96 Global Health NOW: TB Services ‘Collapsing’; Demand Grows For Out-Of-State Abortion Care—And So Do Threats; and Germany’s Crusty Cele-bready Drastic U.S. cuts to foreign funding threaten to undo decades of progress in the global fight against tuberculosis View this email in your browser March 6, 2025 Forward Share Post A tuberculous patient takes medicine at Curicica Hospital, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 13, 2019. Stefano Figalo/Brazil Photos/LightRocket via Getty Tuberculosis Services ‘Collapsing’ 
Drastic U.S. cuts to foreign funding threaten to undo decades of progress in the global fight against tuberculosis—and could have “fatal consequences for millions worldwide,” the WHO is warning. 

Historically: The U.S. has been the largest international donor in the anti-TB fight, contributing ~$200-$250 million annually, reports Reuters. 

• USAID funding helped avert ~3.65 million deaths last year alone. 

Hardest hit regions: Programs could be dismantled in ~18 high-burden countries, mostly across Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific, and especially in Africa—where treatment disruptions and program stoppages could “exponentially increase TB transmission rates.”

Fallout: Already, funding constraints are leading to layoffs, supply chain breakdowns, and shuttered surveillance programs in TB-affected areas. 

Lingering limbo: Some organizations like Stop TB have been granted waivers to continue their work; but they do not know when funding will be restored, reports Devex.

• And while the U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Trump administration could not withhold already-owed payments to foreign aid organizations, a timeline on potential restoration of those funds remains unclear, per The Hill. 

Related: Huge Risk Of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis In Wake Of Abrupt US Funding Cuts  – Health Policy Watch GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners
Uganda's Ebola outbreak likely led to the deaths of two additional people, say investigators who have been looking into the death of a 4-year-old boy who died of the Ebola Sudan strain this past week; investigators say the boy’s mother and newborn sibling died a few weeks earlier without being tested. CIDRAP

The forced return of Eritrean refugees from Ethiopia should be condemned by the UN Human Rights Council, urges Amnesty International—which said the “human rights situation of Eritrean refugees remains dire” for the ~600 people forcibly returned to their home country. Addis Standard

Florida regulators are demanding “unusually intrusive” data on millions of prescriptions filled in the last year, including the names of patients taking medications, and doctors they’ve seen—sparking concerns about government overreach. The New York Times (gift link)

Resistance to standard antibiotics such as ampicillin, tetracyclines, and sulfonamides remains high in humans and animals, per a joint summary report issued by European health and food safety officials that includes surveillance data from 33 European countries. Food Safety News U.S. Policy News   US judge bars Trump administration from cutting NIH research funding – Reuters via U.S. News & World Report (free registration required)

CDC Calls Nearly 200 Fired Workers Back, Apologizes for 'Disruption' – Newsweek

US stops sharing air quality data from embassies worldwide. Scientists say that cuts out a vital resource for global health – CNN 

KFF poll reveals support for USAID, misconceptions on aid for global health – CIDRAP  REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Demand Grows For Out-Of-State Abortion Care—And So Do Threats
As more people cross state lines to seek abortion care in the U.S., destination clinics are fighting to keep up the pace, reports USA Today. 

• In Illinois—which borders states with abortion restrictions—clinics have reported a surge of out-of-state patients since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, with one clinic reporting a 3X increase. 

Unsustainable model? Advocates say that even in protective states, the current health infrastructure is under strain—as people have fewer health centers to turn to and are forced to travel greater distances. 

Meanwhile, in Alabama: Advocacy groups are closely watching court hearings this week in a “bellwether” Alabama case that addresses whether the state can prosecute people over abortions that took place across state lines, reports The Guardian. 

• In Yellowhammer Fund v. Marshall, an abortion fund argues that State Attorney General Steve Marshall’s threats to prosecute activists who help people cross state lines for care won’t hold up in court.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HEALTH POLICY Mass Firings Undercut Tobacco Control Efforts
The U.S. FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), which reviews thousands of new products coming onto the market, took a major blow on February 15 when the Trump administration fired around 100 probationary workers. 

• The Center, which is not taxpayer-funded, was already struggling to regulate products that kill nearly half a million Americans each year—with only about 1,000 employees. CTP is also tasked with educating the public about tobacco’s health risks.

The staffing cuts come as the FDA is embroiled in battle with the tobacco industry over the rules governing emerging tobacco and nicotine products. CTP has faced criticism from both the industry and public health groups over its regulations, and lawsuits from companies challenging its decisions. 

The Examination

Related: He Fought Claims of Harm From Infant Formula. Now He Regulates It. – The New York Times (gift article) ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION Germany’s Crusty and Grumpy Cele-bready  
Itʼs his birthday and heʼll sulk if he wants to.

A melancholy loaf of bread is celebrating… nay, reluctantly acknowledging, its 25th anniversary as a German TV star, but heʼd rather be home staring at the walls.
 
Nothing to proof: The puppet Bernd das Brot—Bernd the Bread—has become beloved by adults as well as children, and received prestigious awards for embracing “the right to be in a bad mood,” AP reports.
 
Thereʼs a multitude of good reasons for Bernd to be ticked off, not least the unrequited love of a baguette who rejected him in favor of a “run-of-the-mill multigrain.”
 
But our favorite detail is a heartening one: Bernd, and his signature grimace, was originally conceived by one co-creator sketching the other on the back of a napkin. Instead of their relationship going stale, they created an icon of ennui.
 
So if this team can survive such brutal honesty, and their curmudgeonly creation can be besties with a sheep and a flower bush … then why canʼt the rest of us just get along? QUICK HITS UN to halve Rohingya food aid in Bangladesh amid funding crunch – Al Jazeera

Cases of Parkinson's disease set to reach 25 million worldwide by 2050, study suggests – Medical Xpress

Wastewater sampling could be key to early warning of new disease outbreaks – The Guardian

"Identity fraud": Proposed Texas state law would make identifying as transgender a felony – Salon

More women doctors than men for first time in UK – BBC Issue No. 2687
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: Inside the Disarray at the NIH; Retinol’s Ugly History; and U.S. Organ Transplant System in Turmoil View this email in your browser March 5, 2025 Forward Share Post People gather on the University of Illinois Chicago campus to voice concerns about the potential loss of federal funding for medical research on February 19. Scott Olson/Getty Inside the Disarray at the NIH
Over six weeks, the NIH—the world’s largest sponsor of biomedical research—has been thrown into chaos after the Trump administration's orders for vast funding cuts and a suspension of grant reviews, reports The Washington Post (gift link).

• Despite federal rulings declaring the cuts unconstitutional, funding remains frozen as NIH employees fear violating executive orders.


• Leadership has been overturned, and ~1,200 probationary staff have been cut.

The result: “The longer the pause on NIH funding has dragged on, the more the American research community has descended into disarray,” reports Katherine Wu for The Atlantic.

• Universities have paused graduate admissions; labs are planning staff cuts; clinical trials risk being shut down; and biomedical internships are canceled, per STAT.

A “Plan B” to cut funds: Even if courts reject the funding cuts, the Trump administration could negotiate individual university payments in a “cat-and-mouse game,” reports Politico. 

Deeper fears: The remaking of the agency could end biomedical research in America “as we know it,” said Monica Bertagnolli, former NIH director.

Such concerns will be in play during today’s confirmation hearings for Jay Bhattacharya, the Trump administration’s pick to lead the agency.

• A Stanford professor and critic of COVID-19 shutdowns and vaccine policies, Bhattacharya is a physician who has never completed clinical training or practiced medicine. His research focuses on health economics and policy, reports NBC. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   The Americas region is at risk of losing its hard-won measles elimination status, PAHO warns, pointing to a 4.5X rise in reported cases compared to the same period last year; the U.S. and Canada account for over 97% of the region’s cases so far, but Mexico and Argentina have also reported cases. CBS
 
42% of people surveyed in Ohio State University–led research mistakenly believed that human papillomavirus (HPV) is more common in women than men, and 45% did not know if HPV was linked to cancers beyond cervical, per a survey of 1,005 people. CIDRAP
  
More than 60% of Americans expect that USAID’s dissolution will lead to more humanitarian and health crises globally, while 47% think the move will significantly reduce the U.S. budget deficit, according to a new poll that also shows Americans largely overestimate U.S. spending on foreign aid. KFF

Pregnant women and newborns in Beijing carry blood lithium levels up to 20X higher than those in a comparable industrial city, Changsha, according to a new study that raises “urgent” questions about an unidentified source of lithium pollution in the Chinese capital and details related health risks. South China Morning Post via MSN U.S. Policy News Medicaid cuts put adult dental care on the chopping block – Axios

Trump vowed to end surprise medical bills. The office working on that just got slashed – KFF Health News

Trump’s data deletions pose a stark threat to public health – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

CDC rescinds some staff firings – NPR

Trump administration expected to seek to let Idaho enforce its strict abortion ban, in drastic reversal from Biden White House's stand – CBS

‘Omg, did PubMed go dark?’ Blackout stokes fears about database’s future – Nature HUMAN RIGHTS Retinol’s Ugly History 
Retinol has become a standard ingredient in skincare products. But its little-known origin story involves decades of medical abuse. 

• Before Retin-A’s FDA approval in 1971, it was tested on hundreds of incarcerated people in Philadelphia’s now-closed Holmesburg Prison in experiments led by University of Pennsylvania dermatologist Albert Kligman. 


• The mostly Black male test subjects had high-dosage chemicals applied to their skin, along with other medical procedures that left wounds and scars.

Calls for justice: The University of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia have issued formal apologies. But survivors and their families are calling for reparations, as retinol now generates billions of dollars in sales. 

• “My daddy’s skin is in those jars,” said Adrianne Jones-Alston, whose father underwent the experiments. 

Teen Vogue GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ORGAN DONATION ETHICS U.S. Transplant System in Turmoil 
Organ transplants in the U.S. have long been governed by a national registry: a consistent ranking system that aims to pair donated organs to patients who need them most. 

But a troubling new trend has emerged, where the registry order is regularly ignored, with officials “leapfrogging over hundreds or even thousands of people” to decide matches, finds a must-read investigation by the New York Times. 

By the numbers: Last year, officials skipped patients on the waiting lists for ~20% of transplants from deceased donors—6X more often than a few years earlier.

Impact: 1,200+ people have died over the last five years after being skipped while nearing the top of a waiting list. 

The New York Times (gift link) 

ICYMI: Myanmar villagers reveal ‘desperate’ illegal kidney sales – BBC FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY Calling All Changemakers!
  The application for the 2026 Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity cohort is now open! If you’re passionate about tackling health disparities and creating a more just world, this is your chance to join a global community of leaders dedicated to health equity.
 
Early- to mid-career professionals engaged in health-related work located in all parts of the world are encouraged to apply for this one-year, non-residential fellowship offered by George Washington University.   

• Sign up for a March 13 informational webinar
• Read the recruitment prospectus
• Learn more
• Deadline to apply: April 10

QUICK HITS CDC says it is on the ground in Texas to aid in measles outbreak response – The Hill

Humanitarian aid’s extreme donor dependency problem in five charts – The New Humanitarian

Breaking taboos about contraception in Benin – Médecins Sans Frontières

She’s a Foot Soldier in America’s Losing War With Chronic Disease – The New York Times (gift article)

USAID Helped Me Become the Scientist I Am Today – Med Page Today (commentary)

Smartwatches could end the next pandemic – Aalto University via ScienceDaily

Sperm quality linked to living longer, study finds – CNN Issue No. 2686
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: Obesity Threatens Global Surge by 2050; Girls Denied Surgery in Afghanistan; and Vaccine Resisters Double Down View this email in your browser March 4, 2025 Forward Share Post Customers sit at a window-facing table inside a McDonald's restaurant, eating and using their phones. February 12, Chongqing, China. K Cheng Xin/Getty Obesity Threatens Global Surge by 2050
Urgent action needs to be taken now to confront the soaring global obesity epidemic, according to authors of a Lancet study published yesterday that estimates more than half of adults and nearly a third of children and adolescents will be overweight or obese by 2050.

Projected problem: Without “multifaceted and multisectoral interventions and treatments,” 3.8 billion adults 25 and older and 746 million children and young people ages five to 24 will be overweight or obese.

Current numbers: 2.11 billion and 493 million, respectively, are obese or overweight, The Guardian reports.

Accelerated worry: 522 million adults and 200 million children and young people in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to be obese by 2050—a 250% increase (though some of the increase is due to population growth), per Reuters.

The Quote: “The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” said lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Study background: Team members from the Global Burden of Disease Study BMI Collaborators based their estimates of what could happen without future interventions (such as widespread availability of new obesity drugs) and drew on data from 204 countries and territories.

Related: China, India obesity problems driving global surge, study says – Bloomberg via The Edge Malaysia GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   A new mpox strain—a mutation of clade 1a that carries the APOBEC3 mutation, which enhances transmissibility—has been identified in the DRC; the WHO extended its declaration of a public health emergency of international concern over mpox late last week. The Telegraph

China’s highest court has called for a crackdown on paper mills churning out fraudulent manuscripts and selling authorships, as part of a broader push to curb research misconduct cases. Nature
 
Rates for precancerous lesions fell about 80% among 20- to 24-year-old women in the U.S. screened for cervical cancer between 2008 to 2022—bolstering evidence that the HPV vaccine is preventing cervical cancer, per a CDC report published late last week; however, a new JAMA Research Letter details a rise in cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in rural U.S. counties with lower access to vaccination and screening.
 
A new swab test, dubbed the WID-easy test, is as accurate as an ultrasound scan in detecting uterine cancer and could help UK women avoid invasive ultrasound checks if adopted by the NHS, the developers say; the test is in use already by private medical clinics and in Austria and Switzerland. The Guardian Cuts to Science and Health The Global Fund will roll out the twice-yearly anti-HIV jab — with or without Pepfar – Bhekisisa

Devex Newswire: USAID employees and partners tell us what they think – Devex

NIH announces some key grant-review meetings will restart in late March – Science

US science is under threat ― now scientists are fighting back – Nature SURGERY Girls Denied Access in Afghanistan
Discriminatory Taliban restrictions are preventing Afghan girls from getting lifesaving surgical procedures, new medical data and personal testimonies show. 

Disparity by the numbers: While roughly half of Afghan children are girls, 80%+ of all surgical procedures performed by a charity-run pediatric unit in Kabul were performed on boys, per a survey published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Barred from care: Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, female medical professionals have been increasingly excluded from health institutions. And yet in many areas, male doctors are banned from treating women—forcing women to rely on faith healers and traditional medicine. 

The Telegraph GHN EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY We Hope to See You Tomorrow!
Due to high demand we’ve released more tickets for this sold-out event co-hosted by GHN and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health. We look forward to seeing you all for this special evening of storytelling. 

For those not in the D.C. area, you can watch the livestream on Global Health NOW; the link is now available on the event page. If you registered and can no longer make it, please release your Eventbrite ticket to allow someone else to attend. —Annalies Winny MEASLES Vaccine Resisters Double Down
As measles cases continue to spread in West Texas, many parents with anti-vaccine views still refuse to get their children vaccinated, claiming that the shot’s side effects are more dangerous than the disease itself, reports The Washington Post (gift link).

And yet silence: Neither Gov. Greg Abbott nor lawmakers from the hardest-hit areas have publicly addressed the outbreak or advocated for vaccinations, reports The Texas Tribune. 

COVID-19 ghosts: The response is being shaped by the pandemic, experts say—with politicians unwilling or reluctant to push public health interventions like vaccination and quarantine.

• “Texas is such an independent state. People don’t want to be told what to do, forgetting that what they do can affect others,” said Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist at UTHealth Houston.

Related: 

Measles cases reported in Philadelphia area and in Texas traveler – CIDRAP

As RFK Jr. delivers his message on measles, public health experts hear a familiar tune – STAT

Can you still get measles even if you’ve been vaccinated? – Vox

US health official quits after reported clashes with RFK Jr over measles – The Guardian

RFK Jr.’s focus on vitamin A for measles worries health experts – The Washington Post (gift article) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES CANCER Breast Cancer Cases Expected to Climb
Breast cancer diagnoses are projected to rise 38% globally by 2050—with annual deaths expected to increase by 68%, reports UN News.

• What that means: 3.2 million new breast cancer cases and 1.1 million related deaths each year by mid-century, per research published in Nature Medicine.

Contributing factors: A growing and aging global population, a higher prevalence of known risk factors for the disease, and improvements in detection and diagnosis, reports The Guardian. 

LMICs disproportionately affected: 

• In high-income countries, 83% of diagnosed women survive. In low-income countries, more than half of women diagnosed with breast cancer die from it.


• Death rates were highest in Melanesia, Polynesia, and west Africa.

QUICK HITS Children as young as 1 raped during Sudan's civil war, U.N. says – NBC

‘Rapid expansion’ of synthetic drugs reshaping illicit markets, UN anti-narcotics body warns – UN News

Dysentery cases on the rise in the Portland area: 40 new cases reported in January alone – USA Today

COVID 2024-25 vaccines 33% protective against emergency room or urgent care visits, data reveal – CIDRAP

Cancer Interception: The First HPV Antiviral Treatment Fights Pre-Cancers – University of New Mexico Newsroom Thanks for the tip, Chiara Jaffe! 

Four ways to help beat health inequities in the face of USAID cuts – Nature

Extreme heat can age you as fast as a smoking habit – Grist

‘Man with the golden arm’: Grandfather whose rare blood saved millions of babies dies aged 88 – The Independent Issue No. 2685
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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