Global Health Programs aggregator

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Lenacapavir Rollout Reaches Africa; and The Perils of Migrating While Pregnant

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:16:25 -0500

Global Health NOW: Lenacapavir Rollout Reaches Africa; and The Perils of Migrating While Pregnant

View this email in your browser

November 19, 2025


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

A volunteer counselor with a mobile testing team talks to a villager before she has an HIV test, in Sikwaazwa village, Zambia, on November 12, 2003. Gideon Mendel for The International HIV/AIDS Alliance/Corbis via Getty

Lenacapavir Rollout Reaches Africa

The breakthrough HIV prevention shot lenacapavir has arrived in Eswatini and Zambia just months after U.S. approval, marking what advocates call an unusually fast global deployment of a game-changing drug to LMICs that need it most, reports NPR.

A small, but significant start: Each country received 500 doses of the twice-yearly injection, which provides near-complete protection against HIV.

The deliveries mark the first step toward providing ~2 million doses by 2028 through the Global Fund, the U.S. State Department, and Gilead Sciences, which developed the vaccine.

Disrupted delivery: The vaccine arrives as U.S. aid cuts have weakened health systems’ ability to administer it, say health advocates.

“We are starting from a deficit that we didn’t have to,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.

South Africa cut out: Though South Africa has the world’s largest HIV-positive population, the country is being excluded from the U.S.-funded doses, reports The Washington Post (gift link), a decision critics described as “self-defeating” and driven by President Trump’s political tensions with the country.

Looking ahead: Gilead has sought approval across multiple high-burden African countries; but demand is expected to exceed supply as rollouts expand, reports the AP.

THE QUOTE

“The process at HHS has moved ‘from evidence-based decision-making to decision-based evidence-making.’”

———————————

–Daniel Jernigan, 30-year veteran of CDC who resigned in August, tells STAT+.

MATERNAL HEALTH

The Perils of Migrating While Pregnant

For pregnant women among the nomadic herders in Jammu and Kashmir, the annual springtime journey across the 3,500-meter-high Pir Panjal pass on foot is especially dangerous: The women often carry heavy loads and eventually give birth along the trail—sometimes after days without proper food or rest.

Exhaustion, anemia, and infections are common problems among the women who make it to clinics, but many never do.

“We survive by luck. But every year, another woman does not,” said Fatima Deader, a pastoralist who gave birth while trekking.

Global angle: Mobile-clinic models in Mongolia, Ethiopia, and Somalia offer maternal care models for pastoralist women. But such support in Kashmir has yet to materialize.

The Guardian

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

The next pandemic is already here: Antimicrobial resistance is upending a century of achievements in global health – WHO

Tuberculosis: MSF findings show WHO algorithms could double the number of children diagnosed and treated – MSF

Aid for data: Trump administration trades funding for health information – The Telegraph

WHO to lose nearly a quarter of its workforce – 2,000 jobs – due to US withdrawing funding – The Guardian

Flu season could be nasty this winter – NPR

As 'California sober' catches on, study suggests cannabis use reduces short-term alcohol consumption – Medical Xpress

Issue No. 2825

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.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Low-Hanging Fruit for the ‘America First’ Global Health Strategy; and Vision for a Dementia Village

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 10:02:19 -0500

Global Health NOW: Low-Hanging Fruit for the ‘America First’ Global Health Strategy; and Vision for a Dementia Village

View this email in your browser

November 18, 2025


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

Medical doctor and surgeon Bibi Khadija Sadat completes a C-section after assisting another surgeon at the maternity unit of the provincial hospital in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on August 27. Elise Blanchard/Getty

Low-Hanging Fruit for the ‘America First’ Global Health Strategy

The new America First Global Health Strategy makes no mention of global surgery—but it should, write Nardeen B. Dawood and Kee B. Park in an exclusive commentary for GHN.

Why? Solving the surgical care gap may be “the proven cost-effective, lifesaving target that the U.S. Department of State seeks,” write the authors from Harvard Medical School’s Program in Global Surgery and Social Change.

~16.9 million lives are lost annually to diseases, mostly noncommunicable, that require surgery—far surpassing the toll of historic U.S. foreign aid priorities that emphasized infectious diseases.

Synergies with surgery: Momentum to close the surgical care gap is already underway.

~30 LMICs have already developed National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plans (NSOAPs) that “seamlessly align with the tenets of the U.S.'s new global health strategy,” which requires aid-receiving countries to coinvest as a bridge to self-sufficiency.

The NSOAPs identify specific infrastructure, workforce, and information technology goals, three pillars of the U.S. plan.

Strengthening the surgical system strengthens the entire health system—and that’s “the best defense against pandemics—a core pillar of the U.S. plan,” write Dawood and Park, who also detail more of the strategy’s silver linings––and opportunities for integration that “aid-seeking countries cannot afford to overlook.” 

Nardeen B. Dawood and Kee B. Park for Global Health NOW

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

DEMENTIA

Rethinking Elder Care

Efforts to build “dementia villages” in Washington, D.C., are gaining traction, as advocates push to overhaul the caregiving model for a rapidly growing dementia population.

D.C. has the nation’s highest dementia rate, affecting 16% of its seniors—many of whom are Black and more likely to live alone.

The model: a community in the Netherlands called the Hogeweyk, where residents are able to live in small households, shop, garden, and move freely with support.

The bigger picture: With U.S. dementia cases projected to double by 2060, specialists say a paradigm shift in care—including housing and caregiver support—are urgently needed.

The Washington Post (gift link)

Related: Dementia housing without locked wards? It's a small but growing movement – NPR Shots

QUICK HITS

In Gaza and Beyond, Child Marriage Persists Long After a Ceasefire – More to Her Story

DOGE Man Drives US Bilateral Health Agreements With African Countries – Health Policy Watch

C.D.C. Links Measles Outbreaks in Multiple States for First Time – The New York Times (gift link)

Texas measles outbreak may have spurred parents to vaccinate infants before CDC responded – CIDRAP

Health data staggers back post-shutdown – Axios

Why I moved my research to China from Germany: a biologist’s experience – Nature

Issue No. 2824

ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US

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

ɬ�﷬ Faculty of Medicine news: Heavy cannabis use during pregnancy linked to disruption in brain growth

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:47:39 -0500

ɬ�﷬ researchers at the Douglas Research Centre have found evidence that heavy cannabis use during pregnancy can cause delays in brain development in the fetus that persist into adulthood.

Using advanced MRI techniques, the team tracked the effects of prenatal cannabis exposure in mice across key developmental stages.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A New Climate-Health Blueprint; and Lithuania Lowers Its Suicide Rate

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 09:16:14 -0500

Global Health NOW: A New Climate-Health Blueprint; and Lithuania Lowers Its Suicide Rate

View this email in your browser

November 17, 2025


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

The flooded entrance of the Mae de Deus Hospital after heavy rains battered Brazilian State of Rio Grande Do Sul. May 6, 2024, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Max Peixoto/Getty

A New Climate-Health Blueprint

As climate change takes an increasing toll on human health and health systems worldwide, dozens of governments and institutions at COP30 have signed onto the Belém Health Action Plan, a voluntary framework outlining a series of actions for stronger disease surveillance, climate-resilient health facilities, and protections for vulnerable communities, reports Health Policy Watch.

Health systems under strain: Extreme heat, floods, and droughts are already driving disease outbreaks and food insecurity, and overwhelming health services.

“The time of warnings has finished. Now we are living in a time of consequences,” said Brazil’s health minister Alexandre Padilha.

Plan particulars: The plan emphasizes early-warning systems and cleaner and more reliable energy for clinics, per UN News.

Yet the plan “only gestures at water, sanitation, and hygiene and fails to provide concrete strategies for improving access to clean water,” writes Brazilian physician Rômullo José Costa Ataídes for Think Global Health (commentary).

Big ambition, minimal funding: Despite broad endorsements, no new government financing accompanied the launch.

A one-time $300 million philanthropic pledge falls far short of the tens of billions in annual funding experts say LMICs need for basic adaptation.

Related: Small Island Nations Remain Sidelined at Climate Conferences – Think Global Health (commentary)

DATA POINT

1 million+
——————

Lives in lower-income countries saved by cervical cancer vaccines after a three-year effort––a milestone announced on the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day today. —Gavi

MENTAL HEALTH

Lithuania Lowers Its Suicide Rate

In the 20 years since Lithuania joined the EU, the country has more than halved its suicide rate, from ~44 deaths per 100,000 people in 2004 to 19.5.

This turnaround follows years of national initiatives, community-based services, and a cultural shift away from the stigma surrounding mental health.

Key interventions:

A network of 10,000 “gatekeepers” trained to recognize and support at-risk people.

Free municipal psychological well-being centers.

A national suicide-prevention algorithm to flag suicide risk.

A helpline for seniors, who are especially at risk.

Stricter alcohol control laws.

Remaining gaps:

Older adults are vulnerable as services move online.

Many of Lithuania’s ~42,000 Ukrainian refugees need mental health support.

Reasons to Be Cheerful

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

QUICK HITS

Hey Parliament, our kids are getting addicted to vapes. Let’s put an end to it – Bhekisisa

Iran's Water Crisis Nears Point Of No Return – RFE/RL

A stock of U.S.-bought birth control, meant for sub-Saharan Africa, goes bad in Belgium – NPR Goats and Soda

UK warned that 15% cut to health fund will force ‘impossible choices’ on Africa – The Guardian

National Institutes of Health staffer put on nondisciplinary leave after criticizing NIH politicization – The Hill

Finnish-Style Baby Boxes Get a New York Twist – Bloomberg CityLab

Issue No. 2823

ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US

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

World Health Organization: Diabetes now affects 1 in 6 pregnancies: What you need to know

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Diabetes is one of the world’s fastest-growing health challenges – and its impact stretches across every life stage, from childhood to older age.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: New Hope for Malaria Treatment; and The Curious Case of “Fedora Man”

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 08:57:42 -0500

Global Health NOW: New Hope for Malaria Treatment; and The Curious Case of “Fedora Man”

View this email in your browser

November 13, 2025


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

GanLum product sachets and granules at Novartis manufacturing site in Slovenia, October 2024. Novartis

New Hope for Malaria Treatment

For the first time in 20+ years, a next-generation anti-malarial drug is on the horizon—a critical development amid rising drug resistance to current treatments, per findings presented Tuesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting in Toronto.

The current landscape: The standard treatment used in 90% of malaria cases now is a class of drugs known as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). But partial resistance to artemisinin is growing.

The new drug: The alternative treatment—ganaplacide/lumefantrine, or GanLum—is a compound that targets malaria parasites at two key developmental stages to both treat infection and block transmission.

GanLum, which was developed by Novartis and the Medicines for Malaria Venture, showed a 99.2% cure rate in a Phase III trial among 1,688 adults and children across 12 African countries, outperforming ACTs.

The drug was given as a sachet of granules once a day for three days.

What’s next: Pending approval, the drug could reach patients within ~18 months, potentially expanding the arsenal of drugs against a disease that kills ~600,000 people annually.

Malaria experts say GanLum should be prioritized in at-risk countries—though cost may dictate its rollout.

Annalies Winny, Global Health NOW

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

OPPORTUNITY

Call for Applications

The UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) invites applications to stimulate implementation research to advance visceral leishmaniasis (VL) elimination efforts in eastern Africa.

Eligibility is limited to applicants from LMICs who have been engaged and have expertise in implementation research and in VL prevention and control.

Successful applicants (up to four) will each receive funding for up to $25,000 per proposal to conduct research in one or more designated areas of focus.

Learn more about the research objectives and apply
Deadline for submissions: November 19 (17:00 CET)

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION

The Curious Case of “Fedora Man”

In the news footage surrounding the Louvre crown jewels heist last month, one AP photo was especially arresting. In it, three police officers guard a museum entrance while a mysterious man bedecked in a fedora and waistcoat strides forward with an umbrella—“a flash of film noir in a modern-day manhunt.”

The mystery: Who was “Fedora Man,” as he was instantly dubbed by the internet? An old-school sleuth? An Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunter? Or an A.I.-generated hoax?

The reveal: Turns out the fashionable photobomber was 15-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux, a museum visitor who had chosen the look for a Louvre trip with his family because, in his words, “I like to be chic.”

The plot twist: When Pedro realized he was the accidental subject of a viral sensation, he did not rush to publicly identify himself. Instead, the teen—a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot—chose to savor the speculation.

“With this photo there is a mystery, so you have to make it last,” he said.

QUICK HITS

Exclusive: Wild form of polio found in German sewage sample, health institute says – Reuters

Warnings rise for U.S. as severe flu strain causes outbreaks in Canada, U.K. – NBC News

‘Utter hypocrisy’: tobacco firm lobbied against rules in Africa that are law in UK – The Guardian

Antibodies against Lyme disease resurge after booster dose of Valneva's vaccine candidate, phase 2 data show – CIDRAP

Scientists Grow More Hopeful About Ending a Global Organ Shortage – The New York Times

Issue No. 2822

ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US

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

World Health Organization: Protecting lives in a warming world: Health takes centre stage at COP30

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Hailed by Brazil as “a crucial moment to demonstrate the strength of the health sector in global climate action,” a blueprint for global health systems to adapt to rising temperatures and extreme weather has been launched at the COP30 UN climate conference.

World Health Organization: Ethiopia: UN supports response to potentially deadly virus outbreak

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting Ethiopia as the country faces a suspected viral haemorraghic fever outbreak in the south, the UN agency said on Thursday.

World Health Organization: Gaza: War has made children violent, sad and bereft

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

More than nine in 10 children in Gaza are displaying signs of aggressive behaviour linked to more than two years of war between Hamas and Israel, welfare agencies have reported.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Turning the Tide on TB—For Now; and Steps and Setbacks in Pakistan’s First HPV Campaign

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 09:30:00 -0500

Global Health NOW: Turning the Tide on TB—For Now; and Steps and Setbacks in Pakistan’s First HPV Campaign

View this email in your browser

November 12, 2025


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

A patient with tuberculosis holds his chest x-rays during a routine consultation with a doctor at a Médecins Sans Frontières clinic. Mumbai, India, March 22, 2022. Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty

Turning the Tide on TB—For Now

Tuberculosis cases and deaths have declined for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 2% reduction in cases and 3% drop in deaths between 2023 and 2024 reflecting hard-won gains in diagnosis and treatment.

And yet: TB was still the world’s deadliest infectious disease last year, killing 1.2 million+ people and infecting ~10.7 million.

And funding gaps threaten to undermine fragile progress.

Those are some of the key findings of the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, released today.

Other insights:

65 countries saw a 35%+ drop in TB-related deaths. The African and European regions especially saw steep declines, with deaths dropping 46% and 49%, respectively.

Rapid testing coverage rose to 54% from 48%, and ~78% of people who fell ill with TB worldwide were diagnosed and treated. The highest burdens of disease were reported in India (25%) and Indonesia (10%).

Funding crisis looms: Despite advances, significant funding gaps persist, exacerbated by cuts to international donor funding—which could result in ~2 million additional deaths between 2025 and 2035.

Along those lines, UK officials confirmed yesterday that the country will cut its financial contribution to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 15%, reports The Telegraph.

Related:

'Needle in a haystack' experiments reveal targets for new tuberculosis vaccines – Fierce Biotech

Tuberculosis: stigma is fading but the threat remains – Euronews

UCT-led study finds four in five adults with TB have no symptoms – University of Cape Town (news release)

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

CERVICAL CANCER

Steps and Setbacks in Pakistan’s First HPV Campaign

Pakistan rolled out its first-ever HPV vaccination campaign this fall in an effort to protect girls from cervical cancer, the country’s third most common cancer.

But uptake fell far below targets set by health officials, who said widespread misinformation led to parental resistance.

Mixed results: The campaign, supported by Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO, aimed to reach 90% of roughly 13 million eligible girls ages 9–14, but achieved ~70% coverage.

Barriers: Many parents and schools opted out, citing cultural sensitivities around sexual health or social media-driven rumors that the vaccine affects fertility.

“Our biggest challenge was to counter misinformation,” said Khurram Akram, technical director at Pakistan Federal Directorate of Immunizations.

NPR Goats and Soda

QUICK HITS

Israel’s longest war is leaving a trail of traumatized soldiers, with suicides also on the rise – AP

Third of donated Japanese mpox vaccines going to waste in Congo amid storage challenge – Reuters via Yahoo

African countries boost family planning funding in ‘shift from dependency’ after aid cuts – The Guardian

The MAHA-Fueled Rise of Natural Family Planning – The New York Times (gift link)

The Cancer Misinformation Train: When Influencers Co-Opt Care – Medscape (commentary)

Want a younger brain? Learn another language – Nature

The Epidemiologists Are Running for Office – The Atlantic

Issue No. 2821

ABOUT
SUPPORT US
CONTACT US

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

Global Health Programs aggregator

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Lenacapavir Rollout Reaches Africa; and The Perils of Migrating While Pregnant

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

Lenacapavir Rollout Reaches Africa

THE QUOTE

MATERNAL HEALTH

The Perils of Migrating While Pregnant

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2825

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Low-Hanging Fruit for the ‘America First’ Global Health Strategy; and Vision for a Dementia Village

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

Low-Hanging Fruit for the ‘America First’ Global Health Strategy

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

DEMENTIA

Rethinking Elder Care

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2824

ɬ�﷬ Faculty of Medicine news: Heavy cannabis use during pregnancy linked to disruption in brain growth

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A New Climate-Health Blueprint; and Lithuania Lowers Its Suicide Rate

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

A New Climate-Health Blueprint

DATA POINT

MENTAL HEALTH

Lithuania Lowers Its Suicide Rate

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2823

World Health Organization: Diabetes now affects 1 in 6 pregnancies: What you need to know

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: New Hope for Malaria Treatment; and The Curious Case of “Fedora Man”

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

New Hope for Malaria Treatment

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

OPPORTUNITY

Call for Applications

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION

The Curious Case of “Fedora Man”

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2822

World Health Organization: Protecting lives in a warming world: Health takes centre stage at COP30

World Health Organization: Ethiopia: UN supports response to potentially deadly virus outbreak

World Health Organization: Gaza: War has made children violent, sad and bereft

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Turning the Tide on TB—For Now; and Steps and Setbacks in Pakistan’s First HPV Campaign

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

Turning the Tide on TB—For Now

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

CERVICAL CANCER

Steps and Setbacks in Pakistan’s First HPV Campaign

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2821