what they can" for their participation.

• Application deadline: June 13, 2025
• Learn more and apply

QUICK HITS UN aid office denounces attacks on Gaza hospital – UN News

The Dangerous Consequences of Funding Cuts to U.S. Global Health Programs – Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (news release)

‘We’re ready to fight’: activists brace as US anti-rights figures descend on Africa – The Guardian

New Drug Combos Could Cut Heart Failure Mortality by 60% – Medscape

Meta-analysis: Zika-infected pregnant moms 4 times more likely to have babies with microcephaly – CIDRAP

A Texas abortion ban sponsor aims to clarify when doctors can do the procedure – NPR Shots

A new generation of birth control skeptics leans right – The 19th

Low-quality papers are surging by exploiting public data sets and AI – Science

The tick-borne disease turning MAGA-supporters vegan – The Telegraph

Are beards really dirtier than toilet seats? – The Washington Post (gift link Issue No. 2726
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: Forced From Home; South Africa’s Backstreet Abortion Problem; and Scaling Up Desalination View this email in your browser May 14, 2025 Forward Share Post Displaced Sudanese girls, who fled the Zamzam camp, look on as they gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur, on February 14. AFP via Getty Forced From Home
Conflicts and disasters drove a record number of people worldwide from their homes in 2024, with 83.4 million living in internal displacement, finds a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). 

• That is 2X the number from 2018, reflecting "both a policy failure and a moral stain on humanity," said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, per Le Monde. Cuts to humanitarian aid only heighten and prolong the crisis, he said.

War and violence drove 90% of displacements, with fighting in Sudan, the DRC, Ukraine, Palestine, and Lebanon forcing millions to flee, often multiple times, reports UN News. 

• Sudan reported 11.6 million internally displaced people, the highest ever for one country.


• Tens of millions live in “protracted displacement” in Afghanistan, Colombia, Syria, and Yemen. 

Disasters forced 45.8 million internal displacements last year, 2X the annual average. 

• The U.S. saw 11 million displacements—the highest ever for a single country—as storms and other disasters inflicted mass damage and evacuations.

Compounding crises: The number of countries reporting both conflict and disaster displacement is up 3X since 2009—stretching resources and “hitting the most vulnerable the hardest,” said IDMC director Alexandra Bilak. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Nine MERS cases, two of them fatal, have been reported in Saudi Arabia, per a new WHO report; seven cases are a part of a hospital cluster in Riyadh. CIDRAP

The FDA is seeking to ban prescription fluoride supplements for children from the market, with the agency’s announcement saying ingested fluoride changes the human microbiome, even though research is inconclusive; the move contradicts years of medical best practices. NPR Shots

Nasal boosters can trigger strong local immune protection in the lungs and airways against respiratory diseases like COVID-19, per a new study published in Nature Immunology—findings that may help researchers design more safe and effective nasal vaccines. Yale News

Half of women’s aid organizations are at risk of shutting down in six months due to global aid cuts, a new survey across 44 countries shows; such closures are looming as women’s aid needs are intensifying amid conflict and displacement. UN Women U.S. and Global Heatlh Policy News Brown Professor Sounds an Alarm: An Interview with Dr. Craig Spencer – Brown Political Review   NSF board member resigns in protest of Trump policies at agency – Science

Trump’s Focus on Punishing Drug Dealers May Hurt Drug Users Trying to Quit – The New York Times (gift link)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signs order restricting autism data collection – USA Today

A matchmaking service with a twist: Connecting big givers to programs cut by USAID – NPR Goats and Soda REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS South Africa’s Backstreet Abortion Problem   Although abortion is legal in South Africa, unsafe abortion clinics are thriving: a result of scammers, social media misinformation, and a lack of knowledge about legal options. 

• 16% of deaths from miscarriages were attributed to unsafe abortion, per a 2020–2022 maternal deaths report from South Africa’s health department. But that’s likely an undercount, as abortions obtained at unsafe or illegal clinics are often concealed. 

“Magic” solutions: Scammers and unlicensed clinics take advantage of women seeking abortion, with flyers and online ads advertising unsafe or services that don’t exist, such as “womb cleaning” and “sonar pills” that put mothers’ lives at risk.
 
Real information: Efforts to deliver science-based, nonjudgmental help—especially for teenagers who become pregnant—seek to flip the script on social media.

• On TikTok, Marie Stopes South Africa posts videos like “how to put on a condom” and “how to avoid getting scammed” by illegal abortion providers.

Bhekisisa

Related: 

More than 50 cross-party MPs back amendment to decriminalise abortion – The Guardian

Digging into the math of a study attacking the safety of the abortion pill – The Washington Post (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES WATER Scaling Up Desalination 
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Arabian Gulf are gaining access to a stable source of drinking water, as innovations in desalination lower barriers. 

Energy efficiencies like solar-powered reverse osmosis have lowered costs from $5 to under $0.50 per cubic meter over a decade.

• Some Gulf nations now rely on desalination for up to 90% of their drinking water.

Health impacts: Access to clean water has significantly reduced waterborne diseases in Oman.

Growing demand: Desalination is rapidly expanding in both historically arid regions and regions newly grappling with water scarcity. 

The Quote: “Access to safe drinking water is key to public health, and … desalination is not just a utility—it’s a lifeline,” said Jasim al-Zarai, a resident of Jalan Bani Bu Ali in Oman. 

The Telegraph OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS The deadly riddle of blackwater fever: the search for answers over illness killing Uganda’s children – The Guardian

US brain drain: the scientists seeking jobs abroad amid Trump’s assault on research – Nature

Indonesia builds AI model for malaria diagnosis – Vietnam News

A Different Way to Think About Medicine’s Most Stubborn Enigma – The Atlantic

What’s Behind the Rise in Serious Injuries on New York City’s Streets? – Bloomberg CityLab

So you want to increase your country’s birth rate? Experts say it’s tough – PBS NewsHour

Bill Gates says the world will be better in 20 years: 'My optimism hasn't been shaken' – CNBC

The 'Oscar' of food prizes goes to a Brazilian who harnessed the power of bacteria – NPR Goats and Soda Issue No. 2725
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: Famine Stalks Gaza; Complications in the Chikungunya Fight and Africa Facing the Full Spectrum of Extreme Weather 500,000 people in Gaza face starvation, report finds. View this email in your browser May 13, 2025 Forward Share Post Palestinians queue to receive food distributed by charity organizations amid the ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade, in Nuseirat camp, Gaza on May 13. Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Famine Stalks Gaza
Gaza is sliding into famine as 500,000 people face starvation and food supplies dwindle, according to a report published yesterday by a hunger monitoring group.

Key report takeaways:

• All of Gaza will face a nutrition emergency (the IPC phase before catastrophe) by September, per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative.

• The Israeli blockade and increasing conflict since March has “disrupted access to humanitarian assistance, markets, health, water and sanitation services.”

• All 25 World Food Programme (WFP)-supported bakeries closed last month because of a lack of supplies.

• Most of the 177 hot meal kitchens in Gaza are reportedly out of food.

• Wheat flour prices in parts of Gaza have increased by 3,000% since February.

Famine defined: IPC cannot declare a famine; only governments or other international agencies can, per a Washington Post article (gift link) that explains famines and IPC’s five-tiered, crisis classification system.
 
The Quote: “Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border,” said Cindy McCain, executive director of the WFP, per Middle East Eye. “If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people.” GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
The first all-oral treatment for an acute form of sleeping sickness is now freely available for special treatment-center patients in Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; health ministries in Africa have green-lit use of Fexinidazole Winthrop against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. Africa Science News
 
The U.S. has suspended live cattle, horse, and bison imports along the Southern border because of the New World Screwworm’s spread in Mexico; screwworm larvae burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded animals (including, rarely, people) and can kill. Axios
A drug approved to treat migraine headaches—ubrogepant—is the first that can also alleviate early “prodrome” symptoms including fatigue, neck pain, light sensitivity, and trouble concentrating, per results of a phase III clinical trial described in Nature Medicine. Nature VACCINES Complications in the Chikungunya Fight
Chikungunya is resurging on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, leading to ~50,000 cases and 12 deaths, and spreading to nearby islands like Mauritius. 

Vaccine setbacks: While a live-attenuated vaccine, Ixchiq, was approved by a range of regulatory bodies last year, several reports of adverse effects and two deaths on Réunion have led the European Medicines Agency to suspend the vaccine’s use in people aged 65+ while a review is conducted. 

• The FDA and CDC have also recommended pausing use of the Ixchiq vaccine in people aged 60+. 

The vaccine’s limitations worry public health experts, as older people and very young children, who are not eligible for the vaccine, are most vulnerable to the disease. 

Science GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES CLIMATE CRISIS Africa Facing the Full Spectrum of Extreme Weather
Climate change is impacting “every single aspect of socio-economic development in Africa,” leading to displacement, hunger, and insecurity, a new report from the UN World Meteorological Organization has found. 

By the numbers: The average surface temperature of the continent in 2024 was ~0.86°C above the 1991-2020 average.

• Floods, heatwaves, and droughts displaced ~700,000 people across Africa last year.

• They also devastated livestock and crop yields, contributed to water scarcity, and disrupted children’s education.

• While climate drivers like El Niño contributed to the volatility, scientists say Africa is bearing the brunt of fossil fuel-driven climate change.

Needed investments: While a range of adaptations like water capture and desalination are key, early warning systems for adverse weather remain a top priority. 

UN News QUICK HITS A quarter of children have a parent with substance use disorder, a study finds – NPR

Development experts mull cash transfers amid shrinking aid budgets – The Telegraph

Elizabeth Holmes rises again — or at least her partner does – STAT

The constant surveillance of modern life could worsen our brain function in ways we don't fully understand, disturbing studies suggest – LiveScience

New AI tool predicts your biological age from a selfie – The Washington Post (gift link) Issue No. 1864
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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

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96 Global Health NOW: The Spread of Schistosomiasis; The Risks at Poland’s Poultry Farms; and A Gamble With Leafy Greens View this email in your browser May 12, 2025 Forward Share Post Bulinus truncatus, a freshwater snail that can be a shistosomiasis carrier. Constantine, Algeria, February 18. Karim Haddad via iNaturalist (cropped), CC BY 4.0 The Spread of Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is spreading to new regions and populations, as scientists warn that climate change, migration, and tourism are reshaping the habitat of the parasitic infection’s carrier, freshwater snails, reports The Telegraph. 

Background: The neglected tropical disease that can wreak havoc on the gastrointestinal system affects ~240 million people, with 90% of cases found in sub-Saharan Africa. 

New gains: The parasite has begun to spread in European waters over the last decade, researchers shared at a Wellcome Trust gathering last week, with 120+ cases reported in Corsica alone since 2014.

• “Once one snail is infected, they infect a whole population of snails which then infect a whole population of humans,” said Bonnie Webster, researcher at the Schistosome Snail Resource at London’s Natural History Museum.

Treatment shortcomings: The drug praziquantel is largely effective, but there are critical shortages in large parts of Africa, and USAID cuts are expected to exacerbate the problem.  

Meanwhile in Malawi, researchers have uncovered new evidence of zoonotic hybrid schistosome species infecting humans, raising concerns about the need for new diagnostic tools, per Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The study, published last week in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases, describes how overlapping snail habitats have led to cross-species hybridization.  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Kerala, India, reported a new case of Nipah virus on May 8, in a 42-year-old woman; it marks the seventh appearance of the virus in Malappuram district since 2018. The Hindu

President Trump says he will sign an executive order today directing HHS to tie what Medicare pays for some medications to the lowest price paid by other countries. CBS News

Los Angeles public health officials have declared a hepatitis A outbreak, citing 3X more cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, and an unusually high 29 cases so far this year—and wastewater monitoring suggests that cases are undercounted. KTLA-TV Los Angeles

The obesity drug Zepbound led to ~50% more weight loss than rival drug Wegovy, per a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reports the AP; but one of America’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Health’s Caremark, has excluded Zepbound from coverage despite the new research, reports The New York Times. U.S. and Global Health Policy News How hard are USAID cuts hitting Africa's healthcare? – DW

Trump health cuts create 'real danger' around disease outbreaks, workers warn – The Guardian

NIH’s key vaccine center slammed by contract cuts – Science DATA POINT
50 million
—————
People at risk of hunger in West and Central Africa, a region pounded by conflict, displacement, economic hardship, and extreme weather, the World Food Programme warns. —UN News AVIAN FLU The Risks at Poland’s Poultry Farms
Poultry farming has become a major industry in Poland, which exports chicken across Europe. But the rise of avian flu means farming practices in the country are now under intense scrutiny. 

• The country has reported ~80 of the EU’s 200 confirmed outbreaks this year.

A closer look: Epidemiologists say there are biosecurity gaps in Poland, with a shortage of trained veterinary inspectors and a lack of consistent safeguards like disinfecting equipment. 

• But even without those problems, the virus’s appearance in a region with so many closely sited farms is like “throwing a spark into a powder keg,” one epidemiologist said. 

Intervention: The European Commission moved last month to expand protection zones and tighten biosecurity rules in Poland.

Politico

Related: Coming home to roost: residents rise up against UK chicken megafarms – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES FOOD SAFETY A Gamble With Leafy Greens 
When it comes to foodborne outbreaks in the U.S., a common culprit has emerged: bagged lettuce. 

• Leafy greens, particularly romaine lettuce, caused most of the U.S.’s foodborne outbreaks in 2022. Last year, an E. coli outbreak tied to romaine sent 36 people to the hospital across 15 states.

Why? Machines that chop and shred lettuce can spread bacteria once contaminated. 

Exacerbating the problem: U.S. food safety oversight has weakened under both the Biden and Trump administrations, with funding cuts leading to reduced inspections and delayed outbreak notifications.

A safer alternative: Whole heads of lettuce carry less risk, say food safety experts. 

The Atlantic (gift link) OPPORTUNITY - LAST DAY TO APPLY! QUICK HITS On International Nurse Day, we remember Kerala’s braveheart Lini Puthussery who fought Nipah virus – Indian Express

The rising threat of Nipah virus: a highly contagious and deadly zoonotic pathogen – Virology Journal / BMC

Gates can't do it alone – Politico

The proportion of people of 50+ with HIV has doubled in 10 years. What does that mean for healthcare? – Bhekisisa

Group targets over 900,000 children in 2025 deworming campaign – Nigerian Tribune

Infertility in women linked to higher risk of heart disease – News Medical

FDA will allow three new color additives made from minerals, algae and flower petals – AP

Should you toss your plastic kitchen tools for health reasons? Here's the scoop – NPR Issue No. 2723
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: Mosquito Nets and Geopolitical Bets; Children Face ‘Extremely High’ Prevalence of Sexual Violence; and Itʼs Giving … #MetGala Malaria programs in peril amid U.S. funding withdrawal View this email in your browser May 8, 2025 Forward Share Post A child receives a free malaria test. Lagos, Nigeria, April 24, 2022. Emma Houston/Xinhua via Getty Mosquito Nets and Geopolitical Bets  
IBADAN, Nigeria—At the Alegongo Primary Health Centre clinic, a nurse can efficiently diagnose a feverish child with malaria and dispense free antimalarial medication within minutes.
 
But amid broader uncertainties surrounding the withdrawal of U.S. funding for anti-malaria programs in Africa, that progress could soon unravel.

• Nigeria bears the highest malaria burden, with 26% of global cases and 30%+ of malaria-related deaths in 2023. 

• However, Nigeria has seen a 13% reduction in mortality rates since 2017—thanks in part to a finely tuned malaria prevention and treatment supply chain that U.S.-funded groups like the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) helped make possible. 

For now, Alegongo and other frontline clinics still have reserves of tests and antimalarials. But without new funding, supplies could run dry within months. And the surveys that anchor accountability by tracking diagnostics, mosquito net ownership, prevalence, etc., would vanish. It’s an obliteration of both the gains and the very ability to see them.
 
The Quote: “What people don’t see now are the logistical strings being cut. … Those supply chains, once broken, don’t repair easily,” notes one person who worked with CCP in Abuja until this past March.

Paul Adepoju for Global Health NOW

Ed. Note: This article was produced in collaboration with Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine and is part of a series that examines frontline impacts of cuts in U.S. funding. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
COVID’s evolutionary journey appears to parallel that of SARS, jumping from bats to other wild mammals and eventually to humans via wildlife markets, posits a new study published in Cell that analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses. The New York Times (gift link)

Carcinogens like formaldehyde are in a wide range of beauty products used on a weekly basis by 53% of Black and Latina women surveyed in Los Angeles, finds a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters; the products range from lotion and shampoo to eyeliner and eyelash glue. NPR

The EU has secured “the largest and most diverse supply chain” to manufacture ~478 million reserve doses of pandemic flu vaccine in its effort to prepare for a possible bird flu outbreak in humans. The Telegraph 

Long COVID continues to impose “a significant burden” on survivors' physical and mental health post-infection, finds a new study published in PLOS One—with patients self-reporting compromised health and daily task efficiency for 13+ days a month. CIDRAP  U.S. Policy News CDC terminates infection control advisory committee – Healio

Trump picks Casey Means for surgeon general, after first nominee withdraws – NPR

Health Sec. Kennedy launches autism project using Medicare and Medicaid data – USA Today

Exclusive: Kennedy aide and vaccine critic questions recent expert recommendations – Reuters

US poll finds shifting vaccine trust amid health agency overhauls – CIDRAP CHILD & ADOLESCENT HEALTH Children Face ‘Extremely High’ Prevalence of Sexual Violence 
Globally, at least 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 7 boys have experienced sexual violence before age 18, finds a new study published in The Lancet, considered “one of the most comprehensive assessments to date,” reports Euronews. 

A closer look: The study analyzed data from all countries spanning 1990–2023. 

• Rates of affected girls were highest in South Asia, at 26.8%; and highest in sub-Saharan Africa for boys, at 18.6%, reports The Telegraph. 

• However, the prevalence is “extremely high” worldwide, and the numbers are likely an underestimate.

Long-term effects: People who survive sexual violence in their youth face a higher risk for ongoing health issues, including depression, anxiety, STIs, substance abuse, and chronic conditions like asthma. 

• “Sexual violence against children is a widespread human rights and public health issue, and the world is clearly failing to end it,” said study author Emmanuela Gakidou.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES BIG TOBACCO Behind the Curtain 
Tobacco industry lobbyists have made significant inroads among officials in the Philippines, giving them behind-the-scenes influence over national and even international tobacco regulations. 

Pulling strings at public health forums? Tobacco lobbyists are barred from attending the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Yet at the most recent conference in 2024, Filipino officials actively sought to protect the industry’s interests and worked to block the creation of new regulations. 

• The moves were so clearly pro-tobacco that a coalition of nonprofits awarded the Philippine delegation a “Dirty Ashtray” award for the alleged adoption of “tobacco industry tactics.”

The Examination ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION ​​Itʼs Giving … #MetGala
For one glorious night a year, the fashion elites toss the internet this sartorial bone: The chance to curl up in its pajamas, crack its knuckles … and viciously critique Met Gala outfits. Even Elmo weighed in.

What netizens noticed:

• While this yearʼs official theme celebrated Black dandyism, the unofficial dress code appeared to be “No Pants!”

• And while even pantsless stars concealed their looks under long coats, the rapper Doechii opted to hide inside a giant white box on wheels.

• Demi Moore wore a giant neck tie while her 1-pound chihuahua wore an absolutely tiny one.

• There were theories about Zendayaʼs big hat—and stylist shock when she showed up in the same outfit as another starlet. Gasp!

QUICK HITS India-Pakistan conflict puts Asia’s rice supplies at risk of trade turmoil, rising prices – South China Morning Post

Pancreatic, colorectal cancer incidence rising fastest among younger individuals – Healio

US surpasses 1,000 measles cases in 2025, second worst year since disease was declared eliminated – CNN

Kenya launches National Public Health Institute with WHO backing – KBC

Baltimore Banner wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of overdose crisis – The Baltimore Banner

Guatemala Announces Crucial Water Law Dialogue – Human Rights Watch

The future to fighting airborne viruses is in…lamps? – Vox Issue No. 2722
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: Redrawing Battle Lines in the AIDS Fight; Twists in Abortion Lawsuit; and The Lifesaving Potential of Self-Driving Cars View this email in your browser May 7, 2025 Forward Share Post Students from the University of the Witwatersrand explain how to use a self HIV testing kit, in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, on March 19, 2018. Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Redrawing Battle Lines in the AIDS Fight 
Global strategies to fight AIDS are quickly being reshaped, as cascading funding losses triggered by U.S. cuts continue to undermine footholds gained against the virus.

The latest: 

UNAIDS is cutting its workforce by more than half and moving its offices to cheaper locations, with leaders saying that decades-long gains “are at risk of being reversed,” reports The Washington Post (gift link).

In Liberia, doctors are already seeing the impacts of fewer people receiving antiretroviral medication as clinic workers have been laid off, per Front Page Africa; they worry about increased illness—and increased transmission. 

In the American South, community health programs are scaling back spending on HIV testing and outreach, reports KFF Health News via CBS.

• The long-term impact on infection rates could be severe, as Southern states have the highest level of poverty, a severe shortage of rural clinics, and depend heavily on federal funding. 


• HIV research at Florida universities will face the “devastating impact” of millions in DOGE cuts, per The Tallahassee Democrat.

Meanwhile, AIDS-related illnesses like tuberculosis continue to be the leading cause of hospitalization globally for people with HIV, finds a new study published in The Lancet HIV, per Medscape.

Related: 

In Historic First, the Global Fund Procures African-Made First-Line HIV Treatment – The Global Fund (news release)

The Trump Administration’s Foreign Aid Review: Status of PEPFAR – KFF

Want to Rebuild US Foreign Aid? Look to PEPFAR – Inkstick (commentary) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   A hospital bombing in South Sudan last weekend was the latest in a series of attacks on health facilities as escalating violence hampers civilians’ access to basic medical care, and could lead to the closure of more clinics. UN News

A lack of female-only medical trials in the UK is forcing doctors to make decisions in “a vacuum of evidence” when it comes to women’s health; male-only trials were nearly twice as common as female-only studies among the thousands reviewed. The Guardian

Consuming cannabis while pregnant appears to increase the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and infant death, finds an updated systematic review published in JAMA Pediatrics. Oregon Health and Science University (news release)

Conversion therapy exposure has been linked with elevated blood pressure, increased systemic inflammation, and higher odds of self-reported hypertension diagnosis, finds a cohort study of 703 sexual and gender minority young adults. JAMA Network Open U.S. and Global Health Policy News N.I.H. Bans New Funding From U.S. Scientists to Partners Abroad – The New York Times (gift link)

USAID Cuts Could Sever HPV Prevention – Think Global Health (commentary)

Feeding the hungry will be harder than ever for the world's largest food aid agency – NPR Goats and Soda

Kennedy aide and vaccine critic questions recent expert recommendations – Reuters

New Opioid Data May Not Reflect Harms Accurately, FDA Advisors Warn – MedPage Today SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY A Wake-Up Call on Social Media’s Dangers
Can’t Look Away, a new Bloomberg documentary film, exposes the dark side of social media and its devastating impact on young people—and the push to hold tech companies accountable.

• The film, based on investigative reporting by Bloomberg News’ Olivia Carville, takes viewers inside the fight for justice for families whose children suffered tragic consequences as a result of their social media use and makes the case for urgent reform.

GHN has partnered with Jolt to offer a special virtual screening of the film. WATCH THE FILM HERE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Twists in Abortion Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, arguing in its filing that the three states suing the FDA lack legal standing.
 
The request to dismiss the closely watched case is a notable deviation from the Trump administration’s positions so far on reproductive rights.  
 
Originally filed in 2022, the lawsuit made its way to the Supreme Court but was thrown out for plaintiffs’ lack of standing to sue. Attorneys for the three states amended and revived the suit a few months later.

• If allowed to proceed, the case could have a major impact on abortion access, as abortion pills are used in two-thirds of abortions in the U.S.

The New York Times (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ROAD SAFETY The Lifesaving Potential of Self-Driving Cars 
Makers of autonomous vehicles (AVs) have long touted the safety benefits of their cars: Unlike humans, self-driving cars don’t text and drive, or drive while sleepy or impaired. 

Research is starting to bear those claims out, with a large and comprehensive new study showing significant safety performance compared to human driving, reports Vox. 

• In a peer-reviewed study set to be published in Traffic Injury Prevention, AV company Waymo analyzed the performance of its AVs over 56.7 million miles driven in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin—all without a human driver present. 


• Researchers compared that data to human driving performance over the same distance on the same kind of roads.

The results: Waymo found its AVs reduce crashes that involve an injury by 96%, and pedestrian- and cyclist-involved collisions by 82%–92%, reports Electrek. 

Thanks for the tip, Dave Cundiff!  QUICK HITS US government secures production, supply of freeze-dried Jynneos mpox vaccine – CIDRAP

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Vaccine Safety and Trust – KFF

How Utah dentists are preparing patients for the first statewide fluoride ban – AP

Medical AI trained on whopping 57 million health records – Nature

COVID-19 Vaccines Not Linked to Miscarriage – Yale School of Medicine

The power of dogs on your mental health – Axios Issue No. 2721
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: Health Inequities’ Lethal Impact; A Closer Look at a Dementia Cluster; and China’s Unregulated Beauty View this email in your browser May 6, 2025 Forward Share Post Older adults exercise in a park. Tokyo, Japan, October 1, 2024. David Mareuil/Anadolu via Getty Health Inequities’ Lethal Impact
33 years. That’s the difference in life expectancy between people in Japan (which has the world’s highest life expectancy at 84.5 years) and Lesotho (which has the lowest at 51.5), per a WHO report released today.

• The publication follows a 2008 initial report that set targets to reduce life expectancy disparities between and within countries by 2040. Those targets are not likely to be met.

Warning signs:

• Children born in poorer countries are 13X more likely to die before age 5 than those born in wealthier countries. 


• 94% of maternal deaths occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries.


• 3.8 billion people lack adequate social protections, such as child/paid sick leave benefits—impacting health outcomes.

Drivers of disparity: A lack of quality housing, education, and work opportunities are behind the health inequities leading to shorter lives. Discrimination and marginalization exacerbate the inequities. 

Solutions: Addressing income inequality, structural discrimination, and disruptions caused by conflict and climate change could overcome health inequities, per WHO.

The Quote: “It is a sad indictment on government leaders that social injustice continues to kill on such a grand scale,” said Michael Marmot, who led the 2008 report, per the Financial Times. ‘‘The targets we set to close the health gap in a generation will be missed.’’
 
Related:

All-Cause Mortality and Life Expectancy by Birth Cohort Across US States – JAMA Network Open
 
Study reveals stark differences in life expectancy across US states over the past century – Medical Xpress GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Aiming to “make Europe a magnet for researchers,” the European Union has pledged €500 million in new money over the next two years and vows to protect scientific freedom to lure foreign scientists; separately, France announced plans to dedicate €100 million to attracting foreign researchers. Science
 
Pharmacists in England face inappropriate demands for unnecessary antibiotics despite the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance; according to a National Pharmacy Association survey, 79% of pharmacists report having to refuse requests for antibiotics from patients at least once a day. The Guardian

Teens with anxiety and depression spend ~50 more minutes per day on social media than their peers, and report more dissatisfaction with aspects of the experience, such as the number of their online friends, per a survey published today in Nature Human Behaviour of 3,340 adolescents in the UK. Nature
 
Study participants given the shingles vaccine showed a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular events including stroke, heart failure, and coronary heart disease for up to 8 years compared to those who did not receive the vaccine, per a study led by South Korean researchers of 1 million+ people ages 50 and up. CBS U.S. and Global Health Policy News Trump restricts funding for 'gain-of-function' research — calling it dangerous – NPR
More than a dozen states, DC sue Trump administration over 'dismantling' of federal health agencies – CNN

US scientist who touted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid named to pandemic prevention role – The Guardian

The Trump administration's approach to extreme weather will damage health – STAT 

Key reports addressing violence against Indigenous women are gone from federal sites – The 19th

‘It’s been a tough period’: NIH’s new director speaks with Science – Science ALZHEIMER'S A Closer Look at a Dementia Cluster 
In Starr County, near the border of Texas and Mexico, “everybody has somebody in their family” with dementia, said neuroepidemiologist Gladys Maestre.

• The condition affects about 1 in 5 adults on Medicare there—more than 2X the national rate.

Why? Researchers say the risk factors associated with dementia—genetics, environment, and chronic health conditions—have accumulated in Starr County. 

• ~1 in 3 people live in poverty and a quarter lack health insurance.


• The community is almost entirely Hispanic—a population that faces a significantly higher risk of dementia, yet remains one of the most under-studied groups in dementia research in the U.S.

Hope for breakthroughs: In 2021, the National Institute on Aging designated a new Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in south Texas to better understand the dementia cluster and shift outcomes. 

The Atlantic (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES SURGERY China’s Unregulated Beauty 
In China, an estimated 80,000 cosmetic surgery venues operate without a license, and 100,000 practitioners are not qualified—a result of increased demand in the country for plastic surgery. But without enough qualified professionals botched surgeries and dangerous complications are on the rise. 

• 20 million people pay for cosmetic procedures annually.


• 80% are women. 


• The average age to undergo surgery is 25. 

Plastic perfection: Cosmetic procedure apps, surgery influencers, and physical “aesthetic” requirements for jobs raise the social pressure to meet impossible beauty standards, with many young women and girls receiving multiple, if not dozens, of surgeries. 

BBC OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Dossier of alleged Sudan war crimes handed to Metropolitan police – The Guardian

New salmonella outbreak is linked to backyard poultry, CDC says – AP

Forgotten disease ravaging Kampala, Wakiso – The Monitor

Why midwives are worried – NPR Goats and Soda

A decade of change: maternal mortality trends in Sudan, 2009–2019 – BMC Public Health

More babies are being admitted to NICUs – The Washington Post (gift link)

Gloves do not replace hand hygiene – reminder from WHO – WHO

Popemobile to become health clinic for Gaza children – BBC Issue No. 2720
Global Health NOW is an initiative of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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

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

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  Copyright 2025 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. Views and opinions expressed in Global Health NOW do not necessarily reflect those of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health or Johns Hopkins University.


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96 Global Health NOW: Striking on New Antivenom Potential; April Recap; and Sweltering Conditions in Cambodia’s Sweatshops View this email in your browser May 5, 2025 Forward Share Post A Jameson's mamba, one of Kenya's 13 medically relevant snakes due to a significant rate of deadly snakebite cases, at the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre. Nairobi, March 7. Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Striking on New Antivenom Potential
Scientists have made a major breakthrough in antivenom development, thanks to an unusual research partner: an American snake collector who allowed himself to be bitten hundreds of times, per new research published in Cell. 

Background: In hopes of developing a universal antivenom, lead study author Jacob Glanville had wanted to study antibodies in a person exposed to multiple snake venoms, reports NPR. 

• He found his man in Tim Friede, a self-taught herpetologist who has allowed himself to be bitten ~200 times by more than a dozen venomous snakes over two decades.

The basics: After receiving approval from an ethics review board, researchers analyzed Friede’s blood and found two potent antibodies. 

• By combining them with an existing drug, they made a cocktail that allowed mice to survive venom from 19 species of dangerous elapid snakes, which include cobras, mamba, and taipans, reports Nature.


• Not covered: Venom from vipers, which make up about half of venomous snakes.

Great need: Venomous snakes kill tens of thousands of people every year, and disable several hundred thousand more, per the WHO.

• Developing effective antivenoms has long been a struggle, as most work for just one or a few snakes of one region, reports The Telegraph.

What’s next: The researchers plan to test the treatment in snakebitten dogs in Australia and to develop the antivenom for a wider array of snakes. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   An anthrax outbreak in the DRC has so far resulted in 16 suspected cases and one death, leading to a scaled-up response from health officials, per CIDRAP; meanwhile, Thailand has reported its first anthrax death in decades after a man was exposed to an infected cow, reports The Telegraph.

Ecuador has confirmed three yellow fever cases with a fourth case under investigation, per the nation’s health minister; yellow fever outbreaks continue to be reported across South America. Vax Before Travel

Men die younger across different global regions for a range of reasons often related to increased prevalence of diseases and risk factors and lower access to care, per a new article published in PLOS Medicine. News Medical

The animal sedative medetomidine is increasingly turning up in illegal drugs in the U.S., per the CDC; it is being mixed with other illicit drugs, primarily fentanyl, and has been reported in overdose clusters in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. AP U.S. and Global Health Policy News Cuts have eliminated more than a dozen US government health-tracking programs – AP

RFK Jr. calls for CDC plan for alternative measles treatments – Axios

Trump's cuts to contraception will kill 'tens of thousands' of women – The Independent

NIH cuts baby 'Safe to Sleep' team. Here's what parents should know – NPR

Will America be “flying blind” on bird flu? A key wastewater-tracking program may soon end – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

V.A. Mental Health Care Staff, Crowded into Federal Buildings, Raise Patient Privacy Alarms – The New York Times (gift link) APRIL RECAP: MUST-READS A Squirrel’s Link to Mpox
Scientists have identified the fire-footed rope squirrel as a potential mpox reservoir host—a discovery that could help researchers understand cross-species spillover. 

• DNA from the squirrel matched virus samples taken from mpox-infected sooty mangabey monkeys during an outbreak in Ivory Coast. Researchers believe the monkeys were infected after eating squirrels with the virus.

Implications: While more research is needed, the findings are “a landmark contribution to understanding mpox dynamics,” said an Africa CDC biologist.

Science 
Japan Ramps up Regenerative Medicine
Japan is rapidly expanding its biotechnology sector, investing heavily in regenerative medicine.

In 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that adult cells could be reprogrammed into an embryonic-like state known as iPS cells, allowing them to become any kind of tissue. 

• Since then, Japan has led the field globally, hosting nearly one-third of iPS-cell clinical trials—and may soon approve the first iPS-cell treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s.

Nature
Protective Paint in South Africa
In Cape Town, informal homes made of metal and wood can reach 95°F (35°C) and remain hot overnight—disrupting sleep and increasing stress levels.

In a simple intervention, researchers are testing UV-resistant reflective paint on roofs, a practice that has already been used to reduce temperatures in chicken coops.

• The study will measure potential temperature changes and effects on residents’ sleep and health.

The Telegraph APRIL'S TWO-PART EXCLUSIVE SERIES Millions of Indians celebrate Diwali with fireworks—without realizing the dangerous conditions for factory workers. Gurugram, India, October 31, 2024. Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Fireworks and Heartbreak in a Hard-Hit Indian Village  
SIVAKASI, India—Explosions at fireworks factories are not uncommon in this Southern Indian city that produces nearly 90% of the country’s fireworks, writes Kamala Thiagarajan in Part I of a two-part series that describes the toll on the tens of thousands of workers employed by these factories.

• 91 workers were killed in the most recent year—but only those killed at the explosion site are counted—not those who die later.


• Employers typically pay only for injured workers’ initial care.

Of the 650 families who live in Surangudi village, most have lost either a limb or a loved one to fireworks, social activist Vijay Kumar tells Thiagarajan in Part II.

Ed. Note: Our thanks go to Padmavathy Krishna Kumar who shared the idea for this topic and received an honorable mention in the 2025 Untold Global Health Stories contest, co-sponsored by Global Health NOW and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. READ THE SERIES APRIL'S BEST NEWS Hope for Fistula Survivors in Nigeria  
Free fistula repair surgery will soon be available at clinics throughout Nigeria, health officials announced earlier this month—a “groundbreaking move” in a country that sees ~12,000 new cases a year of vesicovaginal fistula, which can be a debilitating and highly stigmatizing condition.

• In 2022, 600+ women with VVF were abandoned by their families in the state of Borno.


• Advocates say comprehensive counseling services are also needed to support VVF survivors with the psychological trauma associated with the condition. 

Nigeria Health Watch GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Sweltering Conditions in Cambodia’s Sweatshops
Decades after promised reforms in Cambodian sweatshops that produce goods for companies like Nike, workers still frequently fainted and required medical intervention due to high heat and long hours, employees and medics say. 

Bigger picture: 57,000+ people produce Nike goods at garment factories in Cambodia. Fainting has been a commonly reported problem, with the Cambodian government reporting 4,500+ occurrences in factories between 2017 and 2019. 

• In one factory, Y&W Garment—which employed ~4,500 people making clothes in 2023—former employees reported two to three people fainting daily as temperatures inside soared above 100°F. 

Failed oversight: Workers say oversight groups like the U.N.-backed Better Factories Cambodia have little influence on conditions.

ProPublica OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Meet The Scientist Warning The World About The Next Pandemic –  Health Policy Watch

Chilean woman with muscular dystrophy becomes face of euthanasia debate as bill stalls in Senate – AP

How vaccine hesitancy may be driving a spike in pediatric flu deaths – PBS 

Cannabis Could Be Bad for Your Heart – Undark

Samoa becomes the first Pacific Island country to launch National Action Plan for Health Security – WHO (news release)

Well, That’s One Way to Address America’s Vaping Problem – The Atlantic

Woman's eyesight saved by cutting-edge test after mystery infection – BBC Issue No. M-5-2025
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

Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. -->
ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US
  Copyright 2025 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. Views and opinions expressed in Global Health NOW do not necessarily reflect those of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health or Johns Hopkins University.


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96 Global Health NOW: Striking on New Antivenom Potential; April Recap; and Sweltering Conditions in Cambodia’s Sweatshops View this email in your browser May 5, 2025 Forward Share Post A Jameson's mamba, one of Kenya's 13 medically relevant snakes due to a significant rate of deadly snakebite cases, at the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre. Nairobi, March 7. Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Striking on New Antivenom Potential
Scientists have made a major breakthrough in antivenom development, thanks to an unusual research partner: an American snake collector who allowed himself to be bitten hundreds of times, per new research published in Cell. 

Background: In hopes of developing a universal antivenom, lead study author Jacob Glanville had wanted to study antibodies in a person exposed to multiple snake venoms, reports NPR. 

• He found his man in Tim Friede, a self-taught herpetologist who has allowed himself to be bitten ~200 times by more than a dozen venomous snakes over two decades.

The basics: After receiving approval from an ethics review board, researchers analyzed Friede’s blood and found two potent antibodies. 

• By combining them with an existing drug, they made a cocktail that allowed mice to survive venom from 19 species of dangerous elapid snakes, which include cobras, mamba, and taipans, reports Nature.


• Not covered: Venom from vipers, which make up about half of venomous snakes.

Great need: Venomous snakes kill tens of thousands of people every year, and disable several hundred thousand more, per the WHO.

• Developing effective antivenoms has long been a struggle, as most work for just one or a few snakes of one region, reports The Telegraph.

What’s next: The researchers plan to test the treatment in snakebitten dogs in Australia and to develop the antivenom for a wider array of snakes. GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   An anthrax outbreak in the DRC has so far resulted in 16 suspected cases and one death, leading to a scaled-up response from health officials, per CIDRAP; meanwhile, Thailand has reported its first anthrax death in decades after a man was exposed to an infected cow, reports The Telegraph.

Ecuador has confirmed three yellow fever cases with a fourth case under investigation, per the nation’s health minister; yellow fever outbreaks continue to be reported across South America. Vax Before Travel

Men die younger across different global regions for a range of reasons often related to increased prevalence of diseases and risk factors and lower access to care, per a new article published in PLOS Medicine. News Medical

The animal sedative medetomidine is increasingly turning up in illegal drugs in the U.S., per the CDC; it is being mixed with other illicit drugs, primarily fentanyl, and has been reported in overdose clusters in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. AP U.S. and Global Health Policy News Cuts have eliminated more than a dozen US government health-tracking programs – AP

RFK Jr. calls for CDC plan for alternative measles treatments – Axios

Trump's cuts to contraception will kill 'tens of thousands' of women – The Independent

NIH cuts baby 'Safe to Sleep' team. Here's what parents should know – NPR

Will America be “flying blind” on bird flu? A key wastewater-tracking program may soon end – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

V.A. Mental Health Care Staff, Crowded into Federal Buildings, Raise Patient Privacy Alarms – The New York Times (gift link) APRIL RECAP: MUST-READS A Squirrel’s Link to Mpox
Scientists have identified the fire-footed rope squirrel as a potential mpox reservoir host—a discovery that could help researchers understand cross-species spillover. 

• DNA from the squirrel matched virus samples taken from mpox-infected sooty mangabey monkeys during an outbreak in Ivory Coast. Researchers believe the monkeys were infected after eating squirrels with the virus.

Implications: While more research is needed, the findings are “a landmark contribution to understanding mpox dynamics,” said an Africa CDC biologist.

Science 
Japan Ramps up Regenerative Medicine
Japan is rapidly expanding its biotechnology sector, investing heavily in regenerative medicine.

In 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that adult cells could be reprogrammed into an embryonic-like state known as iPS cells, allowing them to become any kind of tissue. 

• Since then, Japan has led the field globally, hosting nearly one-third of iPS-cell clinical trials—and may soon approve the first iPS-cell treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s.

Nature
Protective Paint in South Africa
In Cape Town, informal homes made of metal and wood can reach 95°F (35°C) and remain hot overnight—disrupting sleep and increasing stress levels.

In a simple intervention, researchers are testing UV-resistant reflective paint on roofs, a practice that has already been used to reduce temperatures in chicken coops.

• The study will measure potential temperature changes and effects on residents’ sleep and health.

The Telegraph APRIL'S TWO-PART EXCLUSIVE SERIES Millions of Indians celebrate Diwali with fireworks—without realizing the dangerous conditions for factory workers. Gurugram, India, October 31, 2024. Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Fireworks and Heartbreak in a Hard-Hit Indian Village  
SIVAKASI, India—Explosions at fireworks factories are not uncommon in this Southern Indian city that produces nearly 90% of the country’s fireworks, writes Kamala Thiagarajan in Part I of a two-part series that describes the toll on the tens of thousands of workers employed by these factories.

• 91 workers were killed in the most recent year—but only those killed at the explosion site are counted—not those who die later.


• Employers typically pay only for injured workers’ initial care.

Of the 650 families who live in Surangudi village, most have lost either a limb or a loved one to fireworks, social activist Vijay Kumar tells Thiagarajan in Part II.

Ed. Note: Our thanks go to Padmavathy Krishna Kumar who shared the idea for this topic and received an honorable mention in the 2025 Untold Global Health Stories contest, co-sponsored by Global Health NOW and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. READ THE SERIES APRIL'S BEST NEWS Hope for Fistula Survivors in Nigeria  
Free fistula repair surgery will soon be available at clinics throughout Nigeria, health officials announced earlier this month—a “groundbreaking move” in a country that sees ~12,000 new cases a year of vesicovaginal fistula, which can be a debilitating and highly stigmatizing condition.

• In 2022, 600+ women with VVF were abandoned by their families in the state of Borno.


• Advocates say comprehensive counseling services are also needed to support VVF survivors with the psychological trauma associated with the condition. 

Nigeria Health Watch GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Sweltering Conditions in Cambodia’s Sweatshops
Decades after promised reforms in Cambodian sweatshops that produce goods for companies like Nike, workers still frequently fainted and required medical intervention due to high heat and long hours, employees and medics say. 

Bigger picture: 57,000+ people produce Nike goods at garment factories in Cambodia. Fainting has been a commonly reported problem, with the Cambodian government reporting 4,500+ occurrences in factories between 2017 and 2019. 

• In one factory, Y&W Garment—which employed ~4,500 people making clothes in 2023—former employees reported two to three people fainting daily as temperatures inside soared above 100°F. 

Failed oversight: Workers say oversight groups like the U.N.-backed Better Factories Cambodia have little influence on conditions.

ProPublica OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Meet The Scientist Warning The World About The Next Pandemic –  Health Policy Watch

Chilean woman with muscular dystrophy becomes face of euthanasia debate as bill stalls in Senate – AP

How vaccine hesitancy may be driving a spike in pediatric flu deaths – PBS 

Cannabis Could Be Bad for Your Heart – Undark

Samoa becomes the first Pacific Island country to launch National Action Plan for Health Security – WHO (news release)

Well, That’s One Way to Address America’s Vaping Problem – The Atlantic

Woman's eyesight saved by cutting-edge test after mystery infection – BBC Issue No. 2719
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

Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. -->
ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US
  Copyright 2025 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. Views and opinions expressed in Global Health NOW do not necessarily reflect those of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health or Johns Hopkins University.


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96 Global Health NOW: Underuse and Overuse Fuels AMR; Funding ‘Megafarms,’ Despite Pollution; and Heavy Caw-petition New studies highlight the dual crisis of antibiotic resistance View this email in your browser May 1, 2025 Forward Share Post Scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, yellow) surrounded by cellular debris (red). NIH/NAID/IMAGE.FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Underuse, Overuse: The Dual Crisis of Antibiotic Resistance
As scientists continue to sound the alarm about antibiotic overuse driving antimicrobial resistance, new research shows how the crisis is also being exacerbated by the opposite problem: lack of antibiotic access.

Overuse: WHO data released this week show how globally just 52% of antibiotics prescribed fell under the “access” category of first and second-line antibiotics. That rate should be closer to 70%, per WHO targets, but many patients are receiving antibiotics for more severe infections, reports CIDRAP.

Underuse: Meanwhile, lack of access to the correct antibiotics is further driving the spread of superbugs, finds a new study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, which found that <7% of people with severe infections in poorer countries get the necessary antibiotics, reports The Guardian. 

Stewardship and innovation: The crisis must be addressed by improving both access to a wider spectrum of antibiotics, and by implementing stewardship policies, the WHO said in a news release. 

The authors of the underuse study said stewardship is not enough: Low- and middle-income countries need new drugs and antibiotic innovation.

• “We actually have to focus on both … , in all places,” said senior study author Jennifer Cohn. 

Related: National-level actions found to be effective at tackling antibiotic resistance – Medical Xpress GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
China is redoubling its claim that COVID-19 may have originated in the U.S., in a white paper about its own pandemic response released this week, following the Trump administration’s launch of a website that blames the pandemic on a lab leak in China. Reuters

Sierra Leone has launched a widespread mpox vaccination campaign as cases of the virus surge; the country has confirmed 763 cases, with 177 recorded in a two-day period last week. The Telegraph

Depression, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions could be linked to the body’s immune response, new research published in Molecular Psychiatry finds; the data could help in developing a range of more effective treatments, researchers say. Medical Xpress

Nicotine pouch usage nearly doubled among U.S. highschoolers between 2023–2024, per new research published in JAMA Network Open, which analyzed surveys of 10,000+ teens; the findings signal a “growing public health issue,” per the study’s lead author. News Medical CLIMATE Funding ‘Megafarms,’ Despite Pollution 
The U.K. government has subsidized industrial-scale poultry farms, despite growing alarm over the farms’ contribution to “spiraling” air and water pollution in the regions where they operate. 

Background: The “megafarms,” which can hold up to a million birds, have proliferated in the region near the Wye and Severn rivers. Already, the farms have been tied to pollution in the River Wye.  

Outcry over subsidies: At least £14m of public funds have been paid out over three years to poultry farm operators—a move that environmental advocates say undermines other ecological policies. 

• The funding exposes “any pretense of practicing effective environmental regulation in this country,” said Charles Watson, chairman of NGO River Action. 

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HIV/AIDS Newly Vulnerable on the Road
Truck drivers who travel between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo relied on a network of mobile community health workers to help deliver critical HIV medication while on the road. 

That network has broken down following U.S. cuts to foreign aid, leading to closures of clinics and HIV programs—and leaving truck drivers without access to their HIV medication. 

High risk: Long-haul truck drivers are nearly 6X as likely as the general adult population to be HIV positive, per a study published last year in BMJ Open.

Also vulnerable: Sex workers, who rely on the same health networks for HIV medication and PreP.

NPR Goats and Soda ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Heavy Caw-petition
If it looks like a gull, sounds like a gull, and dresses like a gull … itʼs probably a contestant in the European Gull Screeching Contest.

This past weekend, 70 participants from 13 countries descended on the Belgian coastal town of De Panne for the squawk-off designed to rehabilitate the reputation of the oft-maligned coastal birds, CNN reports.

• Seagull Boy, who GHN celebrated last year, took home a second victory in the youth category, BBC reports. 

• Newcomer Anna Brynald beaked out a victory in the adult category and captured our hearts with her sympatico with the seabirds. After all, both Anna and the gulls are misunderstood, and love fries, CBC reports.

The appreciation may not be mutual. “I worked with the seagulls. I went to the beach and I looked at many seagulls … And I screeched at them, but they became scared of me,” she said.

Ironically, a sense of nihilism keeps Brynald motivated: “If there isn't any meaning in life, that means I can do literally everything I want. I can make seagull sounds, because I don't care.” QUICK HITS Israeli wildfires could threaten Jerusalem, prime minister says – The Washington Post (gift link)

A WHO Director on the Future of Polio Eradication – Think Global Health

Wegovy Can Treat a Dangerous Liver Disease, Study Finds – The New York Times (gift link)

Diabetes deaths fall to lowest levels in years, in early CDC figures – CBS News

Myanmar earthquake one-month on: needs remain massive – IFRC (news release)

Indonesians are flourishing. People in the UK, Germany, and Spain? Not so much, global survey finds – Euronews

Indian Summit Showcases Solar and Innovative Cooling Methods as Pressure Mounts for Immediate Climate Solutions – Health Policy Watch 

Human Evolution Traded Fur for Sweat Glands—and Now, Our Wounds Take Longer to Heal Than Those of Other Mammals – Smithsonian Magazine Issue No. 2718
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: Climate Report Frozen; Phthalates May Contribute to Heart Disease; and The Human Toll of Meta Moderation View this email in your browser April 30, 2025 Forward Share Post A view of a flipped tractor trailer in Asheville, North Carolina, after heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Helene. September 30, 2024. Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Climate Report Frozen
Scientists working on the U.S.’s flagship climate report were dismissed this week by the Trump administration, which researchers say could impede critical planning and mitigation efforts at the national and community level, reports NPR.

The National Climate Assessment, mandated by Congress and produced by ~400 volunteer authors, is a comprehensive source of information about how climate change affects the U.S.—from how quickly sea levels are rising near cities to how to cope with wildfire smoke exposure.

The report covers public health impacts and recommendations for addressing them, including planning for extreme heat in urban areas and bolstering food and water security. 

• “If I care about food or water or transportation or insurance or my health, this is what climate change means to me,” Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told The New York Times (gift link).

Mounting toll: The past 10 years have been the hottest on record, and last year alone, the U.S. experienced 27 weather and climate-related disasters costing the country $185 billion, reports the Los Angeles Times.

What’s next? The Trump administration said the scope of the report “is currently being reevaluated.” Researchers worry that a report that downplays risks or contradicts climate science could be published instead, reports Grist. 

Related: 

UK is not ready for coming climate ‘disaster,’ government advisers warn – The Independent

Trump’s first 100 days: US walks away from global climate action – Climate Home News

From subs to bases, "climate change crap" has consequences for U.S. military – Axios GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners  

One HPV vaccine dose provides similar protection to two doses in preventing infection, per data from an efficacy trial involving 20,000 girls, presented ahead of the June meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MedPage Today (free registration required)

Florida is poised to ban fluoride in public drinking water after state lawmakers approved the measure Tuesday; the bill now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose administration has supported ending fluoridation despite warnings from dentists and public health advocates. AP

In an Alzheimer’s breakthrough, U.K. scientists have used living human brain tissue to mimic the early stages of the disease, exposing healthy brain tissue from NHS patients to a toxic form of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s to demonstrate damage to brain cell connections in real time. The Guardian

Low emission zones in London significantly reduced harmful pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, per a new study that documented measurable public health and economic benefits, including an 18.5% drop in sick leave, following LEZ implementation. University of Bath via ScienceDaily

U.S. Health and Science Policy News CDC reinstates workers who screen coal miners for black lung disease – The Washington Post (gift link)

Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows – The New York Times (gift link)

Exclusive: In conversation with FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary – Inside Medicine

RFK Jr.'s not-so-secret weapon: the moms – Axios

Here's how the Trump administration has changed health policy in its first 100 days – NPR’s Short Wave (audio) ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Phthalates May Contribute to Heart Disease
Daily exposure to di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), a chemical used to make household plastic items, could be linked to more than 10% of all global mortality from heart disease in 2018, a new analysis of population surveys published in eBioMedicine shows.

While DEHP is used globally, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East saw a much larger share of the more than 365,000 global deaths than other populations—nearly half the total.

• India had the highest death count at 39,677 deaths, followed by Pakistan and Egypt.

Consistent contact with DEHP has been shown to cause inflammation in the heart's arteries, which, over time, is associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

The study’s authors say the resulting economic burden from the deaths was ~$510 billion.

Medical Xpress GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES MENTAL HEALTH The Human Toll of Meta Moderation
The people tasked with sifting through the most disturbing images flagged on Facebook and Instagram are underpaid and work in grueling conditions, a new report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds. 

Background: Meta keeps the identities of its content-moderation subcontractors a closely guarded secret, but TBIJ identified one as a French multinational company, Teleperformance, which operates out of Accra, Ghana. 

The toll: Moderators say they are held to strict performance targets, work under surveillance, and receive no psychological support for the difficult work, which involves reviewing images of extreme violence and abuse. 

• As a result, many are coping with depression and substance abuse; some have even attempted suicide. 

TBIJ

Related: How to keep violent porn out of your home and away from your kids – NPR OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Plague of rats and insects provide latest challenge for war-shattered Gazans – UN News

The Disappeared: Mexico’s Industrial-Scale Human Rights Crisis – IPS (commentary)

Winnie Byanyimax: Three ways to help the developing world survive the end of aid – The Guardian (commentary)

More and more older Americans want to know their Alzheimer's status, survey finds – NPR Shots

Top ten research priorities in global burns care: findings from the James Lind Alliance Global Burns Research Priority Setting Partnership – The Lancet Global Health

COVID vaccine works faster with both doses in the same arm – Nature 

‘Smart insoles’ could help diagnose dementia, other health problems – The Washington Post (gift link) Issue No. 2717
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: Peru’s Illegal Mining Surges… and Destroys; Autism Database Debate; and The Lingering Legacy of Agent Orange View this email in your browser April 29, 2025 Forward Share Post GHN EXCLUSIVE REPORT Illegal gold mining in Peru’s Madre de Dios department has destroyed an average of 21,000 hectares of rainforest per year. May 31, 2024. Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Peru’s Illegal Mining Surges… and Destroys  
LIMA, Peru—Soaring gold prices and plunging U.S. government funds are pushing Peru’s southeastern jungle into a public health crisis.

• A longtime problem in the department of Madre de Dios, which borders Bolivia and Brazil, illegal mining is booming as gold prices top $3,000 per ounce.


• The gold rush requires a massive influx of workers and large amounts of mercury, which is used to extract gold from ore.

The result: Destroyed forests, mercury poisoning, and fast-spreading infectious diseases, says Juan Pablo Murillo, an infectious disease specialist with the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
 
U.S. cuts: Canceled U.S.-supported projects had reforested devastated areas, traced how mercury poisoned people, and worked with communities on ways to avoid fish species with the highest mercury levels, says tropical ecologist Luis Fernández, who directs Wake Forest University’s Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation.

The Quote: “We need to understand much more about [mercury’s] impact because it is so contaminating,” says Eusebio Ríos, a leader of the Harakmbut Indigenous people. “It is a silent threat because you do not see it. We are consuming it without knowing it or how it will affect us in the future.”

Ed Note: This article was produced in collaboration with Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine and is the first in a series that examines front-line impacts of cuts in U.S. funding. READ THE FULL STORY BY LUCIEN CHAUVIN GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Measles is surging in Europe and the Americas; the ECDC reports a 10-fold rise in Europe—with 87% of the cases in Romania—between 2023 and 2024, and the WHO reports an 11-fold increase in the Americas so far this year compared to the same period last year, with all related deaths (3) and the highest case count (900) in the U.S. CIDRAP

130+ pregnant women, new mothers, and children who fled Haiti to seek health care in the Dominican Republic were rounded up in hospitals and deported as part of a new crackdown on undocumented migrants. The Guardian

100 days into the Trump administration, 44% of Americans say they expect to lose trust in public health under new leadership, compared with 28% expecting greater trust, per a new poll of 3,000+ Americans that reflects a partisan divide, with 76% of Democrats reporting waning trust, and 57% of Republicans expressing more optimism. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and de Beaumont Foundation

The FDA confirmed yesterday that it will require Novavax to run a new clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine, which was previously updated annually to target current strains without the need for new clinical trials, prompting concern from former health officials that it’s part of an effort to weaken vaccine efforts. NBC U.S. Health Cuts and Policy News ‘No one can do what America does’: Sudanese refugees bear the brunt as US aid dries up – The Telegraph

Will US science survive Trump 2.0? – Nature

Reproductive health groups, ACLU sue Trump administration for withholding family planning grants – Fierce Health Care

Health of mothers and children at risk from loss of CDC data program, expert says – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

How this Limpopo NGO prepared itself for Trump funding cuts – Bhekisisa AUTISM Database Debate
Autism advocates and health privacy experts are raising concerns after the Trump administration announced plans to pursue wide-scale data collection in an effort to expedite autism research, reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

Pivot from initial plan: The administration initially announced it would create a new registry of people with autism, but retreated from the plan after intense backlash and privacy concerns.

• Still, the administration plans to collect and consolidate autism-related data, combining federal health data, medical records, insurance claims, and readouts from wearable devices to create a “real-world data platform,” reports Axios. 

Reactions: While some scientists have long pushed for a more comprehensive data source to improve research and treatments, others say it could lead to cherrypicking data to promote the view that vaccines cause autism. 

• Some health providers are reporting an uptick in patient requests to remove personal information from charts over privacy concerns. 

Related:

A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative – NPR

‘This Is Not How We Do Science, Ever’ – The Atlantic

Fact-checking RFK Jr.’s claim that environmental toxins cause autism – PBS NewsHour

These autistic people struggled to make sense of others. Then they found AI. – The Washington Post (gift link) DATA POINT CONFLICT The Lingering Legacy of Agent Orange
The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago, but the fallout from the Agent Orange supply used in the country by U.S. troops continues to affect new Vietnamese generations.

• At Da Nang, the site of a U.S. air base, soil remains highly toxic, with dangerous chemicals like dioxin leaching into food and water supplies. 

The toll: Today, ~3 million people, including many children, still suffer serious health issues associated with exposure, ranging from cancer to birth defects. 

Clean-up in jeopardy: Vietnam continues decades-long, painstaking remediation efforts, but U.S. funds allocated for the effort have been called into question with the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid. 

AP GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES QUICK HITS Climate change could increase global levels of antimicrobial resistance, study finds – CIDRAP 

U.S. maternal deaths doubled during COVID-19 pandemic, among other findings in new study – Brown University

The Disaster of School Closures Should Have Been Foreseen – The Atlantic

Eliminating Malaria in ASEAN: Lessons From Egypt – Think Global Health (commentary)

As a diversity grant dies, young scientists fear it will haunt their careers – NPR Shots

Weight loss pills could help tackle obesity in poorer countries, experts say – The Guardian

He had 2 months to live. Cancer research "that seemed like science fiction" saved his life. – CBS Thanks for the tip, Chiara Jaffe!

How bugs and beet juice could play roles in the race to replace artificial dyes in food – AP Issue No. 2716
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: Gaza Aid at a ‘Breaking Point’; The Struggle for Inclusive Care in Nigeria and Kenya; and Japan’s Regenerative Medicine Revolution View this email in your browser April 28, 2025 Forward Share Post Palestinians, mostly children, wait in long lines for food aid distributed by charity organizations at Nuseirat Refugee Camp, near Deir al-Balah, Gaza. April 28. Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Gaza Aid at a ‘Breaking Point’ 
  Food and medical aid are nearing total collapse in Gaza, as a blockade by Israel stretches into a second month, humanitarian groups are warning. The increasingly dire alerts come as hearings begin at the UN's top court in The Hague, with a Palestinian envoy accusing Israel of destroying the “fundamentals of life in Palestine,” reports The Guardian.

International hearings begin: In The Hague, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of breaching international law by blocking critical aid, attacking aid workers, and displacing citizens, reports the AP.

• Israel has criticized the case as “systematic persecution and delegitimization” and denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff. The court will likely take months to rule.

‘Brink of catastrophe’: Aid groups say that food and critical supplies are nearly out and that essential bakeries and kitchens have shuttered across the enclave, per another report by The Guardian.

• The World Food Programme announced last week its stocks in Gaza are depleted, saying that since the ceasefire, conditions have “once again reached a breaking point,” per UN News. 

Meanwhile, pregnant women face growing dangers in Gaza, with miscarriages, premature births, complications, and deaths in childbirth all rising, per another report by the AP.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
Yellow fever poses a growing threat in the Asia-Pacific region due to expanded mosquito habitats, accelerated urbanization, and increased international travel, a new study published in npj Viruses posits. News Medical

Uganda declared the end of its Ebola outbreak last Friday, with the last patient discharged March 14; ring vaccination, Remdesivir treatment, and border health measures were among the components of the country’s “fast, coordinated, and effective response.” WHO

Mpox cases have declined in Africa over the past six weeks due to an “intensification” of public health measures including increased surveillance and contact tracing, Africa CDC officials said last week; however, 17 of 24 countries still report active transmission, and the virus continues to show up in new countries. CIDRAP

The Trump administration is restoring funding to a major NIH-led women’s health research study; the reversal of last week’s defunding decision drew relief from scientists involved in the decades-long project, though they said they haven’t yet received official confirmation. Axios U.S. and Global Health Cuts and Policy News: WHO, WFP announce cuts and layoffs after US withholds funding – Semafor

Aid groups are erasing climate change from their websites – The New Humanitarian

Health program for 9/11 illnesses faces uncertain future after federal staffing cuts – NBC

USDA withdraws a plan to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry – AP

Researcher of 1918 flu virus takes over NIAID – Science

Trump-appointed National Science Foundation leader resigns – Politico INCLUSION The Struggle for Inclusive Care in Nigeria and Kenya 
Despite Nigeria’s and Kenya’s commitment to health care accessibility for people with disabilities and national laws for inclusive health care, these rights have not been fully realized, and many of those affected are not aware of their primary care rights.

• 17% of Nigeria’s population, or 35 million people, have disabilities.


• 57% of the 6 million people with disabilities in Kenya are women.

Overlooked: While both Nigeria and Kenya allow at least one disabled person to sit on committees for community health, accessibility is often neglected. It is often difficult to confirm if people with disabilities sit on some committees, and some say their abilities are frequently underestimated. 

Nigeria Health Watch

Related:

Disability Protection Groups in Two States Pause Services After Missing Federal Funds – Mother Jones

Supreme Court to hear school disability discrimination case – NPR GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Japan’s Regenerative Medicine Revolution 
Across Japan, biotechnology labs are proliferating as the country’s government continues to bet big on the future of regenerative medicine. 

Background: In 2006, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that adult cells could be reprogrammed into an embryonic-like state known as induced pluripotent stem cells (or iPS cells), allowing them to become any kind of tissue, from retinas to cardiac muscle. 

Since then, the Japanese government has poured $760 million (110 billion yen) into regenerative medicine development.

•  Of the 60+ iPS-cell clinical trials worldwide, nearly one-third are in Japan.

Now, Japan is on the cusp of becoming the first country to approve iPS-cell-based treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s. 

Nature OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Sudan war: People eating charcoal and leaves to survive, aid agency warns – BBC

‘Killer Robots’ Threaten Human Rights During War, Peace: Urgent Need for Treaty on Autonomous Weapon Systems – Human Rights Watch

More US adults willing to receive mpox vaccine now than in 2022 – CIDRAP

HMC launches first clinical study to help shisha smokers quit – Doha News 

WHO issues new recommendations to end the rise in “medicalized” female genital mutilation and support survivors – WHO

Huge reproducibility project fails to validate dozens of biomedical studies – Nature

Whooping cough cases are rising again in the US – AP

Angie Murimirwa: From hiding in the bathroom to Time's most influential people list – NPR Goats and Soda Issue No. 2715
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: Global Vaccinations in Jeopardy; Kenya’s Push to Improve HIV Testing During Pregnancy; and Run, Run, Robots! UN: Global aid funding cuts upend vaccination efforts almost as much as the pandemic did View this email in your browser April 24, 2025 Forward Share Post A child receives a vaccination from a health care worker during national vaccination day in Vianí, Colombia, on September 25, 2021. Yair Suarez Salazar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Global Vaccinations in Jeopardy
Vaccine-preventable diseases are thriving in a global environment of health funding cuts, misinformation, and humanitarian crises, UN agencies and others are warning during World Immunization Week.

• The UN reports that global aid funding cuts are upending vaccination efforts almost as much as the pandemic did, per Reuters.

• The cuts are “severely limiting” UNICEF’s efforts to vaccinate 15 million children against measles.

Latest cut: The Global Vaccine Data Network, which has done the largest safety studies of COVID-19 vaccines, was terminated 13 months short of its end date by the U.S., The Guardian reports.
 
Disease updates:

• Measles cases topped 10.3 million cases in 2023, a 20% surge over the previous year, WHO notes.

• 5,500 cases of meningitis have been reported in 22 countries in the first three months of 2025.

• WHO’s Americas region has seen 131 cases of yellow fever in four countries already this year.

Mood update: The World Vaccine Congress is meeting this week in Washington, D.C., in a “political environment [that] has perhaps never been more fraught for attendees,” Politico reports.
 
The Quote: “Vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past five decades,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Funding cuts to global health have put these hard-won gains in jeopardy.” GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
Nearly a third of antibiotics consumed by people end up in rivers, per a PNAS modeling study from McGill University and One Health Trust researchers that estimates the distribution of chemical pollutants from untreated wastewater and wastewater treatment plants. CIDRAP
 
AI models outperformed PhD-level virologists in lab problem-solving, reveals a study from MIT’s Media Lab, Brazil’s UFABC, and other groups, raising fears that non-experts could weaponize AI models to create bioweapons. TIME
 
A trial of 21 adults with peanut allergy offers evidence that the same micro-dosing approach approved in the U.S. for children with the allergy could work for adults as well, according to early-stage trial results published in Allergy. NewScientist (free registration required)
 
The Research Council of Norway launched a 100 million kroner ($9.6 million) fund to attract top U.S. researchers yesterday, in response to the escalating pressure on academic freedom in America; the council will issue a call for proposals next month focused on topics including climate, health, energy, and AI. The Guardian MATERNAL HEALTH Pregnant Women 2X Likelier to Die in Abortion-Ban States  
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, pregnant people living in states with abortion bans were nearly twice as likely to suffer pregnancy-related deaths compared to their counterparts in states without restrictions, per a new Gender Policy Equity Institute study.

• Black women face the highest risk and are 3.3X more likely to die than white women in states with bans. 

• Maternal mortality fell 21% in states that preserved abortion access post-Dobbs. 

Risky waits: Abortion bans do offer narrow exceptions if a mother's life is in danger, but confusing language leaves many providers unable to intervene until a patient is approaching death. 
 
The 19th GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HIV/AIDS Kenya’s Push to Improve HIV Testing During Pregnancy 
A high number of women in Kenya who are missing HIV screenings during pregnancy is contributing to a persistently high number of babies with the virus, researchers say. 

A closer look: In 2023, 200,000+ pregnant women missed HIV screenings—“a major challenge to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV,” said Joab Khasewa, an officer with the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council, which conducted the research. 

• That same year, 3,742 babies contracted the virus—7.3% of all births by women with HIV. The council says that rate needs to be brought below 5%. 

Power of preventative screening: Early screening and antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive pregnant women can lower the risk of transmission from mother to baby to less than 5%. 

The Star ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Run, Run, Robots!  
Thereʼs long been concerns that robots could one day replace humans. But when it comes to running, weʼre still beating the bots. 

Running side-by-side half-marathons in Beijing recently, the fastest human beat the fastest humanoid robot by well over an hour. Of 21 robot competitors, only six finished the race, The Guardian reports.  
 
But rather than showcasing the limits of their development … their struggles in the race only underscore how very human robots have become.
 
Like so many whoʼve tried to take up running, many were “falling, trembling and struggling to stay upright,” according to the South China Morning Post. One “walked a short distance and fell,” Asia Times reports. Another overheated and needed water to cool down.
 
And, as in the human world, some are just annoyingly good athletes. One robot that was “more like a gymnast” also turned out to be a great runner.
 
Given all that androids have learned from us, thereʼs some traits weʼd happily take from them. Like the ability to swap out a battery to regain our strength. Or to keep running when our head falls off. QUICK HITS In China, trade war with U.S. taking a toll on research labs – Science

WHO launches new guidelines to tackle adolescent pregnancy and related health complications – News-Medical

Bowel cancer in young people is on the rise. Childhood toxin exposure could be the cause – The Independent

Studies zoom in on clues to why Lyme disease persists and which antibiotic to prescribe – STAT

US fertility rate hovers near record low as Trump administration pushes for a baby boom – CNN

2025 State of the Air report: 46% of Americans breathe polluted, unhealthy air – Healio

Superbug-fighting paint promises cleaner hospitals and safer public spaces – Phys.org Issue No. 2714
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 and the ‘Malleable Middleʼ; New Efforts to Boost Turkey's Birth Rate; and Science Cuts Leave Researchers Looking Abroad View this email in your browser April 23, 2025 Forward Share Post A measles vaccinations information booth offered by Harris Public Health on April 5, in Houston, Texas. Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty The Rise of Measles, Misinformation, and the ‘Malleable Middleʼ  
As measles cases climb across the U.S., Americans are encountering pervasive false claims about the disease and its vaccine—and many are unsure what to believe, according to a KFF poll taken earlier this month.
 
The poll examined false claims that:

• Autism is linked to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.


• The MMR vaccine is more dangerous than measles.


• Vitamin A can prevent measles infections.

It found that at least half of Americans fall into the “malleable middle” when it comes to measles misinformation, describing each of these claims as “probably true” or “probably false,” The Washington Post reports (gift link).
 
Other key findings:

• Despite rising misinformation, 78% of parents expressed confidence in the safety of the MMR vaccine.


• Parents who believed or were open to believing measles misinformation were more likely to delay or forgo vaccines for their children.


• Republicans and independents were at least twice as likely as Democrats to believe or lean toward believing the false claims. 

Growing outbreak: As U.S. measles cases top 800 nationwide, CDC officials now view cases across Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico as a single outbreak, making it the countryʼs largest since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, The New York Times reports (gift link).
 
But amid deep cuts to local public health funding, the agency is “scraping to find the resources” to support states that are fighting outbreaks, said CDC senior scientist David Sugerman.

Related:

Montana has a measles outbreak with its first cases in 35 years. Here’s what you should know – AP

Track the spread of measles in Texas – Texas Tribune GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Dialysis patients in Gaza are struggling to get treatment under the blockade; Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 400+ patients, representing around 40% of all dialysis cases in the territory, have died over the last 18 months because of lack of proper treatment. AP

U.S. health officials announced plans to urge food makers to phase out petroleum-based artificial colors by the end of 2026—but stopped short of promising a formal ban, largely relying on voluntary efforts from the industry. ABC
 
The NIH has canceled the Women’s Health Initiative—its first and largest project centered on women’s health, which enrolled tens of thousands in clinical trials of hormones and other medications and tracked the health of thousands more over three decades, yielding influential findings on disease prevention, aging, and cognitive decline. Science

Teenagers who went to bed earliest, slept the longest, and had the lowest sleeping heart rates outperformed others on cognitive tests, per a study of 3,222 adolescents in China; researchers found the impact of even small differences in sleep “surprising.” The Guardian DEMOGRAPHICS A New Effort to Boost Turkey's Birth Rate
Turkey’s government has announced a raft of incentives designed to boost the nation’s flagging birth rate, reports The New Arab. 

The “Year of the Family” initiative includes:

• Financial support based on a household’s number of children.


• More flexible work policies, expanded childcare services, housing support, and enhanced medical services. 

The measures are a response to demographic shifts that could have major social and economic consequences: 

• Turkey’s fertility rates have fallen from 2.38 children per woman in 2001 to 1.51 today, “well below” the 2.1 replacement rate. 


• People are marrying and starting families later in life as living costs rise. 


• The country’s older population has reached 10% for the first time, and the median age is now 34.

Meanwhile: Turkey has banned elective c-sections at private health facilities without a medical justification. The move has “sparked fury” from women’s rights groups, doctors, and politicians, reports AFP via France24. 

Related: The push for women to have more children has a powerful ally: Trump – Axios GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES BRAIN DRAIN Researchers Look Abroad Amid Science Cuts
U.S. researchers are seeking careers abroad as the Trump administration cuts science funding and workforce numbers, per an analysis of Nature’s jobs-board data.

Comparing January–March 2025 to the same period last year:

• U.S. scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad–—and views for positions abroad rose by 68% last month compared with March 2024.


• Applications from U.S. scientists seeking careers in Canada rose 41%.

Some European institutions are rolling out a welcome mat—including Aix-Marseille University in France.

The Quote: “We felt it was our duty to do what we could to show scientists there was a little light in the south of France where they could do their research, be a lot freer and where they were wanted,” said Aix-Marseille’s president, Éric Berton.

Nature QUICK HITS HHS Plans to Cut the National Suicide Hotline’s Program for LGBTQ Youth – Mother Jones

‘Taking the Side of Cancer’: The War on Medical Research Is Being Fought Through Contracts – Splinter

New agreement geared toward universal avian flu vaccine – CIDRAP

RFK Jr.’s autism study to amass medical records of many Americans – CBS

Hearing loss in older adults linked to nearly one-third of dementia cases – Medical Xpress

Researchers find immune system proteins involved in severe cases of schistosomiasis – News Medical

The wholegrain revolution! How Denmark changed the diet – and health – of their entire nation – The Guardian Issue No. 2713
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: U.S. Cancer Death Rates Falling; Students Forced to Take Pregnancy Tests; and Promoting Mines, While Undermining Protections View this email in your browser April 22, 2025 Forward Share Post Claudia Tellez, MD, helps Nataly Arboleda off the exam table at the Lurie Cancer Center, in Chicago, on November 2, 2023. Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty U.S. Cancer Death Rates Falling
Cancer death rates in the U.S. decreased steadily from 2001–2021, although rates of new cancer diagnoses have increased for women, according to a new study in the journal Cancer.

Takeaways:

• Cancer death rates decreased by 1.5% per year (2018–2022), representing a slowdown from the previous 2.1% average annual decline.
   
• Cancer incidence rates remained stable from 2013–2021 for men but increased 0.3% per year from 2003–2021 among women.
   
• Cancer incidence in 2020 fell compared to pre-pandemic levels across all demographic groups.

Details:

• Increases in breast cancer among women are likely driven by obesity, alcohol use, and increased age for giving birth for the first time, per CNN.
   
• Racial disparities persist: Black women experience a 40% higher death rate from breast cancer and twice the death rate from uterine cancer, compared with white women.

Pandemic impact: Many Americans postponed cancer screenings for several months in 2020, but there wasn’t a major increase in late-stage diagnoses, which are typically harder to treat, the AP reports.

Late-stage diagnoses in 2021 returned to prepandemic levels for most cancer types.

Meanwhile in the U.K.: Cancer patients are not getting access to lifesaving drugs or clinical trials because of post-Brexit cost increases and red tape, according to The Guardian.
 

Related: Top cancer experts ‘being put off UK by politicians’ messaging on immigration’ – The Guardian

DATA POINT The Latest One-Liners   Réunion health officials are calling for urgent reinforcements to manage a chikungunya virus outbreak on the French Indian Ocean Island—with six deaths and 5,000+ cases since January—that is overwhelming hospitals. France24
 

Intensive efforts to reduce high blood pressure—e.g., through medication and health coaching—could reduce the risk of dementia by 15%, according to a study in Nature Medicine involving 33,995+ people with uncontrolled high blood pressure in 326 villages in rural China. The Guardian
 

Traditional risk models used by regulators likely underestimate air pollution health impacts, per Johns Hopkins University and Aerodyne Research Inc. research, measuring risk of simultaneous exposures to multiple chemicals on different parts of the body—and found increased risks missed by traditional methods. Environmental Health News
 

Health care worker burnout is starting to drop from peak levels at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but remains elevated compared to prepandemic times, per a six-year survey in JAMA Network Open assessing burnout and stress among Veterans Health Administration health care workers. McKnights Long-Term Care News

U.S. Policy and Science Cuts News: NIH moving to ban grants to universities with DEI programs, Israeli boycotts – CNN

New NIH director defends grant cuts as part of shift to support MAHA vision – Science

Trump Laid Off Nearly All the Federal Workers Who Investigate Firefighter Deaths – ProPublica

National Science Foundation cancels research grants related to misinformation and disinformation – Nieman Lab 

Trump Administration's HHS Cuts: Creating Waste And Inefficiency, Not Eliminating Them – Health Affairs (commentary)

Gawande: Federal cuts could mean loss of life, harm to U.S. science enterprise – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (commentary)

As Trump administration champions IVF, it cuts key CDC staff – Axios REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS When Students are Forced to Take Pregnancy Tests
Across east Africa, girls are routinely subjected to pregnancy tests at school—a “humiliating, invasive and potentially unlawful” process that can also result in expulsion if the girls are found to be pregnant, per a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. 

While laws have been updated recently in countries like Uganda and Tanzania to prohibit such tests and expulsions as a violation of children’s rights, a number of schools in those countries continue the practice in breach of national guidelines.  

• “What the teachers did, it was torturing her,” said one Ugandan father, David Wafula, whose pregnant daughter was examined by teachers in front of her classmates. 

Context: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancies of any region in the world, per UN data.
 

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES COAL Promoting Mines, While Undermining Protections
While President Donald Trump has vowed to revitalize and expand coal mining in the U.S., advocates say they are dismayed by the administration’s simultaneous decision to gut the health protections in place for miners, reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

Included in cuts: The federal division that provides free black lung screenings for coal miners fired roughly two-thirds of the staff this month, and there are now no employees left to run the screening program in the agency’s West Virginia office, or analyze x-rays already taken.

• The cut in services could have fatal consequences, a spokesperson for the Mine Workers of America explained to The Guardian: “There’s not going to be anyone to work in the mines you are apparently reopening.” 

Plus: The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has delayed enforcement of a rule imposed last year to limit miners’ exposure to toxic crystalline silica dust—prompting multiple miners’ groups to file litigation against the agency, per Gizmodo. 

QUICK HITS Wave of Earth Day protests as Americans mobilize against Trump – The Guardian 

China's Integrated Policies on Climate Change and Health – Think Global Health (commentary)

Asia’s megacities at a crossroads as climate and population challenges grow – UN News

Vietnam reports H5N1 avian flu case with encephalitis – CIDRAP 

U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to uphold ACA preventive care coverage mandate – AP

The awful working conditions of factories that slaughter bird-flu-infected chickens – Japan Today (commentary)

Why cameras are popping up in eldercare facilities – KFF Health News

Melinda French Gates on what billionaires with 'absurd' wealth owe back to society ​​– NPR’s Fresh Air Issue No. 2712
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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ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US
  Copyright 2025 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. Views and opinions expressed in Global Health NOW do not necessarily reflect those of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health or Johns Hopkins University.


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