WORLD POPULATION: 7,960,832,160
POLITICS & POLICIES
June 30th, 2022: The devastating human, economic, and social cost of COVID-19 has highlighted the urgent need for coordinated action to build stronger health systems and mobilize additional resources for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR). https://www.who.int/news/item/30-06-2022-world-bank-board-approves-new-fund-for-pandemic-prevention–preparedness-and-response-(ppr)
June 27th, 2022: The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations have pledged to raise $600bn in private and public funds over five years to finance infrastructure in developing countries and counter China’s older, multi trillion-dollar Belt and Road project. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/27/g7-pledges-600bn-infrastructure-plan-to-counter-china
June 20th, 2022: (Reuters) – Russia on Monday accused some members of the Group of 20 major economies of politicizing a meeting on global health, as it faced criticism over how its invasion of Ukraine in February had plunged its healthcare system into chaos. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-06-20/russia-accuses-g20-members-of-politicizing-health-talks-after-criticism-over-ukraine
June 9th, 2022: BANGKOK — Thailand made it legal to cultivate and possess marijuana as of Thursday, like a dream come true for an aging generation of pot smokers who recall the kick the legendary Thai Stick variety delivered. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/09/1103878929/thailand-decriminalizes-marijuana
June 8th, 2022: The COVID-19 pandemic took a devastating human toll on Latin America and the Caribbean, taking the lives of more than 2.7 million people across our hemisphere — accounting for more than 40 percent of global reported deaths. It showed us the many cracks in our global health systems and underscored the importance of strong and resilient health systems for the entire population, health security, and pandemic preparedness and response, starting with a strong foundation based on cooperation, transparency, and accountability. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/08/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-action-on-covid-19-pandemic-response-and-improving-health-systems-and-health-security-in-the-americas/
PROGRAMS, CONFERENCES, GRANTS, AWARDS & EVENTS
June 7th, 2022: The World Hepatitis Summit 2022 will review progress and renew commitments by global partners to accelerate action to achieve the global target of eliminating of viral hepatitis by 2030. At the 2016 World Health Assembly, countries made a historic commitment to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Since 2016, countries have met the global 2020 target of reducing the incidence of hepatitis B in children under 5 and the number of people receiving treatment for hepatitis C has increased 10-fold. https://www.who.int/news/item/07-06-2022-world-hepatitis-summit-2022-urges-action-to-eliminate-viral-hepatitis-as-unexplained-hepatitis-cases-in-children-rise-globally
June 3rd, 2022: Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have received a $5.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Fogarty International Center to help foster the next generation of global health scientists. The award, titled “Integrated Network of Scholars in Global Health Research Training (INSIGHT),” will expand global health research across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean by providing one-year mentored research training to U.S. and lower-middle-income country scholars. https://www.umaryland.edu/news/archived-news/june-2022/nih-grant-expands-global-health-research.php
June 1st, 2022: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has shaped the global development landscape for two decades, with about $60 billion in grants to its name. Global health is one of the foundation’s biggest priorities — so we’re taking a look at where that money went. https://www.devex.com/news/devex-newswire-who-gets-gates-global-health-money-103369
HISTORICAL, REPORTS, DOCUMENTS, DATA & INDEXES
June 16th, 2022: New study offers the first comprehensive, county-level life expectancy estimates in the US and highlights important differences among racial and ethnic groups. The analysis reveals that despite overall life expectancy gains of 2.3 years (from 76.8 years in 2000 to 79.1 years in 2019) during the 20-year study period (2000–2019), disparities among racial and ethnic groups remain, with Black populations still experiencing shorter life expectancy than White populations. https://www.healthdata.org/news-release/lancet-disparities-life-expectancy-persist-among-racial-and-ethnic-groups-across-us
RESEARCH
June 23rd,2022: The first COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial setting was administered on Dec 8, 2020. To ensure global vaccine equity, vaccine targets were set by the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility and WHO. However, due to vaccine shortfalls, these targets were not achieved by the end of 2021. We aimed to quantify the global impact of the first year of COVID-19 vaccination programmes. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6/fulltext
June 20th,2022: SINGAPORE, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the Company) today announced the launch of the new J&J Satellite Center for Global Health Discovery (Satellite Center) at Singapore’s Duke-NUS Medical School, jointly established by Duke University and the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a graduate-entry medical school and research powerhouse. As the first of the J&J Centers for Global Health Discovery (J&J Centers) in the Asia-Pacific region, the Satellite Center at Duke-NUS aims to help drive new solutions to address flaviviruses, which disproportionately impact communities across the region, by bringing together the talent and expertise of the world’s largest healthcare company with that of a leading academic institution. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/johnson–johnson-opens-first-satellite-center-for-global-health-discovery-in-asia-pacific-at-duke-nus-to-advance-dengue-research-301571141.html
June 13th, 2022: Stress — in the form of traumatic events, job strain, everyday stressors and discrimination — accelerates aging of the immune system, potentially increasing a person’s risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and illness from infections such as COVID-19, according to a new USC study. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220613150648.htm
DISEASES & DISASTERS
July 6th, 2022: LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – More than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 58 countries in the current outbreak, the World Health Organization said. The U.N. agency will reconvene a meeting of the committee that will advise on declaring the outbreak a global health emergency, the WHO’s highest level of alert, in the week beginning July 18 or sooner, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference from Geneva.https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-more-than-6000-monkeypox-cases-reported-another-emergency-meeting-set-2022-07-06/
June 24th, 2022: A new commentary series introduced in the July issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association will examine oral health from a global perspective. The global pandemic that ravaged populations around the world these past two years brought home the importance of global health and how it impacts us all,” said Tim Wright, D.D.S., editor-in-chief of JADA. “The global health commentary series presents information on issues that are important locally and globally for oral and systemic health. https://www.ada.org/publications/ada-news/2022/june/jada-introduces-commentary-series-on-global-oral-health
June 25th, 2022: The monkeypox outbreak does not currently constitute a global public health concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday, though “intense response efforts” are needed to control further spread. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1121362
June 23rd, 2022: LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency. But some experts say the WHO’s decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic. Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency would mean the U.N. health agency considers the outbreak to be an “extraordinary event” and that the disease is at risk of spreading across even more borders, possibly requiring a global response. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio. https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-united-nations-2672737d50fa8ca3029c053ce745ae6a
June 15th, 2022: An emergency committee of independent experts will meet next week to determine whether the growing monkeypox outbreak that’s spread to dozens of countries should be declared an international health emergency, the World Health Organization announced Tuesday. That’s the highest level of alert for viral outbreaks and doing so would mean that WHO views the normally rare disease as a continuing threat to nations worldwide, the Associated Press reported. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=277789
June 10th, 2022: To end AIDS, beat COVID-19 and “stop the pandemics of the future”, the world needs to ensure global access to lifesaving health technologies, the UN Chef de Cabinet has told a meeting of the General Assembly to review progress. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1120122
TECHNOLOGY
July 8th, 2022: LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today praised the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for committing to share innovative technologies with a South Africa-based biotech company, Afrigen, which should speed up the development and rollout of modern, highly-effective vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, including on the African continent. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220708005540/en/U.S.-Vaccine-Tech-Transfer-to-Africa-a-Win-for-Global-Health-says-AHF
June 10th, 2022: NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government is buying more monkeypox vaccine as a surprising international outbreak continues to grow, health officials said Friday. As of Friday, the U.S. had identified 45 cases in 15 states and the District of Columbia. More than 1,300 cases have been found in about 30 other countries outside the areas of Africa where the virus is endemic. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-06-10/us-buys-more-monkeypox-vaccine-as-global-case-count-grows
June 8th, 2022: As global monkeypox cases continue to rise, public-health officials and researchers are questioning whether the current outbreaks can be contained. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the situation is unlikely to escalate into a full-blown pandemic. But there are now more than 1,000 confirmed infections in nearly 30 countries where outbreaks do not usually occur (see ‘Unusual spread’). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01587-1
CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
June 15th, 2022: Children are more likely than adults to suffer health impacts due to environmental impacts. Kari Nadeau of Stanford’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research discusses related risks, as well as what caregivers and health care workers can do about them. https://news.stanford.edu/2022/06/15/childrens-health-climate-change/
EQUITY & DISPARITIES
June 2nd,2022: As of May 31, only 58 countries and territories have done so, according to Our World in Data. Most are from high-income countries — which doesn’t include yet the United States — and none are from low-income countries. Collectively, only 16.2% of low-income countries’ population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.devex.com/news/some-lics-make-covid-19-vaccination-progress-but-far-from-70-target-102280
WOMEN, MATERNAL, NEONATAL & CHILDREN’S HEALTH
June 24th, 2022: We expect that today’s decision will have practical impacts on hospitals and health systems, including on health care provided across state lines, EMTALA obligations, maternal health care, the clinician-patient relationship, medical education and access to care for individuals regardless of socioeconomic status. We are committed to helping our member hospitals and health systems navigate the evolving landscape consistent with AHA’s mission of advancing the health of all individuals and communities. https://www.aha.org/press-releases/2022-06-24-aha-statement-us-supreme-court-decision-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health
HUMANITARIAN, NONPROFITS, FOUNDATIONS & NGOS
June 28th, 2022: On the United Nation’s World Refugee Day, June 20, I found myself reflecting on how my capstone project fits into the field of refugee health. I was drawn to work on a project in refugee health because of the experiences that my parents had as Kurdish refugees fleeing oppression in Turkey. Kurdish identity, language, and culture have long been targeted by the Turkish government through acts of violence and persecution. As minorities living under the jurisdiction of a system built to erase their existence, many Kurds are forcibly displaced either internally or internationally. For my parents, the best hope for our family was to start a life in the United States by applying for asylum. Growing up in the midst of this, I knew that I wanted to work towards justice and advocacy for asylum seekers and refugees. https://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu/blog/honoring-refugees-world-refugee-day-and-beyond
IH CONNECT 