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Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: The Megabill’s Major Health Cuts; Hanoi’s Concrete-Driven Air Quality Crisis; and Medical Schools Dust Off Old Curriculum

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:05:02 -0400

Global Health NOW: The Megabill’s Major Health Cuts; Hanoi’s Concrete-Driven Air Quality Crisis; and Medical Schools Dust Off Old Curriculum

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July 2, 2025


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Storm clouds hover over the U.S. Capitol shortly after the Senate passed its version of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" yesterday. Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty

The Megabill’s Major Health Cuts

The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed yesterday by the U.S. Senate includes massive rollbacks to health programs that could lead to lost coverage for ~17 million Americans over the next decade, reports The Washington Post (gift link).

The cuts also threaten the viability of hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers, as they face the prospect of absorbing more care costs and receiving less federal support, reports NPR Shots.

On the line:

Cuts to Medicaid, and work requirements: Medicaid faces the largest cuts in the program’s history, reports The Hill, largely stemming from a work requirement that could end coverage for millions who do not meet new standards and that involves filing regular paperwork proving 80 hours of work a month.

Medicaid enrollees could also face new out-of-pocket copays up to $35.

Stricter ACA enrollment: Automatic reenrollment will end for people with ACA marketplace coverage; instead, they will be required to update information annually within a shorter enrollment period.

Blows to providers—and rural care: The bill ends a decades-long practice of state provider taxes, which health facilities pay to increase matching federal payments for state Medicaid plans, reports CNBC.

Loss of this funding could push 300+ hospitals toward service reductions or closure, per KFF Health News.

Abortion providers cut out: The legislation eliminates Medicaid funding entirely for any health service providers who offer abortion care, reports TIME.

What’s next: The bill now returns to the House, which passed an earlier version; some Republicans have raised objections to the Senate’s changes to that version of the bill.

Related: Mayors, doctor groups sue over Trump’s efforts to restrict Obamacare enrollment – AP

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

EDITORS' NOTE

No GHN July 3–4

We’ll be on a short publishing break for the July 4 holiday in the U.S. We’ll be back on Monday, July 7!

But for now, more news. —The Editors

The Latest

One-Liners

A fast-moving wildfire fueled by a European heat wave killed two farmers in northern Lleida, Spain, late Tuesday before a rainstorm helped firefighters bring the fire under control; European weather officials link the scorching temperatures—unprecedented for this early in the summer—to climate change. The Hill

A 3-year-old in Burma has been paralyzed by polio after contracting vaccine-derived polio—an indication of reduced vaccination coverage as the country’s health care system continues to deteriorate amid its civil war. The Telegraph

Neighborhood segregation contributes to lung cancer development, per a new study of 71,634 participants that found that reduced residential segregation was “significantly” associated with fewer lung cancer cases among Black adults. JAMA Network Open

Women 65+ are more likely to have high-risk HPV infections and abnormal cervical cells than younger women, finds a large-scale observational study published in Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Medicine, suggesting that cervical screenings should be offered to over-65s, a population unlikely to have received HPV vaccinations. The Guardian

U.S. and Global Health Policy News

USAID cancelled rape survivor kits for Congo as conflict erupted – Reuters

Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs – Nature

HHS layoffs were likely unlawful and must be halted, US judge says – AP

RFK Jr. singled out one study to cut funds for global vaccines. Is that study valid? – NPR Goats and Soda

Tom Frieden: RFK Jr.’s intellectually dishonest excuse for defunding Gavi, the vaccine alliance – STAT (commentary)

Health and Science Diplomacy Protects Everyone – Think Global Health (commentary)

POLLUTION

Hanoi’s Concrete-Driven Air Quality Crisis

Over the last year, Hanoi repeatedly topped global air pollution charts as smog draped the city.

In January, the average air quality index surpassed the “hazardous” threshold, prompting warnings from health officials.

And in March, the city recorded levels of harmful PM2.5 particle levels that were more than 24X the WHO’s recommended limits.

What’s fueling the pollution? Urbanization in Vietnam has led to a rapid increase in development, which includes widespread use of concrete for highways, metro lines, and buildings.

The creation and use of cement accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions.

Vietnam uses more cement per capita than any country except China, and almost 2X than the U.S.

NBC

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

VACCINES

Medical Schools Dust Off Old Curriculum

As vaccination rates in the U.S. fall, medical students and young physicians are getting more schooling on how to identify once-eliminated or rarely seen childhood diseases—including measles, rotavirus, pertussis, and chicken pox.

Old diseases, new tools: AI diagnostic aids and learning modules—including how to identify a measles rash on different skin tones—are being called a “game changer” for medical training.

The Quote: “We’re having a [measles] resurgence, the highest in 25 years, and you might have not reviewed that since the first year of medical school,” said Nicholas Cozzi, EMS medical director at Rush University Medical School.

Axios

MINI DIVERSION

QUICK HITS

Lethal heat is Europe’s new climate reality – Politico

What therapists treating immigrants hear – The New Yorker

‘The nurse told me I couldn’t keep my baby’: how a controversial Danish ‘parenting test’ separated a Greenlandic woman from her children – The Guardian

What I Heard on a Suicide Hotline for Trans Kids – The New York Times (commentary; gift link)

Doctors don't get much menopause training. State lawmakers are trying to change that – NPR

Decolonising global health: an essential conversation in medical education –The BMJ (commentary)

Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? Unorthodox approach gets two real-world tests – Science

People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics – MIT Technology Review

Issue No. 2751

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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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.

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Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: The Loneliest Numbers: 100 Deaths an Hour; The DRC Aims to Eliminate AIDS in Children; and Using AI to Fight Ebola Misinformation

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:46:53 -0400

Global Health NOW: The Loneliest Numbers: 100 Deaths an Hour; The DRC Aims to Eliminate AIDS in Children; and Using AI to Fight Ebola Misinformation

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July 1, 2025


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Silhouette of a boy looking through the window of a colorful building in the Commonwealth of Dominica. June 13, 2019. Michael Melford/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty

The Loneliest Numbers: 100 Deaths an Hour

Every year, 871,000+ people die of causes stemming from loneliness, finds a new report by the WHO’s Commission on Social Connection, which named the issue as “a defining challenge of our time.”

Diagnosing loneliness: The WHO defines loneliness as the distress that comes from the lack of desired relationships, while social isolation is defined by the objective absence of social ties, per UN News.

One in 6 people globally suffers from loneliness. Social isolation is estimated to affect up to 1 in 3 older adults, and 1 in 4 adolescents.

Health impacts: Loneliness is linked to chronic illness, depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline.

Especially vulnerable: People in low- and middle-income countries, who report loneliness at 2X the rate in high-income countries; and young people, as ~20.9% of adolescents reported loneliness compared with 11.8% of those aged 60+, reports Euronews.

The loneliest group: Teenage girls, with 24.3% reporting the condition.

Multiple factors contribute to a culture of loneliness, including low income and education, poor health, lack of community infrastructure, and use of digital technologies.

Roadmap for action: The WHO is urging countries to make loneliness a priority in research, including policy in areas like digital reform and community spaces, and public interventions like Sweden’s €30 million loneliness initiative.

Related: The cost of loneliness can be death. Here’s how to find good friends – CNN

DATA POINT

14 million+
———————

Preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues. —IS Global - Barcelona Institute for Global Health

The Latest

One-Liners

Civilian deaths and rights violations in Ukraine are increasing—with a 37% increase in civilian casualties from December 2024 through May 2025 over the same period a year earlier, per a new UN human rights office report, fueled by a sharp rise in drone attacks. UN News

Suriname became the first country in the Amazon region to earn WHO malaria-free certification yesterday; strategies including universal access to diagnosis and treatment, an extensive community health worker network, and nationwide screening helped reach even high-risk mobile populations in remote mining areas. PAHO

Mpox can infect the brain and damage brain cells, finds a new Switzerland-based study published in Nature Communications, which found that as the virus spreads between neuronic cells it creates bead-like thickenings seen in neurodegenerative diseases. Swiss Info

Aging-related inflammation appears to be linked to industrialized lifestyles, and varies significantly across global populations, per a study published in Nature Aging, which found that among Indigenous populations, inflammation increased with infections—but not with age. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

U.S. and Global Health Policy News

The Impact of NIH Cuts Ripples Beyond U.S. Borders – Undark

Why it’s so easy for the US to cut children’s access to healthcare: ‘There’s no right to these programs’ – The Guardian

EPA employees put names to ‘declaration of dissent’ over agency moves under Trump – AP

How to Wreck the Nation’s Health, by the Numbers – The New York Times (commentary; gift link)

From Atlanta to Côte D'Ivoire: How the CDC Protects Americans Overseas – American Foreign Service Association

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

HIV/AIDS

The DRC Aims to Eliminate AIDS in Children

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has launched a new national initiative to eliminate AIDS among children by 2030—a move the UNAIDS director for the DRC called a “a breath of fresh air” amid widespread cuts to global HIV services.

Background: Despite significant gains in the country’s response to adult HIV, children still have “extremely limited” access to HIV prevention and treatment services.

Just 44% of DRC children living with HIV in the country currently receive lifesaving treatment.

And every year, thousands of Congolese children are born infected—as a lack of prenatal screening means opportunities are missed to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

Details: The $18 million effort will include improving prevention, early detection, and treatment of HIV for children, adolescents, and pregnant women.

UN News

Related: In a World with HIV Treatment, Why Are Teenagers Still Dying of AIDS? – Harvard Medicine

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

TECH & INNOVATION

Using AI to Fight Ebola Misinformation

Scientists in Uganda have used AI to generate transcripts based on thousands of hours of radio broadcasts for a study to learn what the nation’s communities are hearing about Ebola outbreaks.

Uganda’s internet penetration rate is ~27%, meaning 36.5 million people are offline.

~55% of the population relies on the radio for information.

Analyzing what the public is hearing, scientists say, is the first step to countering misinformation, tailoring public health messaging, and shaping policy.

The study found that the radio conversations during Uganda's Ebola outbreak in 2022 were largely dominated by government officials and media personalities. The lack of input from scientists led many Ugandans to believe the outbreak was tied to political and financial interests and that it was fabricated.

Nature

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

QUICK HITS

Israeli bombing exposes critical shortages in Iran’s healthcare system – The New Humanitarian

From coop to cave: Inside the high-tech hunt for H5N1 and Disease X – The Telegraph

Infertility experts warn against ‘restorative reproductive medicine,’ promoted by new Arkansas law – Arkansas Advocate

A Texas boy needed protection from measles. The vaccine cost $1,400 – KFF Health News

Maternal flu vaccine protects newborns, vaccination in kids also effective, studies show – CIDRAP

Study Links Health Center Closures to Higher County Mortality Rates – Community Health Forum Thanks for the tip, Chiara Jaffe!

New AI tool raises concerns over industry's ability to sow doubt on pollution research – Environmental Health News

Obesity drugs made in China could power next wave of treatments – Nature

Candy colors, THC inside: How cannabis edibles are tricking teen brains – Washington State University via ScienceDaily

Issue No. 2750

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��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:35:08 -0400

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.

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:35:08 -0400

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.

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:11:30 -0400

Earlier this month, the ��ϲ�� 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.

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:11:30 -0400

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:11:30 -0400

Global Health Now: 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

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:32:47 -0400

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

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June 30, 2025


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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

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World Health Organization: Every hour, 100 people die of loneliness-related causes, UN health agency reports

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

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).

World Health Organization: DR Congo: New initiative to eliminate HIV in children ‘a beacon of hope’

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

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.

Global Health Programs aggregator

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: The Megabill’s Major Health Cuts; Hanoi’s Concrete-Driven Air Quality Crisis; and Medical Schools Dust Off Old Curriculum

The Megabill’s Major Health Cuts

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

EDITORS' NOTE

No GHN July 3–4

The Latest

One-Liners

U.S. and Global Health Policy News

POLLUTION

Hanoi’s Concrete-Driven Air Quality Crisis

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

VACCINES

Medical Schools Dust Off Old Curriculum

MINI DIVERSION

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2751

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: The Loneliest Numbers: 100 Deaths an Hour; The DRC Aims to Eliminate AIDS in Children; and Using AI to Fight Ebola Misinformation

The Loneliest Numbers: 100 Deaths an Hour

DATA POINT

The Latest

One-Liners

U.S. and Global Health Policy News

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

HIV/AIDS

The DRC Aims to Eliminate AIDS in Children

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

TECH & INNOVATION

Using AI to Fight Ebola Misinformation

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2750

���ϲ����� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

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

���ϲ����� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

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

���ϲ����� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

���ϲ����� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

���ϲ����� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

Global Health Now: 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

The Human Cost of Aid Cuts Comes Into Focus

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

DATA POINT

The Latest

One-Liners

U.S. and Global Health Policy News

HUMAN RIGHTS

Ensnared in Cambodia’s Scam Centers

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

DRUG TRAFFICKING

Captagon’s Continued Grip in Syria

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

Issue No. 2749

World Health Organization: Every hour, 100 people die of loneliness-related causes, UN health agency reports

World Health Organization: DR Congo: New initiative to eliminate HIV in children ‘a beacon of hope’

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Alan Evans receives Order of Canada

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal

��ϲ�� Faculty of Medicine news: Dietetics students help MUHC mark National Indigenous Peoples Day with a special meal