Global Health Programs aggregator

Samir Shaheen-Hussain in Devoir: Trahir l’histoire

Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Pour marquer la Journée internationale des travailleuses et des travailleurs, soyons véritablement unis pour la santé.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A Turning Point in TB Testing; and A ‘Terrifying Medical Underworld’ Expands

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 09:14:12 -0400

Global Health NOW: A Turning Point in TB Testing; and A ‘Terrifying Medical Underworld’ Expands

View this email in your browser

April 30, 2026


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

Scanning electron micrograph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which cause TB. NIH//Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A Turning Point in TB Testing

A new portable tuberculosis test could transform the diagnostic process for patients, making it more accessible and affordable for underserved populations, and leading to earlier treatment options, reports NPR.

The traditional method: For over a century, TB diagnosis has relied on examining a patient’s phlegm samples under a microscope—an often-unwieldy, imprecise method that can miss up to half of cases or produce false positives.

It’s also difficult for many patients, like children and older people, to provide phlegm samples.

Circumventing phlegm: A new molecular test detects TB bacterium DNA via a simple tongue swab or phlegm, using technology similar to that used in hospital-based COVID tests to produce results in under 30 minutes, per Medical Xpress.

In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers analyzed the tests of ~1,400 patients across Africa and Asia and found the diagnostic process met WHO accuracy standards, while proving easy to use in low-resource settings.

The device, MiniDock MTB, was developed by the Chinese company Pluslife, which designed it to be low-cost, battery-powered, and simple enough to use in clinics without microscopes or advanced labs.

Caveats: The test may miss very early infections and cannot identify drug-resistant TB without follow-up testing.

Implications: Easier, more reliable diagnosis could reduce missed cases, expedite treatment, and slow transmission.

HEALTH SYSTEMS

A ‘Terrifying Medical Underworld’ Expands

A crisis is growing in American hospitals as more facilities resort to patient “boarding”: the practice of holding admitted patients for hours or days in the emergency departments or other ill-equipped temporary locations while awaiting a hospital bed.

The reasons for the growing practice are complex, including hospital financial structures and staffing issues. But meaningful reforms have yet to be enacted.

In a deeply researched, and deeply personal report, journalist and former ER physician Elisabeth Rosenthal lays out the crisis through the lens of her late husband’s own agony in this “terrifying medical underworld” in his last days before dying of esophageal cancer.

The quote: “Everyone knows about this problem, and no one cares enough to do anything about it. It’s barbaric,” said Adrian Haimovich, an ED doctor in Boston.

KFF Health News

OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity for Disability Inclusion

Borealis Philanthropy's Disability Inclusion Fund is seeking joint grant proposals from organizations led by and for disabled people.

These grants support cross-movement collaborations advancing disability justice, including community organizing, advocacy, narrative change, arts, and policy work.

At least one partner must be disability-focused and disability-led.

Combined annual budgets must be under $3 million.

All organizations must be U.S.-based 501(c)(3)s or fiscally sponsored.

Successful applicants can receive up to $150,000 over two years.

Learn more about the grants

Apply by May 20, 2026

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION

Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun

The frenzied squawks echoing from a pub in De Panne, Belgium, last weekend may have been alarming—if not downright annoying—to uninitiated passersby. But to the crowd inside, these were sacred hymns of homage.

The annual European Seagull Screeching Championship is, after all, more than a competition. Now in its sixth year, the event seeks to rehabilitate the much-derided sea scavengers’ reputation by “connecting gulls and people,” and reminding them that “a gull screeching brings back good memories,” explains the competition website.

The real memory-makers? The people with eerily good impressions of that unhinged cackle only a seagull can make as it divebombs your sandwich. This year, 70 contestants from 15 countries gave it their best go, Reuters reports, many donning feathers in an effort to further impress the five jury members (each “true seagull lovers,” assures the website).

And much like a seagull, organizer Claude Willaert has unapologetically bold aims for the competition, declaring to local station Focus WTV: “We are going to have more countries than at the Eurovision Song Contest.”

QUICK HITS

RFK Jr. is holding up $600M in vaccines for poor countries – Politico

Australia becomes the 30th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem – WHO

A cheap drug used by longevity enthusiasts may have a surprising impact on exercise – The Washington Post (gift link)

J. Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded the Human Genome, Dies at 79 – The New York Times (gift link)

Baby teeth hold clues to the harms of toxic metals for infants — and older kids – NPR

Why you should ‘feed a cold’: eating primes immune cells for action – Nature

Issue No. 2908

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 2026 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: When Policy Shapes Biology; and How Health Misinformation is Fueling Solar Farm Fears

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:14:09 -0400

Global Health NOW: When Policy Shapes Biology; and How Health Misinformation is Fueling Solar Farm Fears

View this email in your browser

April 29, 2026


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

A view of houses in KwanGode, a rural area outside Hillcrest, South Africa. November 29, 2025. Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty

When Policy Shapes Biology

The introduction of powerful anti-HIV drugs in regions like South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natale province has rewritten disease outcomes of the populations there. But the intervention has also reshaped the DNA of people in the region, finds a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—slowing evolutionary changes that were being driven by the epidemic, reports Science.

In KwaZulu-Natal, extreme AIDS mortality before 2005 drove measurable genetic change over a decade, rapidly reshaping immune system genes.

The inflow of antiretroviral drugs notably slowed this process.

Deep, downstream effects: Abrupt funding cuts to programs like PEPFAR and those affecting programs backed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria risk undoing that progress, potentially allowing both the epidemic and its biological impacts to intensify again.

Such interruptions and reductions have eroded critical infrastructure needed to test, track, and treat the virus, impacting not only treatment but the ability to prevent it, reports The Guardian.

South Africa’s uptake of lenacapavir, for example, will be heavily affected by funding cuts, finds a new report from Physicians for Human Rights, per Bhekisisa.

Seismic shifts on the horizon: South Africa is facing major upheaval to its HIV-fighting infrastructure: the Global Fund has notified the country that it has less than eight years before its funding wraps, per another Bhekisisa report.

Related:

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance – The New York Times (gift link)

We detected Aids through a federal early warning system. Trump has decimated it – The Guardian (commentary)

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

COMMUNICATION

How Health Misinformation is Fueling Solar Farm Fears

The expansion of large solar farms is becoming a new battleground in public health policy: Critics point to health risks as a reason to restrict expansion, while researchers say such fears are grounded in misinformation.

A range of concerns: Critics of solar farms say health risks range from the impacts of electromagnetic fields to contamination, and such concerns have contributed to recent restrictions in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri.

But the purported public health risks are not grounded in credible evidence, say researchers and environmental lawyers.

Energy goals at stake: The backlash threatens to stall solar energy transition targets even as demand grows.

ProPublica

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

More of the same. Epic Fury’s impact on global health and humanitarian actions – King’s College London (commentary)

Former Tobacco Executive Takes CDC Role – Medical Professionals Reference

‘America First’ aid policy reshapes how U.S. delivers global health assistance – PBS News (news lesson plan)

Ending Malaria Is Africa’s Smartest Investment: Here Is Why Leaders Are Acting Now – Africa.com (commentary)

In first meeting, federal autism committee focuses on ‘profound autism’ – STAT

GOP takes aim at hospital CEOs over affordability crisis – The Hill

A neuroscientist’s guide to reading the research yourself – The Washington Post (commentary, gift link)

Issue No. 2907

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 Now: Global Health NOW: UK Cuts Imperil Polio Eradication; and How One Sudanese Surgeon Held Back the Tide

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:24:39 -0400

Global Health NOW: UK Cuts Imperil Polio Eradication; and How One Sudanese Surgeon Held Back the Tide

View this email in your browser

April 28, 2026


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

A health worker administers polio drops to a child on a nationwide week-long poliovirus eradication campaign. Karachi, Pakistan, September, 1, 2025. Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty

UK Cuts Imperil Polio Eradication

Anne Wafula Strike once proudly served as the U.K.’s “poster girl” for polio eradication. Today, the Kenyan-born paralympic athlete and polio survivor has a different message: “It feels we were running a group relay and just before the finish line, someone deliberately dropped the baton.”

Last month, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) lost its largest contributor when the U.K. cut its $67–$134 million in annual funding. The move is part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's sweeping 40% reduction in foreign aid, the largest percentage cut to development assistance by any government.

With the world on the cusp of eradicating the disease, “it’s the worst possible moment” to abandon funding, says Shahin Huseynov, WHO’s polio coordinator for Europe. Only two wild polio cases were reported globally in the first three months of 2026, and just two countries remain endemic—but poliovirus has been found in U.K. wastewater this year.

Without sustained funding, the WHO warns that 200,000 children could be paralyzed by polio each year within a decade.

What it means on the ground: The cuts will likely mean prioritizing surveillance and vaccination campaigns in the highest-risk areas, and postponing the goal of eradicating polio by 2029, says Huseynov.

With GPEI's budget already cut 30% from prior U.S. cuts, advocates are urging the U.K. to honor its legal obligation to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid.

Reinstating polio funding would cost just $134 million, a fraction of what's been cut.

There’s hope that other countries will step in—such as Australia, Spain, Canada, and Korea—who are still “looking, kind of, to use their development assistance funds in a very positive way,” says Adrian Lovett of the ONE Campaign.

Nevertheless, a major concern is the signal the cuts send to other countries: “It’s not just about money. It’s about solidarity,” says Huseynov.

READ THE FULL STORY BY ANNALIES WINNY

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

CONFLICT

How One Sudanese Surgeon Held Back the Tide

Even as missiles hit Al Nao hospital, as electricity faltered, supplies dwindled and hospital staffers fled, orthopedic surgeon Jamal Eltaeb kept working.

Al Nao is one of the only functioning hospitals in the region outside Khartoum in civil war-torn Sudan—and Eltaeb knew it was a lifeline for hundreds of desperate patients.

For three years, he has found a way to keep caring for them—despite direct attacks on the hospital and amidst mass-casualty bomb strikes where 100+ wounded patients needed emergency care.

“We were working everywhere, in tents, outside, on the floor, doing everything to save patients’ lives,” said Eltaeb, who was just recognized with the $1 million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity.

Dire, ongoing need: ~40% of Sudan’s hospitals no longer function as the war enters its fourth year.

AP

Related: Darfur: Two decades on, a new generation of children faces 'horrific violence' – UN News

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Can the U.S. handle another pandemic? – PBS News (video)

The US CDC on the brink – The Lancet (commentary)

Bedilu Abebe: Why Malaria Still Persists in Ethiopia – The Reporter (Ethiopia)

Trump administration warns against using federal dollars on fentanyl test strips – STAT

Toxins plus climate harms likely cause of reduced fertility, study finds – The Guardian

CDC warns of drug-resistant salmonella infections linked to backyard poultry – AP

How to let go of grudges — and why it could be good for your health – The Washington Post (gift link)

Issue No. 2906

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: WHO calls for stepped up action to eliminate viral hepatitis

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Countries are making measurable progress in combatting viral hepatitis, but the disease remains a major global health challenge, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report published on Tuesday.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A ‘Critical Phase’ in the Malaria Fight; and Solar Powering Maternal Survival in Nigeria

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 09:25:45 -0400

Global Health NOW: A ‘Critical Phase’ in the Malaria Fight; and Solar Powering Maternal Survival in Nigeria

View this email in your browser

April 27, 2026


Forward	Share	Post

IN FOCUS

Midwife Sarah Atim speaks to expectant mothers about malaria vaccination during an antenatal care session at a hospital in Uganda's Apac district. April 8, 2025. Hajarah Nalwadda/Getty

A ‘Critical Phase’ in the Malaria Fight

The global fight against malaria is at a pivotal juncture, as major scientific advances like vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics converge with rising threats like drug resistance and underfunded health systems—a set of opportunities and barriers “defining a critical phase for malaria control,” per Nature Africa as World Malaria Day 2026 is marked.

New tools, new hope: Artemether-lumefantrine, the first malaria treatment tailored for newborns and small infants, has been approved, closing a longstanding gap in care for “one of the most underserved patient groups,” which is also the most vulnerable, per the WHO.

Three new rapid diagnostic tests are also rolling out, designed to detect mutating parasite strains that previously slipped through standard testing.

And new threats: There is increasing evidence that parasites are growing resistant to artemisinin—the “backbone” of lifesaving therapies—per Nature Africa. This shift, along with insecticide-resistant mosquitoes and expanding mosquito habitats, is making it difficult to build on hard-won gains like the vaccine rollouts.

Ongoing toll of disruption: Meanwhile, malaria programs throughout Africa are still seeing the effects of the sudden USAID cuts last year, reports CIDRAP. In Zambia, for example, malaria hospitalizations are now increasing—likely due to the lack of regular USAID-funded spraying, doctors say.

And even as bilateral agreements with the U.S. are formed to fund countries’ malaria programs, countries with high malaria burdens are struggling to regain lost traction.

The Quote: “We’re just running all the time, and the malaria parasite is catching up with us all the time,” said Jane E. Carlton, director of the Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Related:

How mosquitoes—and malaria—helped shape the whereabouts of early humankind – NPR

AI-powered drones slash malaria cases – GhanaWeb

Can you stop malaria crossing borders? One nation’s bid to wipe out the disease – The Guardian

Malaria rebound spurs AI-driven hunt for parasite genes linked to deadly cases – Phys.org

DATA POINT

379 million
——————

Malaria cases averted across 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa attributable to the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative investment from 2005 to 2024, per new analysis from Imperial College London and the Malaria Atlas Project. ––Clinton Health Access Initiative

TECH & INNOVATION

Solar Powering Maternal Survival in Nigeria

Electricity can be the difference between life and death for many maternity ward patients in Nigeria, where ~40% of primary health care centers lack reliable power.

Power interruptions lead to delayed surgeries, stalled oxygen flow, and nonworking incubators, and also hamper routine procedures that require light, like suturing.

Lifesaving solar energy: Since Gombe State Specialist Hospital installed a solar-hybrid system in 2020, maternal deaths have dropped from 15–20 per month to 1–2, and neonatal deaths have fallen from 50+ per month to 20–25.

“There is no interruption. We can suture, we can operate, we can do everything,” said Sarigamo Ibrahim, a nurse and midwife who manages the maternity unit.

Nigeria Health Watch

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

South Carolina’s 200-day measles outbreak is over. What it cost. – The Post and Courier

Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse. – The New York Times (commentary; gift link) Thanks for the tip, Dave Cundiff!

What happened to Covid? – STAT

The Next Global Health Crisis Is Already Here: Childhood Trauma from War – The Good Men Project

Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s governing body – Science

Untangling the complex relationship between HIV-exposure and tuberculosis in children: a narrative review – The Lancet Global Health

So, you got bit by a tick. Here’s exactly what to do next. – The Washington Post (gift link)

Issue No. 2905

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: A race for rights: How sport is helping protect girls in Uganda

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

On a red running track in eastern Uganda, coach Zuena Cheptoek is doing more than training runners. For many girls in the Sebei subregion, she is also a confidante, a mentor and first line of protection against female genital mutilation, child marriage and abuse.

ɬ�﷬ Faculty of Medicine news: Unleashing natural killer cells against cancer

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:50:22 -0400

Scientists have developed a strategy to boost the cancer-fighting power of natural killer (NK) cells, part of the immune system’s first line of defence. NK cells can detect and destroy cancer cells, but tumours often create a protective barrier that blocks them, allowing cancer to grow.

Researchers at ɬ�﷬’s Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute, in collaboration with the Research Institute of the ɬ�﷬ Health Centre, found that suppressing two specific proteins helps NK cells overcome this blockage, turning them into more potent cancer killers.

World Health Organization: For every generation, vaccines work and they have saved over 150 million lives: WHO

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives, as ordinary people chose to protect themselves, their children and their communities from diseases like measles, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, and rotavirus.

World Health Organization: Two-thirds of global hunger concentrated in 10 conflict-hit countries

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

A growing share of global hunger is becoming entrenched in a small group of conflict-hit countries, with two-thirds of people facing acute food insecurity concentrated in just 10 nations, a major international report backed by UN agencies warns.

Global Health Programs aggregator

Samir Shaheen-Hussain in Devoir: Trahir l’histoire

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A Turning Point in TB Testing; and A ‘Terrifying Medical Underworld’ Expands

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

A Turning Point in TB Testing

HEALTH SYSTEMS

A ‘Terrifying Medical Underworld’ Expands

OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity for Disability Inclusion

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION

Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2908

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: When Policy Shapes Biology; and How Health Misinformation is Fueling Solar Farm Fears

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

When Policy Shapes Biology

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

COMMUNICATION

How Health Misinformation is Fueling Solar Farm Fears

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2907

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: UK Cuts Imperil Polio Eradication; and How One Sudanese Surgeon Held Back the Tide

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS: GHN EXCLUSIVE

UK Cuts Imperil Polio Eradication

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

CONFLICT

How One Sudanese Surgeon Held Back the Tide

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2906

World Health Organization: WHO calls for stepped up action to eliminate viral hepatitis

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: A ‘Critical Phase’ in the Malaria Fight; and Solar Powering Maternal Survival in Nigeria

TOP STORIES

IN FOCUS

A ‘Critical Phase’ in the Malaria Fight

DATA POINT

TECH & INNOVATION

Solar Powering Maternal Survival in Nigeria

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2905

World Health Organization: A race for rights: How sport is helping protect girls in Uganda

ɬ�﷬ Faculty of Medicine news: Unleashing natural killer cells against cancer

World Health Organization: For every generation, vaccines work and they have saved over 150 million lives: WHO

World Health Organization: Two-thirds of global hunger concentrated in 10 conflict-hit countries