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Contributors to Global Health NOW include: Brian Simpson, Dayna Kerecman Myers, Annalies Winny, Morgan Coulson, Kate Belz, Melissa Hartman, and Jackie Powder.

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Global Health Now: Global Health NOW 062426

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:48:12 -0400

Global Health NOW 062426

June 24, 2026

IN FOCUS

Swimmers sunbathe on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris during a heat wave, on June 20. Arnaud Finistre/AFP via Getty

Europe’s Heat Emergency

As Europe endures one of its most extreme early-summer heat waves on record, communities are closing schools, restricting outdoor activities and sports, mobilizing emergency responders, and struggling to maintain power, water, and transport systems under strain, reports the AP.

Intensifying toll: 350 million+ people—roughly two-thirds of Europe’s population—are seeing temperatures above 30°C (86°F), reports The Guardian.

The heat wave is being driven by an “Omega block”—a high-pressure weather pattern that is trapping a mass of hot air over Europe, reports Reuters via Yahoo.
This year’s risks fit a larger trend, as the continent warms at 2X+ the ‌global average, leading to 200,000+ heat-related deaths over the past four years—including ~1,500 people in May’s heat wave, per the AP.

Dangers and disruptions:

In France, which recorded its hottest day on record yesterday (44.3°C/111.7°F), 40 drowning deaths have been reported as people seek relief in rivers and canals.
845 schools closed in France; in England, ~300 schools closed amid the nation’s failure to adapt for heat, per another Guardian report.

Scrambling to adapt: One billion more people worldwide now face at least one day of “extreme heat stress” annually compared to the 1970s, per a study published in Nature Climate Change, reports ABC News via WBAL. As dangers escalate, so does the body of research seeking adaptation strategies:

In Belgium and the Netherlands, researchers are studying how migrant communities experienced with heat can shape urban adaptation strategies, per Belga News Agency.
And the new South Asia Hub of the Global Heat Health Information Network finds that adaptations like cool roofs can reduce deaths and the burden on infrastructure, per the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Related:

How India’s heatwaves are shutting schools – and pushing women out of the workforce – The Guardian

New report documents Singapore’s multi-stakeholder approach to urban heat resilience – National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (news release)

THE LATEST: EBOLA

As Ebola cases surge over 1,000, experts say outbreak could be the worst ever – The Washington Post (gift link)

US releases experimental Ebola drug for DR Congo outbreak trials – RFI

France reports first Ebola case in doctor returning from Congo – The Independent

Construction of US-backed Ebola quarantine unit in Kenya is stopped – CIDRAP

Ebola Symptoms in Current Outbreak May Be Milder Than in Previous Ones – The New York Times (gift link)

ESSENTIAL READING

STIs

Australia’s Syphilis Resurgence

Over the past decade, syphilis cases in Australia have nearly doubled, rising from 4,773 in 2015 to 8,993 in 2025 and leading health officials last year to declare the outbreak a “communicable disease incident of national significance.”

Impact on infants: The disease’s comeback has especially impacted newborns, with 130 cases of congenital syphilis reported in the last 10 years, resulting in 42 deaths, per the Australian CDC.

First Nations children accounted for 60% of those deaths.

Northern Territory nexus: Infection rates in the country’s Northern Territory are 7.5X the national average.

Especially high prevalence among Aboriginal communities has led health leaders to adopt culturally informed health worker training and expand community-led testing efforts.

ABC Australia

QUICK HITS

US: Millions Lost Health Insurance When Subsidies Expired – Human Rights Watch

Treating Elephantiasis Cuts HIV Risk In Tanzania – Eurasia Review

The Covid Czar People Still Trust – The New York Times (commentary/gift link)

Cannabis increases the risk of psychotic episodes, but legalization does not always have the same consequences – El País

Does it seem easier to book a dermatologist for Botox than a mole check? You're not alone – CBC

How I used public radio to recruit 20,000 participants for a peer-reviewed study on walking breaks – STAT

Issue No. 2398

The New York Times (gift link)

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World Health Organization: Lives at risk in DR Congo as Ebola outbreak continues to outpace response

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to spread faster than aid efforts can keep pace, despite significant gains in treatment capacity and growing community engagement, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Filipino Youths Pulled to Vaping; and Bigger Vehicles, More American Deaths

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:41:54 -0400

Global Health NOW: Filipino Youths Pulled to Vaping; and Bigger Vehicles, More American Deaths

June 23, 2026

IN FOCUS

Young Filipinos who participated in a focus group study believed that they were the main target of e-cigarette marketing. Institute for Global Tobacco Control

Filipino Youths Pulled to Vaping

As adolescent vaping surges in the Philippines, young people say they are drawn to the products through a compelling range of marketing tactics: trendy product design, fun flavors, social media influencers, and endless online trends.

Those are just some of the findings from a study by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which surveyed 171 Filipino participants ages 13–20.

The study was conducted as vaping prevalence among youths skyrocketed from 7.5% in 2021 to ~40% in 2023.
The surge followed passage of a July 2022 law allowing previously banned flavors and dropping the minimum purchase age from 21 to 18, per IGTC.

Sweet scents and social capital: Flavors—especially sweet, fruity, or candy-esque—and product design are appealing, but media portrayals of vaping as a symbol of an aspirational lifestyle are normalizing the products in “dangerous” ways, researchers told Inquirer.net.

“Vape promotion is reaching them at every turn,” said lead study author Tuo-Yen Tseng.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

ROAD SAFETY

Bigger Vehicles, More American Deaths

After decades of improvement, U.S. pedestrian fatalities have increased by ~75% since 2009. One key culprit, per an extensive New York Times analysis: The growing popularity of larger pickups and SUVs.

200–400 deaths per year—or ~10% of pedestrian deaths—could have been avoided if vehicle sizes had remained similar to those of the early 2000s, found the investigation.

Why? Two key reasons:

Higher hoods: More vehicles’ hoods are now taller than the average American’s center of gravity, making them more likely to knock people to the ground and increasing the risk of fatal injuries.

Bigger blind zones: Blind spots have expanded substantially in popular truck models, making it much harder for drivers to spot pedestrians.

QUICK HITS

Ebola outbreak in DR Congo tops 1,000 cases, at least 254 dead – CIDRAP

Displaced in Lebanon, Women Search for Water, Privacy and Dignity – More to Her Story

Who will lead the WHO after Trump's retreat? – Politico

‘The law is clear’: Sasha Stevenson fights back as vigilantes try to keep migrants out of clinics – Bhekisisa

‘Healed Healers Heal’: Inside the Push for an Indigenous Medical School – Native News Online

Indiana Takes On Powerful Hospitals by Capping Prices They Charge Employers – KFF Health News

A blood test that screens for multiple types of cancer? It may be available soon – NPR

Issue No. 2397

The New York Times (gift link)

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World Health Organization: Ebola in DR Congo: first month of outbreak sees record number of cases – UN humanitarians

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Ebola has been spreading at unprecedented speed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), bringing risk and fear into people’s daily lives, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Hantavirus and Ebola Raise Questions About Quarantine; and Sidelining the CDC in Global Health

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:46:54 -0400

Global Health NOW: Hantavirus and Ebola Raise Questions About Quarantine; and Sidelining the CDC in Global Health

June 22, 2026

IN FOCUS

Passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius board UME buses, on May 11, in Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images

Hantavirus and Ebola Raise Questions About Quarantine

Today has been dubbed ‘Freedom Day’ for quarantined passengers of the Dutch cruise ship the MV Hondius, whose release today in their home countries marks the close of an 80-day hantavirus outbreak that infected 13 people and claimed three lives, reports The Telegraph.

But the questions and debate surrounding outbreak response continue—especially regarding quarantine—and now take on fresh urgency as the struggle to contain Ebola in the DRC grows.

End of an outbreak: The quarantine period was six weeks—the maximum known incubation window for the Andes strain of the virus. No additional cases emerged during that time.

Isolation: protection or coercion? The outbreak exposed a spectrum of differences in how countries balanced public safety and individual liberty, reports the AFP via Yahoo!News.

Passengers in the UK were “voluntarily” isolated at home with daily well-being checks and grocery deliveries.
Others, such as U.S. passengers, faced mandatory quarantine measures, including one passenger whose initial medical clearance for release from quarantine last week was overruled by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Legal experts described the measure as “arbitrary” and “authoritarian,” and warned it could undermine public trust in future emergencies, reports The Guardian.

A multipronged crisis in DRC: Those concerns are now echoed in the DRC, where hungry Ebola patients have fled treatment centers in search of food, reports Bloomberg via The Straits Times.

Aid agencies say hunger and inadequate medical support have become major barriers to containment. More than 150 patients have reportedly fled Ebola treatment facilities.
“In this environment, isolation is seen [by Ebola patients] as a coercive mechanism that prioritizes abstract public health metrics over the welfare of individual patients, rather than a pathway to healing,” per a commentary published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Related: Ebola and hantavirus can start like the flu but turn deadly fast – ScienceDaily

THE QUOTE

“The world’s policymakers are in Lisbon, yet here I am in Uganda, trying to explain to an embassy why I should have the right to travel. ... The WHO says we need ‘midwifery models of care’. I have a rare example of this, but I’ve been silenced.”

——————————–––
—Harriet Akello, from Uganda, who was among the eminent African and Asian midwives denied visas to attend a key maternal and child health conference in Lisbon last week.

POLICY

Sidelining the CDC in Global Health

The U.S. CDC’s role in global health programs will be drastically curtailed later this year, as the State Department assumes more control of such programs and funds following the dismantling of USAID.

Background: The CDC’s international offices and established partnerships have long helped administrate PEPFAR and related programs, including outbreak investigations, immunization campaigns, and disease surveillance in vulnerable countries.

But under the new structure, the State Department plans to offer transactional, country-by-country funding agreements, which include the option to choose from a “menu” of 34 itemized health-related services such as disease surveillance.

The overhaul is raising concerns that governments will scale back critical prevention programs—weakening laboratory networks, disrupting HIV care for millions, and undermining outbreak investigations.

“This is the end of autonomy and independence and long-term capacity at the CDC for work in global health,” said Atul Gawande, a former head of global health at USAID.

Related: These 3 brothers lost their parents to AIDS. Now they struggle to make it on their own – NPR

QUICK HITS

Federal grant delays could jeopardize essential disability services, research – STAT

China launches probe into baby diaper chemical safety concerns – Xinhua

FDA panel backs first-of-its-kind flu vaccine using mRNA technology – AP

Researchers caught in the crossfire as companies and governments grapple over AI safety – Science

Most sunscreen content on TikTok is accurate, but it’s the misinfo that goes viral – NBC News

Issue No. 2936