Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

Join us on May 7th at noon for the next McGill Cares webcast to support informal caregivers. During candid, interviews with leading experts, Claire Webster explores topics related to caring for a loved one with dementia.

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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