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.

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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. -->
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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. -->
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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.

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: 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.

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96 Global Health NOW: COVID-19 Information Page Overhauled; Another Deadly Fireworks Factory Explosion in India; and Adolescent Girls Need Our Support View this email in your browser April 21, 2025 Forward Share Post COVID-19 Information Page Overhauled
Federal websites once used for sharing information on vaccines, testing, and treatments for COVID-19 now focus on the theory that the pandemic originated in a Wuhan lab and criticize the Biden administration’s handling of the pandemic, reports the AP. 

The websites covid.gov and Covidtests.gov redirect to a White House page entitled “Lab Leak: The True Origins of COVID-19,” which includes:

• A five-point breakdown making the case for lab leak origins.


• Accusations that federal officials like former NIAID director Anthony Fauci engaged in “obstruction” of information.


• Criticisms of the Biden administration, the WHO, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for the pandemic response, including masks, lockdowns, and social distancing.

An unsettled question: Some federal agencies have said research supports a spillover event that likely occurred at a Wuhan market, while others say a laboratory accident is possible. Most scientists say key data remains missing, reports NPR Shots.

Scientists react: COVID researchers studying both theories said the new website includes inaccurate, oversimplified, and misleading information, with one virologist describing the page as “pure propaganda.” 

• The overhaul reflects “a broader practice of officials recently scrapping health websites that do not align with their views,” reports The New York Times (gift link). 

Related: 

CDC considers narrowing its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations – CNN via ABC Boston

I Was There: A Public Health Worker's Response to the COVID.gov Rewrite – Infection Control Today (commentary) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Children in Burkina Faso have faced 2,483 documented rights violations amid escalating conflict in the country between 2022 and 2024, a UN report finds; violations include abductions, injuries from explosive devices, and recruitment into armed groups. APA News

Mercury emissions near small-scale gold mines can be measured in wild fig trees’ growth rings, finds a new study in Frontiers in Environmental Science, the first to show hardwoods’ potential as a biomonitor of gaseous elemental mercury. The Washington Post via MSN

Receipt paper from many U.S. retailers contains high levels of bisphenol S, a chemical linked to cancer and reproductive problems; even brief contact with some receipts can result in enough chemical absorption to exceed safety standards laid out in California’s Proposition 65. Environmental Health News

A U.S. attorney has sent letters to at least three medical journals accusing them of political bias and suggesting that the journals mislead readers, in a move scientists and doctors say could have a “chilling effect” on research publications. The New York Times (gift link) U.S. Health and Science Policy News Count the Dead by the Millions – Rolling Stone

Activists pile 200 coffins outside State Department to protest cuts to global AIDS relief – The 19th

‘Ripple effect:’ In US, anti-immigrant policy strains child and eldercare – Al Jazeera

USAID cuts halt Yale-led efforts to build global health infrastructure – Yale Daily News

NIH freezes funds to Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them – Science

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More – ProPublica GHN EXCLUSIVE UPDATE Another Deadly Fireworks Factory Explosion in India
A large fireworks factory explosion in southern India on April 13 killed eight people and injured seven others in Kailasapatnam village in Andhra Pradesh, per The Times of India.

GHN Series: The GHN team learned of the explosion after publishing a two-part series on the dangerous conditions in fireworks factories in the southern Indian city of Sivakasi by freelance journalist Kamala Thiagarajan:

• ‘Invisible Suffering’: Deadly Risks in India’s Fireworks Factories


• Fireworks and Heartbreak in a Hard-Hit Indian Village

Follow-up: Thiagarajan reports that the articles were included in a formal petition last week to an Indian court seeking legal action supporting the victims of fireworks factory explosions.

She also notes that a local charity has contributed to the purchase of a prosthetic leg for factory worker Muthukutti, whose story was shared in the series’ second article. His left leg had to be amputated after a February 12, 2021, explosion at Sree Mariyammal Fireworks Factory near Sivakasi. GHN EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY Wajir girls reading together. 2021. icon (be one) K / Nicholas Oreyo The World’s Adolescent Girls Need Our Support   
As global funding cuts and policy shifts disrupt health and development programs around the world, “teenagers—particularly teenage girls—are especially vulnerable,” write Evalin Karijo and Karen Austrian, who lead the Population Council’s Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning Center.

• The U.S. foreign assistance freeze could deny access to contraceptive care for ~11.7 million women and girls this year—upping the risk of unintended pregnancies and maternal deaths.

“The ripple effects will be devastating,” they say—leading to “more child marriages, school dropouts, and economic hardships that will persist for generations.”

Yet investing in teen girls pays off, making girls more likely to stay in school, secure stable jobs, and contribute to household income. 

• Every dollar invested in adolescent girls’ empowerment in Africa by 2040, a recent report estimates, can generate more than a tenfold return in economic impact.

Karijo and Austrian see a clear pathway to achieving these economic gains. They point to evidence backing a girl-centered approach and offer models, including a program in Kenya that helped girls stay in school and delayed marriage and pregnancy for years after the program’s end. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS Seeking Abortion Training in Mexico
In the years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, more than a dozen U.S. states have banned virtually all abortions, and more than 100 abortion clinics have closed. 

To get training in providing abortions, a small but growing number of providers have sought opportunities in Mexico. 

• In 2023, Fundación MSI trained nine American doctors to perform abortions at Mexican clinics.


• This year, it is on track to train more than 50—and has the capacity to train up to 300 doctors a year, says MSI Latin America’s managing director.

Every abortion ban in the U.S. permits abortions to save a patient’s life. But without adequate training, doctors may not be skilled enough to perform abortions even in those dire circumstances.

The Guardian OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Haiti ‘awash’ with guns leaving population ‘absolutely terrified’ – UN News

Why is tuberculosis, the world's deadliest infectious disease, on the rise in the UK? – Euronews

ACA preventive care case reaches Supreme Court – Axios

What the Newest mRNA Vaccines Could Do Beyond COVID – News Medical

Relieve the suffering: palliative care for the next decade – The Lancet (commentary)

Rapid geographic expansion of local dengue community transmission in Peru – PLOS

Nitrogen-fertilised grassland more likely to trigger hay fever, study suggests – The Telegraph

A horse therapy program in Namibia brings joy to children with learning disabilities – AP Issue No. 2711
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 Health NOW: Fireworks and Heartbreak in an Indian Village; U.S. Administration Seeks Data and Deep Cuts; and Moose See TV “For most people, fireworks mean joy.” View this email in your browser April 17, 2025 Forward Share Post Muthukutti, 23, endured the amputation of his left leg after the 2021 Sree Mariyammal Fireworks Factory explosion outside Sivakasi, India. Kamala Thiagarajan Fireworks and Heartbreak in a Hard-Hit Indian Village  
SIVAKASI, India—Of the 650 families who live in Surangudi village, most have lost either a limb or a loved one to fireworks, says social activist Vijay Kumar.

Tens of thousands of workers in Sivakasi produce 50,000 tons of firecrackers annually—most of India's fireworks.
 
But they also risk deadly fires and explosions in their work. 
 
Deadly blast: A February 12, 2021, explosion killed 27 workers at the Sree Mariyammal Fireworks Factory and injured dozens more.

• Many of the killed and injured were from Surangudi village, including Muthukutti, 23, whose left leg had to be amputated.

• His aunt, Shanmugavadivu, also worked in the factory and had third-degree burns on her chest, stomach, arms, and legs.

Waiting for compensation: While both received $1,160 in compensation from the Tamil Nadu state government, they are still waiting for much larger compensation payments from the factory owners.
 
The Quote: “For most people, fireworks mean joy,” says Kumar, director of the Human Resource Foundation, which aids fireworks factory victims in the Sivakasi area. “But for those whose lives are so closely associated with it, it’s a source of sorrow and heartbreak.”
 
Kamala Thiagarajan for Global Health NOW
 
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 FULL STORY GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
The COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on measles is coming into focus, with a new analysis published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases showing a steady decline in disease incidence over 30 years—but a stark drop in vaccination in 2021. CIDRAP 

The Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab has been approved for use in the EU; however, only a “very small portion” of patients will be eligible for the drug, which is sold under the brand name Leqembi and is authorized in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. DW

Arsenic levels in paddy rice could significantly rise with climate change, finds a new study that showed increased temperatures coupled with rising carbon dioxide levels could lead to higher concentrations of inorganic arsenic in rice, potentially raising lifetime health risks for populations in Asia, where rice is a staple food, by 2050. Phys.org

Limiting PPE to just N95 respirators late in the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore health facilities was effective in keeping staff safe while also lowering costs and curbing medical-related waste, finds a study published in JAMA Network Open. CIDRAP U.S. POLICY Administration Seeks Data and Deep Cuts
As U.S. federal health agencies continue to see seismic shifts under the Trump administration, two key developments reported by The Washington Post give insight into some of the administration’s imminent objectives: 

Deeper health cuts: A preliminary draft of the 2026 fiscal year budget obtained by the Post (gift link) reveals the Trump administration is seeking a $40 billion cut to HHS’s discretionary budget, roughly one-third of the agency’s discretionary spending, and is planning major reorganization and consolidation of agencies within the administration. 

ICE seeks Medicare data: U.S. immigration officials and Elon Musk’s DOGE team are seeking “unprecedented” access to sensitive Medicare databases as a way to track down undocumented immigrants, the Post has found (gift link), despite the fact that undocumented immigrants are barred from Medicare benefits. 

Related:

In the middle of a hepatitis outbreak, U.S. shutters the one CDC lab that could help – NPR

RFK Jr. contradicts CDC on causes of autism – Axios
 
Top NIH nutrition researcher studying ultraprocessed foods departs, citing censorship under Kennedy – CNN

Women, minorities fired in purge of NIH science review boards – The Washington Post

Exclusive: US consumer safety agency to stop collecting swaths of data after CDC cuts – Reuters GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES CAMBODIA Fifty Years After ‘Year Zero’ 
Five decades have now passed since the declaration of “Year Zero,” when Pol Pot and the brutal Khmer Rouge regime seized power in Cambodia. 

• From 1975 to 1979, 2 million+ people were killed in a wave of racial genocide, widespread famine, forced labor, and executions.

Those atrocities continue to shape Cambodian life today, writes Sophal Ear in a commentary for The Conversation: “It’s etched into every Cambodian’s bones.”

A legacy of trauma: Research has found elevated rates of PTSD among survivors and their descendants. 

Ongoing need for justice: While a tribunal convicted three Khmer Rouge senior leaders for crimes against humanity in 2018, per the International Bar Association, critics say many key perpetrators were never held to account. 

The next generation: The majority of Cambodia’s population is under 30—“with no more than an inkling” of the genocide, leading survivors to start a storytelling initiative, reports AFP via France24. 

Related: 

Unsung No More, Cambodia’s Malaria Hero – USAID via Medium (from August 2024) 

Q&A: Patrick Heuveline on the Khmer Rouge’s long-term impact on Cambodia – UCLA Newsroom ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Moose See TV  
Forget high-octane car chases and whodunnit cliffhangers. The real formula for suspense TV? Not knowing when a moose might show up.
 
The megahit Swedish TV show “Den stora älgvandringen” (“The Great Elk Trek”) began airing this Tuesday, serving up a must-see livestream of mostly nature scenery, occasionally punctuated by moose crossing the Ångerman River.
 
More than binge-worthy, some fans canʼt seem to focus on anything else. But how does one consume 20 days of round-the-clock content? By rearranging their entire lives.

• Kids are missing school during the migration. And “Sleep? Forget it. I don’t sleep,” said one viewer.  

The “slow TV” sensation is stress-relieving even for those who work on it—but itʼs complicated, said superfan William Garp Liljefors.
 
“I feel relaxed, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s a moose. Oh, what if there’s a moose? I can’t go to the toilet!’”
 
AP QUICK HITS Haiti: Escalating Violence Puts Population at Grave Risk –  Human Rights Watch

Colombia declares health emergency after dozens die of yellow fever – BBC

Rising temperatures could cancel most outdoor school sports in summer by 2060s – Japan Times

Reconsidering Ebola virus nomenclature: a call for a stigma-free and precise terminology – The Lancet (commentary)

CDC advisors broaden RSV vaccine recommendations to at-risk adults in their 50s – Endpoints News

Immune system proteins involved in severe parasitic disease identified – Medical Xpress

What impact will driving at 17 have on road safety? –  Euronews

AI-boosted cameras help blind people to navigate – Nature Issue No. 2710
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: Pandemic Agreement Reached; A Brain Bank Hangs in the Balance; and Spore-Driven Threats 190 countries agree to working draft of global pandemic treaty View this email in your browser April 16, 2025 Forward Share Post Pandemic agreement negotiations co-chair Anne-Claire Amprou and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after a consensus on the pandemic treaty at the WHO headquarters, Geneva, on April 16. Christopher Black/WHO/AFP via Getty Pandemic Agreement Reached 
Around 2 a.m. today at the WHO’s Geneva headquarters—after 3+ years of back-and-forth between 190 countries—the 32-page working draft of a global pandemic treaty was finally highlighted in one color: green. 

“It's adopted,” negotiations co-chair Anne-Claire Amprou said, “to thundering applause,” reports France24. 

The approved pact sets guidelines for international collaboration in a future global health crisis, and is a victory for the WHO at a moment of geopolitical upheaval, reports the AP. 

• The agreement signals that “in our divided world, nations can still work together to find common ground and a shared response,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Key provisions include giving the WHO an overview of global medical supply chains; compelling manufacturers to allocate medical supplies to the WHO during a pandemic; and paving the way for more local vaccine and drug production, reports Reuters.

Final sticking points related to the technology transfer clause, which governs how drug and vaccine manufacturers share information and tools for medicine and vaccine production. 

• Such information will be shared on a “mutually agreed upon” rather than mandatory basis, per Euronews. 

Still being ironed out: the creation of a new pathogen access and benefit sharing system—in which countries would share pathogen samples with drugmakers in return for access to vaccines and medicine.

Notably absent: The U.S., which was barred from participating following President Trump’s January decision to withdraw from the WHO, and which is not expected to sign the treaty.

What’s next: Final adoption is pending approval by the World Health Assembly in May. 

Related: WHO tests pandemic response with Arctic ‘mammothpox’ outbreak – The Telegraph GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law, a landmark decision following years of debate that could have significant implications for how sex-based rights and services apply across Scotland, England, and Wales. BBC

A new antibiotic is effective against gonorrhea, finds a new study published in The Lancet; if approved, it could become the first new class of antibiotic for the STI in 20+ years—a key tool as antibiotic resistance grows. NBC News

Children’s mattresses can emit toxic chemicals linked with developmental and hormonal disorders, two new studies have found; high levels of chemicals like phthalates and flame retardants were found near children’s beds, found a study published in Environmental Science & Technology, and a companion study identified mattresses as a key source of exposure. CNN

The autism diagnosis rate among U.S. 8-year-olds increased from 1 in 36 in 2020 to 1 in 31 in 2022, a new CDC report shows; rates among boys remained higher than among girls, and, as in 2020, were higher among Asian, Black, and Hispanic children than among white children. CNN ALZHEIMERʼS A Brain Bank Hangs in the Balance
An NIH funding pause has disrupted one of the most expansive Alzheimer’s research programs in the U.S., with researchers especially worried about the fate of 4,000 donated brains being preserved for research. 

• The Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Washington—one of the public universities hardest hit by the freeze—is home to a range of decades-long studies, including one following 450 people until death.

A critical hub: The brain bank, which provided researchers with ~11,000 tissue samples last year alone, requires special facilities and staffing. 

• Even the temporary pause could upend long-term trials, therapy pipelines, and current patient care, researchers say. 

NBC

Related: As dementia rates increase, experts warn hospital emergency rooms are underprepared – AP GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES FUNGAL INFECTIONS Spore-Driven Threats
In the wake of the WHO’s warning of the need for more treatments and diagnostics for fungal pathogens, scientists are laying out evidence of a growing fungal threat:

• Perennial maladies like vaginal yeast infections and athlete’s foot are getting harder to treat, and antifungal-resistant pathogens like Candida auris have become a “silent pandemic” in hospitals.

• Invasive fungal infections are killing ~2.5 million people each year—twice the global fatalities of tuberculosis.

Because of global warming, more fungi are adapting to temperatures that could lead to invasive infections in humans. 

• It also means an increase in disruptive weather events like dust storms, which lead to the spread of spore-driven diseases like Valley fever. 

The Telegraph QUICK HITS After delays, first vaccine advisory meeting under RFK Jr. is underway – NPR Shots

5% of US cancers may be caused by medical imaging radiation – DW 

Emergency rooms treat a gunshot wound every half-hour – UPI

Oropouche virus ‘massively underdiagnosed’ in Latin America, new study suggests – The Telegraph

Paris air pollution is down 50% after its radical bike-friendly transformation – Fast Company

We’re on the verge of a universal allergy cure – Vox

Africa needs innovative financing solutions to prevent health systems from collapsing, say experts – Semafor (commentary) Thanks for the tip, Dave Cundiff!

Exclusive: the most-cited papers of the twenty-first century – Nature Issue No. 2709
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: Deadly Risks in India’s Fireworks Factories; Keeping Warm Can Be Toxic in Mongolia; and An Extra Coat of Coolness in Cape Town View this email in your browser April 15, 2025 Forward Share Post Millions of Indians celebrate the Diwali Festival with fireworks—without realizing the dangerous conditions factory workers in Sivakasi endure. Gurugram, India, October 31, 2024. Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty ‘Invisible Suffering’: Deadly Risks In India’s Fireworks Factories
SIVAKASI, India—The explosion shook the ground beneath the fireworks factory and threw him into the air.

The February 19 blast broke bones in both his legs and broke his right arm. His face is covered in scars from third-degree burns, and both his eyes have been badly damaged.

“I couldn’t see anything but darkness, and I couldn’t open my eyes,” Palpandey, 31, said from his hospital room days after the explosion. “I’ve never felt fear like that in my life.”

Fireworks’ Toll:

• Explosions like the one at Neerathilingam Fireworks are not uncommon in this city in Southern India that produces nearly 90% of the country’s fireworks and employs tens of thousands of workers like Palpandey (who uses only his first name).


• Employers typically pay for injured workers’ initial care, but then workers are often on their own in subsequent months and years.


• A 2023–2024 government report said 91 workers were killed in the most recent year, but only those killed at the site of an explosion are counted—not those who die later.

The Quote: “The suffering of these people who die later is invisible—they don’t show up on government counts of deaths,” says social activist Vijay Kumar.

Kamala Thiagarajan for Global Health NOW

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.

Look for part II of the series tomorrow: “Fireworks and Heartbreak in a Hard-Hit Village.” READ THE FULL STORY GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Denmark could eliminate cervical cancer by 2040, the Danish Cancer Society says, as a national HPV vaccination campaign has brought the rate down to lower than 10 out of 100,000 women; the WHO elimination standard is lower than four per 100,000 women. The Local Denmark

Female genital mutilation is linked to significant long-term health complications, including a 2X+ risk of prolonged or obstructed labor in childbirth and a 4.4 times higher likelihood of experiencing PTSD, per a new study in BMC Public Health that analyzes evidence from ~30 countries. WHO (news release)
 
A group of national organizations representing America’s academic, medical, and independent research institutions announced a joint effort to develop a new indirect costs funding model for federal research grants to submit to the federal government. Association of American Medical Colleges

Participants of a study in Tanzania who were cured of infection with Wuchereria bancrofti worms—which cause lymphatic filariasis—showed a ~60% reduction in HIV infections in a follow-up comparison of two study periods published in The Lancet HIV. German Center for Infection Research (news release) U.S. and Global Health Policy News Trump plan would slash State Dept. funding by nearly half, memo says – The Washington Post (gift link)

Trump eyes huge climate research cuts at NOAA – Axios

Federal government to remove gender dysphoria from protected disabilities list – The 19th

Free US family planning clinics face financial ruin after White House freezes funds – The Guardian

Impact of CDC Hepatitis Lab Closure on US Public Health – Contagion Live

EPA Plans to Stop Collecting Emissions Data From Most Polluters – Undark CLIMATE CHANGE Keeping Warm Is Killing Thousands in Mongolia
Some 7,000 people in Mongolia have died this winter due to air pollution, caused by the coal that provides 70% of the nation’s energy and warms most homes.

Raw coal smoke contains carcinogenic particles, and the briquettes introduced by Mongolia’s government can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

• Citizens regularly suffer from respiratory diseases, liver and lung cancers, asthma, and flu.


• By February, there had been 811 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

The climate crisis has exacerbated Mongolia’s pollution problem, as extreme winters are killing off animals that have supported nomadic herding families, forcing them into cities. 

There they construct gers: circular tents with central stoves that feed out through a chimney in the roof. More than 50% of Mongolia’s population live in gers; each household burns ~50 pounds of coal daily in winter.

The Guardian GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES TECH & INNOVATION An Extra Coat of Coolness in Cape Town
South Africa’s summer sun can quickly make informal dwellings unbearably hot. The homes—often made of corrugated metal sheets and wood—can reach temperatures of 95°F / 35°C during the day, and barely budge at night. 

The heat takes a heavy toll on the millions of South Africans who live in such settlements, preventing sleep and compounding stress. 

A paint-related program aims to bring relief: Researchers are investigating the effect of painting roofs with reflective, UV-resistant paint—which manufacturers say can dramatically reduce temperatures. 

• The study will track buildings’ internal temperatures, and also potential impacts on inhabitants’ sleep and physiology.

The Telegraph OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS A vaccine expert worries child measles deaths are being 'normalized' – NPR’s All Things Considered 

Starved in jail – The New Yorker

'Parkinson's is a man-made disease' – Politico.eu

Stopping gonorrhoea's descent towards untreatability – The Lancet Infectious Diseases (commentary)

Why 3.5 Billion People Lack Basic Oral Care—and What Needs To Change – Health Policy Watch (podcast)

Young Children’s Exposure to Chemicals of Concern in Their Sleeping Environment: An In-Home Study – Environmental Science & Technology

The Fly That Ruined the World Record (A Metaphor for Chagas Disease) – ISGlobal Barcelona Institute for Global Health Blog

Europe deplores America's 'chlorinated chicken.' How safe is our poultry? – NPR Issue No. 2708
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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  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: Health Workers Killed as Sudan Marks 2 Years of Civil War; Ghana Grapples With a Deadly Outbreak; and India’s Global Warming Enigma View this email in your browser April 14, 2025 Forward Share Post People who fled the Zamzam for the internally displaced camp after it fell under RSF control commiserate in a makeshift encampment near the town of Tawila, Sudan. April 13. AFP via Getty Health Workers Killed as Sudan Marks 2 Years of Civil War
The last medical clinic in Sudan’s famine-gripped Zamzam camp in Darfur came under fire this weekend, with Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries killing the entire clinical staff, reports The New York Times (gift link). 

• Nine clinic employees were killed in the attacks, per Relief International, which runs the facility. 


• The broader assault has killed 100+ people, including ~20 children at the camp, home to ~500,000. 

“Death is everywhere,” a camp resident told the BBC. “People are wounded, and there is no medicine or hospital to save them.”

Even before the attacks, conditions at Zamzam camp were “catastrophic,” the UN’s Sudan humanitarian coordinator told UN News. 

The attacks come at the two-year mark of Sudan’s conflict, which has led to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and “suffering of industrial proportions,” per UN officials.

• ~150,000 Sudanese have been killed, and ~13 million have been displaced. There have been 156 confirmed attacks on health, per the WHO.


• ~25 million people now face extreme hunger. And sexual violence is pervasive, reports the AP.

And aid efforts continue to be stymied by both “systematic obstruction” by the warring armies and deep funding cuts, per The New Humanitarian. 

Related: 

Children of war: six orphans’ 1,000-mile journey across Sudan in search of safety – The Guardian

Sudanese Refugees’ Lives at Risk as UNHCR Suspends Medical Help – Egyptian Streets

Sudan needs $2.2 bln for first year of health sector rehab, minister says – Sudan Tribune GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   3 million+ children worldwide died from antimicrobial resistance-related infections in 2022, per new research presented at ESCMID Global 2025 in Vienna; deaths were highest in Southeast Asia and Africa. Clinton Health Access Initiative

New mpox cases are averaging ~3,000 per week in African countries, with Uganda accounting for 50% of those in the past week; the region has received 1 million+ vaccine doses but needs 6.4 million doses over the next six months to slow the virus’s spread. CIDRAP

More than a dozen cases of invasive meningococcal disease, a life-threatening bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis, have been linked to religious pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia amid declining compliance with vaccination requirements over the past two years. WHO

Whooping cough cases have surged 1,500%+ in the U.S. since hitting a low in 2021; there were 10 pertussis-related deaths last year, compared with two to four in previous years. ProPublica Health, Foreign Aid, and Science Cuts USDA’s $1B bird flu plan uses money intended for schools, food banks – Politico

NOAA Scientists Are Cleaning Bathrooms and Reconsidering Lab Experiments After Contracts for Basic Services Expire – ProPublica

Dozens of USAID contracts were canceled last weekend. Here's what happened – NPR Goats and Soda

Why CDC cuts are being called ‘the greatest gift to tobacco industry in the last half-century’ – STAT

After Trump grant cuts, some universities give researchers a lifeline – Science

OCHA, the UN’s emergency aid coordination arm, to cut staff by a fifth – The New Humanitarian

Fearing paper on evolution might get them deported, scientists withdrew it – The Washington Post (gift link)

Hopkins trailblazer scrambles to protect cancer research as Trump cuts hit home – The Baltimore Banner MENINGITIS Ghana Grapples With a Deadly Outbreak
A lethal meningitis outbreak is escalating in Ghana’s Upper West region, upending an already strained health system.

A closer look: 

• The region has reported 200+ cases and ~17 deaths. 


• Ghana is in Africa’s “meningitis belt”—a stretch of 26 countries where dry seasonal winds allow further bacterial spread.

Already overwhelmed: The outbreak comes as Ghana’s health system struggles with understaffed hospitals, supply shortages, and slashed USAID funding.

• Ghana faces a $156 million funding shortfall due to the aid freeze—a major setback to the country’s health programs.


• There is no vaccine for the rare Streptococcus strain causing the outbreak, and officials say economic turmoil means that hopes for developing one have dimmed. 

Pulitzer Center / The World  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES CLIMATE India’s Global Warming Enigma
As India increasingly grapples with punishing heat waves, scientists are puzzling over a strange phenomenon: The country is warming more slowly than many others—amounting to half the global average over the last decade. 

Why? Scientists aren’t sure. But theories include: 

• The shroud of air pollution: India’s air pollution may be reflecting solar radiation, which could help with cooling. 


• Shifting winds: Warming over the Middle East has pulled monsoon winds northward, leading to an increase in extreme rains—and, potentially, cooling. 


• Impact of irrigation: The expansion of irrigation in northern India could also be a factor; as water evaporates, it absorbs heat from the air, reducing warming. 

Scientists say understanding the trend will allow more accurate forecasts and help the country better prepare for future warming.

Science

Related: India races to beat the smog with an electric mobility revolution in Kashmir – The Telegraph OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Somalia: Frontline hospitals under pressure as fighting escalates – ICRC (news release)

Measles outbreaks spark concern over rare 'horrific' neurological disorder – CBC

Africa's Plan to Fill Health Funding Gaps Amidst Declining Coffers – Africa CDC

Tuberculosis could end if there’s more US public health funding, experts say – The Guardian

Educate to Empower: Protecting Reproductive Rights in Texas – O’Neill Institute / Georgetown Law (commentary)

CDC denies Milwaukee's request for help with unsafe lead levels in public schools – CNN

Recent hospital violence fuels effort to create workplace protections – Axios

Dogs could help predict valley fever spread in humans – University of California, Davis via ScienceDaily Issue No. 2707
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
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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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