Career of breakthroughs in neuroimaging recognized with one of the nation’s highest honours

A career that took an uncharted trajectory has been recognized with the Order of Canada, one of the country’s top honours.

Career of breakthroughs in neuroimaging recognized with one of the nation’s highest honours

A career that took an uncharted trajectory has been recognized with the Order of Canada, one of the country’s top honours.

Earlier this month, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) with a special Indigenous-inspired cafeteria meal, featuring baked salmon, wild rice salad, and blueberry bannock.

Earlier this month, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) with a special Indigenous-inspired cafeteria meal, featuring baked salmon, wild rice salad, and blueberry bannock.

Earlier this month, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) with a special Indigenous-inspired cafeteria meal, featuring baked salmon, wild rice salad, and blueberry bannock.

Earlier this month, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) with a special Indigenous-inspired cafeteria meal, featuring baked salmon, wild rice salad, and blueberry bannock.

Earlier this month, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) with a special Indigenous-inspired cafeteria meal, featuring baked salmon, wild rice salad, and blueberry bannock.

96 Global Health NOW: The Human Cost of Aid Cuts Comes Into Focus; Ensnared in Cambodia’s Scam Centers; and Captagon’s Continued Grip in Syria View this email in your browser June 30, 2025 Forward Share Post Baboia Sijen, 20, feeds Motakil Anas, 2, an RUTF packet at the Almanar feeding center in Mayo Mandala outside Omdurman, Sudan. May 25. Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty The Human Cost of Aid Cuts Comes Into Focus
Six months since U.S. officials slashed USAID funding for global aid and development, the toll is becoming evident on intimate and international scales. 

Malnourished families increasingly have nowhere to turn in places that depended heavily on U.S. aid like Sudan and Nepal. Studies project cuts could lead to 163,500 additional child deaths annually, reports Science. 

In Nepal, the sudden halt of food shipments has already led to deaths and threatens to undo years of work addressing childhood wasting and stunting.

In war-torn Sudan, the cuts have triggered a cascade of preventable deaths from bacterial infections, cholera, and starvation as soup kitchens close and clinics’ stockrooms grow bare, reports The Washington Post (gift link). 

• One Sudanese mother described trying to soothe her starving children: “Sometimes I boiled water on the fire and told them I am cooking and just to wait.”


• Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of doses of lifesaving peanut paste supplements paid for by the U.S. government are sitting in warehouses.

The future of the Sustainable Development Goals hangs in the balance as global leaders convene in Seville today for the UN’s once-in-a-decade International Conference on Financing for Development, reports France24—with talks that may reconfigure how countries finance efforts to combat hunger, poverty, and health disparities.

• With aid shrinking and debt burdens rising, achieving the 17 SDGs by 2030 is increasingly unlikely, reports Al Jazeera. 

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES DATA POINT

11.8 million
———————
People in the U.S. estimated to lose health coverage by 2034 under the Senate version of the Trump administration’s budget bill, currently under debate. —Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy The Latest One-Liners   A WHO-appointed expert panel’s final COVID-19 pandemic origin report, released Friday, failed to reach a conclusive answer; while most scientific data supports a zoonotic spillover, the panel said, it could not rule out a lab leak because China has withheld data needed to fully evaluate all hypotheses. AP
 
A measles outbreak has been reported in a New Mexico jail, after five detainees tested positive for the virus; the state has now reported 86 cases in eight counties. CIDRAP

U.S. Black and Hispanic patients seeking medical care for issues stemming from opioid use are “significantly less likely” to receive buprenorphine or naltrexone, per a new study published in JAMA Network Open that suggests that while access to such medications has improved overall, racial disparities in treatment persist. STAT

France’s smoking ban in public places such as parks, beaches, and bus shelters took effect yesterday; the new ban aims to protect children from passive smoking. France24 U.S. and Global Health Policy News Vaccine, public health advocates warn of fallout from ACIP meeting – CIDRAP

Kennedy v. Braidwood: The Supreme Court Upheld ACA Preventive Services but That’s Not the End of the Story – KFF

SCOTUS delivers gut punch to Planned Parenthood – The Hill

Arrests of scientists over smuggled samples add to US border anxiety – Nature

'Where's our money?' CDC grant funding is moving so slowly layoffs are happening – NPR Shots

States Fear Critical Funding From FEMA May Be Drying Up – ProPublica

At some federal beaches, the lifeguard chair is empty – The Washington Post (gift link)  HUMAN RIGHTS Ensnared in Cambodia’s Scam Centers 
Across Cambodia, thousands of people are trapped in “hellish” jail-like compounds, forced to facilitate online scams for crime syndicates, while the Cambodian government is “deliberately ignoring” human trafficking, torture, and other abuses, per a report released by Amnesty International. 

Background: Scam centers have proliferated across Southeast Asia in the last five years. Those running the schemes are often people lured through false job advertisements, then forced to work under threat of violence. 

Details: 

• In Cambodia alone, ~100,000 people—including children—have been trafficked into scam compounds. The report identified at least 53 scam centers.


• In some cases, there has been “coordination and possibly collusion” between Chinese compound bosses and Cambodian authorities.

The Telegraph GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES DRUG TRAFFICKING Captagon’s Continued Grip in Syria 
After the fall of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, transitional leaders vowed to dismantle the government’s longstanding involvement in the production and trafficking of Captagon—an illicit synthetic drug similar to methamphetamine that reportedly generated billions for the Assad regime. 

Despite the crackdown, the country remains a hub for Captagon production and distribution as traffickers shift tactics, finds the new World Drugs Report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Quote: “These groups have been managing Captagon for a long time, and production is not going to stop in a matter of days or weeks,” said UNODC’s research and analysis chief, Angela Me. 

UN News OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS Inside one of Gaza's last functioning hospitals: How staff in Nasser Hospital are fighting to keep people alive – ABC

Too scared to go to hospital: the pregnant women in Dominican Republic dying because of deportation fears – The Guardian

People whose lives were permanently altered by disease send a warning as vaccine opposition grows – AP

Amid alarm over a US ‘autism registry’, people are using these tactics to avoid disability surveillance – The Conversation (podcast)

The World Is Producing More Food than Ever—but Not for Long – WIRED

Texas is getting older, and its child population is growing – The Texas Tribune 

Click, speak, move: These brain implants are poised to help people with disabilities – NPR Shots

The Whimsy and Practicality of ‘SuperAdobe’ – Reasons to be Cheerful Issue No. 2749
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

One in six people are affected by loneliness, with significant implications for health and well-being, according to a new report from the UN World Health Organization (WHO). 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has launched a bold new national initiative aimed at eliminating AIDS among children by 2030 – a move hailed by the United Nations as “a beacon of hope” amid growing global funding constraints. 

96 Global Health NOW: The ‘Tragedy’ of Faulty Chemotherapy Drugs; City Smarts Challenge Big Tobacco’s Sales Pitch; and The Italian Tow Job View this email in your browser June 26, 2025 Forward Share Post Illustrator: Anuj Shrestha, Courtesy of TBIJ The ‘Tragedy’ of Faulty Chemotherapy Drugs
A wide range of generic cancer drugs used in 100+ countries have failed quality tests, making them ineffective or dangerous, a major study published in The Lancet has found.

Findings: One in five of 189 tested samples failed tests, showing too little or too much active ingredient. Some pills from the same pack had inconsistent potency.

Global reach: Substandard drugs were found in both poor and rich nations, including Ethiopia, Nepal, Malawi, the U.S., the U.K., and Saudi Arabia. 

• Most failed drugs came from Indian manufacturers. 

Regulatory holes: The findings show how weak oversight within importing countries and flawed WHO certification systems have been exploited by manufacturers cutting corners. 

Patient harm: Doctors described seeing patients experience sudden treatment failures or severe side effects after starting drug regimens. 

• “When [cancer patients] end up with a medicine that won’t cure them, that’s another tragedy,” said a cancer pharmacist in Ethiopia. 

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   The NIH has paused cancellations of medical research grants, per a memo issued to agency staff members; the move comes after two court rulings that came down against the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to research grants. The New York Times (gift link)

Avoidable sepsis deaths are occuring in UK NHS facilities because doctors and nurses are too slow to spot the signs, warns the watchdog Health Services Safety Investigations Body. The Guardian 

ADHD medication can reduce risks of injuries, traffic crashes, and crime, finds a study that tracked ~250,000 Swedish people for 14 years; however, its protective effects have diminished over time as prescription rates have risen and patient populations have shifted. JAMA Psychiatry

Latino neighborhoods across California experience ~23 more extreme-heat days per year than non-Latino white neighborhoods, finds a new data tool from UCLA researchers that highlights “significant” environmental health disparities across 23 counties. Medical Xpress GHN EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY An image from Rio de Janeiro's new social media campaign. Image courtesy of Vital Strategies. City Smarts Challenge Big Tobacco’s Sales Pitch
A recent Rio de Janeiro social media campaign features a fashionable young woman applying makeup and impersonating a talking e-cigarette: “I have so many looks! I use perfume!” Smiling and playful at first, her expression suddenly turns sinister as she tells her Gen Z peers that they have been horribly fooled by e-cigarettes’ fun flavors, scents, and designs.

It’s an example of how cities like Rio de Janeiro and New York City—members of the Partnership for Healthy Cities—are fighting back against Big Tobacco. Traditional regulation and enforcement combined with targeted communication strategies—featuring the voices of industry targets, like teens and young adults—has proven to be the best way to push back, Michelle Morse, the acting health commissioner and chief medical officer of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and Daniel Soranz, the secretary of health for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, write in this commentary.

City strength: City governments have long been at the forefront of efforts to stem tobacco’s devastating health impacts, drawing on knowledge of their communities’ unique vulnerabilities and opportunities to strengthen protective factors, Morse and Soranz write.

“The tobacco industry’s tricks are constantly evolving; so too must our cities’ tactics,” write Morse and Solanz, who share strategies to create targeted messaging that puts those most affected front and center and encourage other cities around the world to join their fight against Big Tobacco. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY BY MICHELLE MORSE AND DANIEL SORANZ GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES VACCINES A Pivotal Moment for the Global Immunization Effort
It has been 50+ years since the WHO launched its global immunization program—an effort that has reached 4.4 billion people and saved 154 million lives, finds a new analysis and forecast published in The Lancet. 

But the program is at a critical juncture: Since 2010, progress has stalled or reversed in many countries. And funding cuts, misinformation, and conflict continue to threaten gains, reports NPR Goats and Soda. 

• "The world is going to have to pick a trajectory. Are we going to turn our backs on one of the most remarkable public health achievements that the world has ever seen?" said Jonathan Mosser, one of the study authors. 

Key gaps: More than half of the world’s 15.7 million unvaccinated children live in just eight countries: Brazil, the DRC, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan, reports the AP. 

Cut funding for Gavi: HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said the U.S. will halt all contributions to the international vaccine alliance, Gavi, accusing it of not following scientific data—a criticism Gavi rejected, reports NPR Goats and Soda. 

• The U.K. will also cut its Gavi funding by 40% as it also reduces its aid budgets.

Revisiting norms: Meanwhile, Kennedy's newly appointed vaccine advisory board will review established vaccinations that are a standard part of the federal childhood vaccination schedule, including measles and Hepatitis B, reports Axios. 

Related:

4 in 5 Americans support childhood vaccine requirements, poll finds – CIDRAP

Trump’s CDC pick treads carefully in Senate debut – The Hill ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION The Italian Tow Job 
When a hotel staffer first spotted a Mercedes-Benz A-Class sedan ker-thunking down Rome’s Spanish Steps around 4 a.m. last week, he thought a movie was being filmed.

“Then I realized, no, it was not like that,” said the worker, Sowad Mujibulla, who filmed the incident, per The New York Times (gift link). 

It was not. The driver, an 80-year-old Roman resident who tested negative for drugs or alcohol, told police he had somehow taken a wrong turn in the predawn darkness. The fire department later used a crane to lift the car off the famed 18th century stairway.

The steps have endured their share of wannabe Michael Caines: In 2022, a man was charged with “aggravated damage to cultural heritage” after driving a rented Maserati down the 135 steps; and that same year, two American tourists were fined after damaging the travertine steps with their electric scooters, reports CNN.

But joyriding isn’t always to blame: Errant drivers worldwide have increasingly found themselves wedged between buildings and marooned mid-staircase after placing too much trust in GPS, reports The Guardian.  QUICK HITS Can Kenyan youth protests spark real police reform one year on? – RFI

New Report Highlights U.S. 2023 Gun Deaths: Suicide by Firearm at Record Levels for Third Straight Year – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Saia Ma’u Piukala: From inequity to action: Eliminating cervical cancer in the Western Pacific – The Jakarta Post (commentary / gift link)

'They're not breathing': Inside the chaos of ICE detention center 911 calls – WIRED

He sued for marriage equality and won. 10 years later, he fears for LGBTQ+ rights – NPR

Indonesia to be vaccine self-sufficient by 2037, says health minister – The Telegraph 

Rising Temperatures, Rising Inequalities: How a New Insurance Protects India’s Poorest Women – IPS

Congress Is Pushing for a Medicaid Work Requirement. Here’s What Happened When Georgia Tried It. – ProPublica

Brace Yourself for Watery Mayo and Spiky Ice Cream – The Atlantic Issue No. 2748
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

96 Global Health NOW: Sudan Hospital Attack Kills Children, Adults, Medics; Costs of Global Health Cuts; and A Swedish Town’s Fight Against PFAS View this email in your browser June 25, 2025 Forward Share Post A man walks through a shrapnel-riddled hospital ward in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 28. AFP via Getty Children, Civilians, Medics Killed in Sudan Hospital Attack 
A strike on a hospital in Sudan killed 40+ people, including six children and five medics, reports the BBC, in an attack WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned as “appalling.” 

Details: The targeted Al-Mujlad Hospital in West Kordofan state, “the only functioning healthcare facility in the area” per the Sudan Doctors Network, was close to one of the frontlines of the conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces—a war that the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.  

• The doctors’ group blamed the army for the strike and said RSF fighters were stationed inside the hospital. 

The attack is just the latest in a series of devastating blows to Sudan’s fragile health networks, reports The Guardian—including an attack on a hospital in January that killed 70 in El Fasher, and an attack on an aid convoy a few weeks ago that killed five. 

Children in conflict: The head of UNICEF warned of a “worsening crisis” for Sudanese children this week, as a new “wake-up call” of a UN report finds that children worldwide suffered record levels of violence in conflict zones in 2024, reports The Guardian. Findings documented: 

• 41,370 acts of violence against children in countries including Gaza, the DRC, Somalia, Nigeria, and Haiti.


• A 44% rise in attacks on schools, a 35% rise in sexual violence against children, and a 25% increase in incidents compared with 2023.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   1.3 million Haitians have been displaced by ongoing violence, and human rights abuses continue to rise despite efforts of the UN’s Multinational Security Support mission, which has been beset by personnel, funding, and equipment shortfalls. Human Rights Watch

Asia is warming ~2X as fast as the global average, finds the new State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report by the World Meteorological Organization; last year, Asia endured its warmest or second-warmest year on record with widespread heatwaves and other extreme weather events. The Times of India

National pandemic research output correlated most strongly with pre‑pandemic research activity—much more so than with other country characteristics such as GDP, population, or case numbers—per an analysis of global publication and clinical trial data; the findings underscore national research capacity’s importance in health emergency preparedness. Annals of Global Health 

Just 13% of Americans correctly identified testicular cancer as most commonly affecting men under 40, per a new survey by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, suggesting more can be done to educate the public about the disease. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center via ScienceDaily U.S. and Global Health Policy News In the face of anti-science politics, silence is not without cost – Nature (commentary)
 
Trump admin cuts contracts with scientific publishing giant – Axios

Health Secretary RFK Jr. questioned about vaccine policy, transparency in House hearing on funding request – PBS NewsHour

Federal budget cuts slow pace of breakthrough autoimmune therapies – The Hub (Johns Hopkins University)

The Trump administration is investigating the University of Michigan health system over a transgender care case. – Michigan Public

She hoped key research could help save her eyesight. Then the Trump funding cuts came – NPR Shots FOREIGN AID Illustration by Dung Hoang The Costs of Global Health Funding Cuts 
Though global health aid makes up less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget, it supports crucial systems around the world: conducting disease surveillance, training health workers, building public health infrastructure, and responding to outbreaks. 

The U.S. withdrawal from the WHO and funding cuts to USAID and NIH are dismantling these systems and the decades of partnerships underpinning them, experts say. 

Already halted or scaled back:

• Outbreak surveillance programs for Ebola, mpox, measles, and H5N1.


• Famine monitoring systems.


• Support for HIV treatment through PEPFAR.

A world at risk: The loss of these and other programs threatens global and U.S. national security by creating vulnerabilities to both familiar pathogens and novel outbreaks.

Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health

Related: What Remains of U.S.A.I.D. After DOGE's Budget Cuts? – The New York Times (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH One Swedish Town and the Global PFAS Fight 
In 2013 residents of Ronneby, Sweden, received startling news: Their tap water, historically revered for its purity, had been contaminated with PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that had seeped into the supply from firefighting foam used at a nearby air base. 

• PFAS levels were the highest ever discovered in any municipal drinking water: 2,450X the safety threshold introduced in 2023. 


• Children in the area had PFAS levels 37X higher than those of kids outside the contaminated zone.

Legal battle, global spotlight: In 2016, residents sued the municipally owned water company for failing to protect them in a case watched by environmental law experts worldwide. In 2022, Sweden’s supreme court ruled that PFAS blood contamination is a compensable personal injury.

The Guardian OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS In the Gaza Strip, We are Dying Silently – Inkstick (commentary)

Analysis highlights very low level of HPV vaccine uptake globally – CIDRAP

Malaria Vaccines Free Up Clinics to Improve Child Health in Cameroon – Nigeria Health Watch via Medium (commentary)

Evictions are harmful to Black mothers’ health, their families and their communities – The 19th

China Tightens Controls on Fentanyl but Calls It a U.S. Problem – The New York Times (gift link)

Women approaching menopause drive GLP-1 boom – Axios

The disease-fighting farm robot helping to feed Africa – The Telegraph

Can adult tummy time undo the dreaded ‘tech neck’ that comes from hunching over a screen? – The Guardian Issue No. 2747
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Although nearly 92 per cent of the global population now has basic access to electricity, more than 666 million people still live without it, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to urge greater financial support for renewable energy. 

96 Global Health NOW: North America’s Measles Problem; the Global Tobacco Control Efforts Gain Ground; and North Koreans Left on Their Own During COVID View this email in your browser June 24, 2025 Forward Share Post North America’s Measles Problem
Measles outbreaks, fueled by low vaccination rates, continue to drive new cases across the U.S. and Canada.

• Confirmed U.S. cases have topped 1,200 this year, AP reports.


• North America’s longest outbreak began in Ontario, Canada, in mid-October, leading to 2,100+ cases and one death, per Public Health Ontario.


• An outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has surpassed 1,000 cases, leading an Edmonton physician to warn, “This is out of control,” per the CBC.

Must-read (gift link): New York Times writer Eli Saslow chronicled a West Texas family’s measles odyssey that forced the father and four children to spend days in the hospital.

“I feel like I’ve been lied to,” the father, Kiley Timmons, texted his wife, as his temperature hit 40° C (104° F). He treated himself with cod liver oil and vitamin D, as recommended by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
When his oxygen level fell to 85%, his wife drove him to the ER.

Low vaccination rates: U.S. measles vaccination coverage for children has fallen to 92%—below the 95% coverage required to stop measles’ spread in a community.

• In parts of West Texas, coverage is below 80%.

Other vaccine news: U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said yesterday that the next meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices should be postponed until it has more members with greater experience in microbiology, epidemiology, and immunology, NBC reports.

Related:

Balkanization of vaccine policy raises concerns about vaccine uptake, insurance coverage, experts warn – STAT

How medical groups may preserve vaccine access — and bypass RFK Jr. –  The Washington Post (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Child abductions by an armed group linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) are surging in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province; most of the kidnapped children are being used for forced labor, forced marriages, or as child soldiers. Human Rights Watch
 
U.K. lawmakers voted last Friday to allow terminally ill adults over age 18 to end their lives through “assisted dying,” with a majority of 23 (down from 55 in a debate last fall); the bill, which applies to England and Wales, but not Northern Ireland or Scotland, heads to the House of Lords next. AP

The combination of extreme heat and wildfire smoke may pose a particularly serious threat to human health, suggests a new study from University of British Columbia researchers that examined 21,000+ deaths in the greater Vancouver area between 2010 and 2022. CTV

Obesity drugs—specifically liraglutide—reduced headaches by almost half in a small preprint study of 31 people in Italy with obesity who suffer from migraines, even with minimal weight loss—suggesting that the drug is impacting pain pathways and potentially justifying additional studies. Nature COVID-19 North Koreans Forced to ‘Fend for Themselves’ During Pandemic
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un declared a “brilliant victory” over COVID-19 in 2022, reporting just 74 deaths in the three months after the country’s first officially reported case earlier that year. 

But interviews with 100 people inside the country tell a much different story, per a report conducted by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Key findings: 

• The virus—and deaths—were widespread as early as 2020.


• Citizens were left to “fend for themselves” with no access to vaccines or medicine.


• The government enforced severe restrictions and lockdowns; violating protocols led to forced labor and execution. 


• The pandemic led to a halt in trade and humanitarian aid, worsening food shortages. 

The Telegraph

Related: 5 Years Later: America Looks Back at the Impact of COVID-19 – The Pew Charitable Trusts GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES TOBACCO Control Efforts Gain Ground Worldwide
As tobacco control initiatives make strides worldwide—protecting ~6.1 billion people—industry evolution threatens their momentum, finds the WHO’s Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report released yesterday at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin. 

Marks of progress: 

• 110 countries now require graphic health warnings on tobacco products, up from just 9 in 2007.


• 36% of the global population now lives in countries that have run best-practice anti-tobacco campaigns, up from 19% in 2022.


• 79 countries have implemented smoke-free environments, impacting one-third of the world’s population. 

Gaps: 

• 60+ countries still lack laws regulating e-cigarettes.


• Cigarettes remain affordable in 134 countries, with minimal tax increases. 


• Just 33% of people globally have access to cost-covered quit services. 

WHO HEALTH SYSTEMS Argentina’s ‘Tidal Wave’ of Health Cuts
In the last 18 months, drastic cuts to Argentina’s health systems under President Javier Milei’s austerity measures have forced patients and their families to resort to desperate measures to access vital care, including turning to Facebook to obtain donated cancer drugs.

Before Milei, Argentina’s public health system ensured that health care was free for most who couldn’t afford private insurance.

Since the election: Milei has slashed the country’s health budget by 48% and laid off 2,000+ health ministry workers.

• Defunded programs include early cancer detection services, free cancer medications, vaccine campaigns, HIV and TB testing, and reproductive health services.

The toll: 60+ cancer patients have reportedly died due to cessation of treatment, and 1,500+ still await medications, per a lawsuit filed by patient advocacy groups.

AP 

ICYMI: Disrupted but Determined: Lessons From Argentine Scientists – Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health QUICK HITS ‘Man-eating’ screw worm turns hospital into horror show – The Telegraph

Dangerous Heat Dome to Bring Record Temperatures to Much of the U.S. – Wall Street Journal (gift link) 

Will Gates and other funders save massive public health database at risk from Trump cuts? – Nature Thanks for the tip, Dave Cundiff! 

Cambodia logs fifth death from H5N1 avian flu as USDA weighs poultry vaccination – CIDRAP

Tick risks vary by region. Here's where diseases have spread and how to stay safe – NPR

TikTok bans #SkinnyTok. But content promoting unhealthy eating persists – NPR Shots

Why al dente pasta is better for your health – Axios Issue No. 2746
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Nearly three months after Myanmar’s strongest earthquake in a century, more than six million people remain in urgent need of assistance, as the disaster compounds a humanitarian crisis driven by years of conflict, political turmoil and mass displacement.

96 Global Health NOW: A Tipping Point in Iran; A Closer Look at Cheap Cigarettes in Laos; Ketamine in South Africa: Breakthrough or Blight? View this email in your browser June 23, 2025 Forward Share Post Satellite imagery shows the ridge above Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant post-missile strike on June 22. Maxar Technologies A Tipping Point in Iran 
The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and the weekend strikes by the U.S. on Iranian nuclear facilities mark “a perilous turn” for a region already engulfed in conflict, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at an emergency meeting of the Security Council yesterday, per UN News.

Widening safety concerns: The head of the UN’s atomic energy watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that while no radiation leaks have been reported that could cause health or environmental threats outside of struck sites, the attacks have triggered “a sharp degradation in nuclear safety and security” at targeted sites. 

• Mounting risks stem not only from direct attacks, but also from “hurried transport and improper storage conditions” of toxic materials, per the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 


• While radioactivity outside the sites remains normal, the IAEA and neighboring countries are closely monitoring levels, reports NPR. 

Health systems under strain: Meanwhile, health workers in Tehran say facilities have been overwhelmed with civilian injuries and that medical shortages have hampered response efforts, reports Middle East Eye.

• And Israel evacuated a key hospital in Beersheba last week that was targeted in Iranian airstrikes, per El País. 

Rising human toll: 430 Iranian civilians and 25 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.  GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   The U.S. FDA has approved lenacapavir—a twice-yearly HIV prevention shot that stopped almost all new infections in clinical trials last year; however, amid broad cuts to U.S. public health agencies and foreign aid, it’s not clear how many people will be able to access the new option. AP
 
The U.S. government announced last week that it will end the national suicide hotline’s specialized support for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults—who report higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors than their cisgender and heterosexual peers—beginning July 17. ​ABC

Stem cell–based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes, with those 10 people no longer needing insulin a year after a single infusion, finds a small trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The New York Times (gift link)

Excessive drinking has been linked to an uptick in high blood pressure deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, per a new CDC study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which found the estimated average number of hypertension deaths from excessive alcohol use was 51.6% higher in 2020–2021 than in 2016–2017. CBS U.S. and Global Health Policy News Trump Travel Restrictions Bar Residents Needed at U.S. Hospitals – The New York Times (gift link)

Administration to phase out NIH support of HIV clinical guidelines – The Washington Post (gift link)

How doctors are preparing for RFK Jr.’s shifts on vaccine policy – The 19th

The immigrants caring for the nation's elderly are losing their jobs – Axios TOBACCO A Closer Look at Cheap Cigarettes in Laos 
Cigarette prices in Laos are among some of the lowest in the world, contributing to some of the highest smoking rates in the region and smoking-related diseases that account for 1 in 7 deaths in the country. 

Behind the low prices: a 2001 contract signed behind closed doors with Imperial Brands tobacco, which included a 25-year tax freeze. 

• The deal steered millions toward an in-law of the president at the time, Bounnhang Vorachit.

What now? The contract is set to expire next year, and Laos’ current prime minister has said the government will not renew it.

The role of taxes: Raising cigarette taxes is among the most effective ways to reduce smoking, research shows.

The Examination

Related: 

Government of Viet Nam Approves Life-Saving Taxes on Tobacco and Sugar-sweetened Beverages – Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (news release)

Supreme Court allows vape companies to pick courts to hear challenges – The Washington Post (gift link) GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES MENTAL HEALTH Ketamine in South Africa: Breakthrough or Blight? 
In South Africa, an increasing number of psychiatrists have been using ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. But the drug is also being administered off-label and in unregulated clinics—which doctors say could lead to misuse and overuse. 

Treatment guidelines: Ketamine has to be prescribed by a doctor and administered in IV form in the presence of a health care provider, per South African Society of Psychiatrists guidelines.

Unregulated use: South Africa has become home to many “cowboy clinics,” which provide the drug to people without the involvement of a medical professional—a trend that doctors say could lead to dangerous forms of consumption that carry the risk of seizure or death. 

Bhekisisa OPPORTUNITY QUICK HITS

Gaza: UN warns of ‘weaponised hunger’ and growing death toll amid food chaos – UN News

The Workers, the Waste, and the Warnings from Bomb Country – Inkstick

HIV is surging in over-50s—But campaigns still target the young – University of the Witwatersrand via ScienceDaily

The number of abortions kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds – AP

New Israeli-developed bioengineered skin could heal burn wounds twice as fast – The Jerusalem Post

How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe – Bloomberg CityLab

Early grant success attracts more funding: study of 100,000 applicants hints at why – Nature

For the first time, women scientists win $1 million climate research prize – Science

Issue No. 2745
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Tobacco use still claims over seven million lives a year, the World Health Organization warned on Monday, calling for greater efforts to limit its use amid rising interference from the global tobacco industry.

In an age marked by conflicts, disease, dysfunction and mental health challenges, yoga offers a steady, time-trusted path to help find calm and harmony within – and without.

The world is facing a health financing emergency, according to Dr. Kalipso Chalkidou, Director for Health Financing and Economics for the World Health Organization (WHO).

96 Global Health NOW: UK Parliament Votes to Decriminalize Abortion; ‘Gardeningʼ in the Gut; Funding Disruptions Threaten Uganda’s HIV Fight View this email in your browser June 18, 2025 Forward Share Post Pro-choice protestors gather near Parliament, where MPs were voting on the decriminalization of abortion. June 17. London, U.K. Alishia Abodunde/Getty UK Parliament Votes to Decriminalize Abortion
The UK House of Commons voted 379–137 yesterday to decriminalize abortion in England and Wales—the most significant change to abortion law in ~60 years, reports The Guardian. 

Details: The amendment removes the threat of prosecution for women who seek to terminate pregnancies. 

• However, the current legal framework for procuring an abortion remains, including requiring two doctors’ approval and a 24-week limit. Doctors who breach regulations can still face prosecution. 

Driving factors: The Labour MP who introduced the amendment said such protections were needed as 100+ women have been investigated and several prosecuted for suspected illegal abortions over the past five years, reports the AP. 

• UK medical groups and advocacy groups hailed the change as “a victory for women,” while anti-abortion groups argued it would open the door to abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

U.S. a ‘cautionary tale’: British lawmakers sought to frame the measure as a “narrow, common-sense” measure in contrast to polarized U.S. abortion politics, while also pointing to the current rollback of reproductive rights in the U.S. as a warning, reports Politico. 

What’s next: The amendment is part of a broader crime bill expected to pass the House of Commons and the House of Lords. 

Related: 

Ohio lawmakers to introduce bill banning abortion, criminalizing the procedure – ABC 

A brain-dead Georgia woman is set to be taken off of life support after her baby was delivered – The 19th

Abortion Bans Worsen Violence in Relationships, Study Finds – TIME EDITORS’ NOTE No GHN Tomorrow, June 19   Please note that our office will be closed tomorrow in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. We’ll be back with more news on Monday, June 23!

—The Editors GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES The Latest One-Liners   Global conflict levels are the highest they’ve been since the end of World War II, with 59 active conflicts in 35+ countries, according to the 2025 Global Peace Index; the report also shows declining geopolitical influence of the U.S., Russia, and China as smaller countries emerge as regional powers. The Telegraph

A group of bat viruses related to MERS could be one mutation away from being capable of spilling over into humans, finds a new study published in Nature Communications that focuses on the virus group, known as HKU5. Washington State University via ScienceDaily

U.S. alcohol guidance could be soon changed from recommending one or two drinks per day to a brief statement encouraging drinking in moderation, in what could be a major win for the alcohol industry; the updates to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines are still under development by the HHS and USDA. Reuters via Yahoo!

Microplastics in coastal waters could heighten cardiometabolic disease risk among nearby residents, per a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which found “significantly” higher rates of type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and stroke among U.S. residents living near highly polluted waters compared with people who lived near less-polluted waters. American Heart Association (news release) GHN EXCLUSIVE Q&A 622A_cecum: Section through a healthy mouse cecum stained with Haematoxylin-eosin. Courtesy of Emma Slack ‘Gardeningʼ in the Gut   
The pipeline for new drugs to fight antibiotic-resistant infections is rife with challenges, but one promising solution offers a workaround: tackling drug-resistant bacteria in the gut.  
 
The method combines oral vaccinations with harmless bacteria that outcompete the bacteria for food and “starve them out,” Emma Slack, a professor at ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford’s Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, told GHN.  

• The pairing was significantly more effective than using vaccines or harmless bacteria on their own, found a recent Science study testing the method in mice.

The approach is like weeding a garden, says Slack. “If you pull out all the weeds, you go back three days later and all the weeds are there again. If you don’t want that to happen, you’ve got to put something in the place where the weeds would grow.”

It may be five to 10 years from clinical use, but the method could one day be applied to “anything where immunosuppression is one of the side effects,” says Slack. Patients could be treated before transplant surgery, or during high-risk pregnancies to head off the risk of infection in premature babies.
 
The most exciting prospect: reversing the “antimicrobial resistance crisis for gut-colonizing, opportunistic pathogens,” says Slack. READ THE FULL Q&A BY ANNALIES WINNY GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES HIV/AIDS Funding Disruptions Threaten Uganda’s HIV Fight
Since 1987, the Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP) in Uganda has achieved remarkable milestones. In areas it serves, the program has:

• Reduced new HIV infections by 90%.


• Extended anti‑retroviral (ARV) coverage to 90% of people living with HIV.

But recent U.S. budget cuts—including halts to pediatric ARVs, male circumcision programs, and PrEP, and missed deadlines for reauthorizing PEPFAR funding —threaten this progress.

• Medication access interruptions and clinic closures in January prompted HIV rebound fears; though services were quickly restored, experts warn that sustained disruptions could reverse hard-won gains.


• Uganda’s plan to shift HIV treatment from specialized rural clinics to primary care clinics could also disrupt access and medication adherence, as some patients may face longer travel.

Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health

Related: ‘HIV-ending’ drug could be made for just $25 per patient a year, say researchers – The Guardian OPPORTUNITY HUMAN RIGHTS The Oppressors at Home
In the Taliban’s Afghanistan, oppression against women has led to men being “foot soldiers” against their female relatives. 

Vice and virtue laws, which include strict rules that women must cover themselves, not talk too loudly, or appear in public without a male escort, are meant to be enforced by “morality police.” But often, husbands and brothers take on this role. 

Rising fear: Under the Taliban, male relatives could face fines or prison if women are caught breaking morality laws. This has led to a rise in domestic violence, isolation, and psychological damage to Afghan women. 

The Guardian

Related: Over 400 health centers shut down in Afghanistan following US aid 
suspension – Ariana News ALMOST FRIDAY MINI DIVERSION QUICK HITS IOM Reports 60 Migrants Missing in Two Deadly Shipwrecks off Libya – IOM 

How Trump's travel ban could disrupt the way knowledge about health is shared – NPR

Via the False Claims Act, NIH Puts Universities on Edge – Undark

Indonesia steps up efforts to eliminate malaria by 2030 – Xinhua

Kraft Heinz to remove artificial dyes from U.S. products by end of 2027 – CNBC

Study: Early antibiotics tied to higher risk of childhood infections, antibiotic use, and asthma – CIDRAP

Scientists uncover how ticks fight off and carry a virus deadly to humans – Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA’s Gamble on America’s Drugs – ProPublica

Could the answer to the male fertility crisis be lurking in your cat’s litter tray? – The Telegraph Issue No. 2744
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.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.