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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.

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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World Health Organization: Ebola continues to spread in DRC as death toll passes 500, WHO warns

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The outbreak of the deadly Bundibugyo species of Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is expanding, while the push to accelerate testing and identify effective treatment options continues, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Ebola Trial Offers New Hope; and How Japan Rewards Antibiotic Stewardship

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:38:49 -0400

Global Health NOW: Ebola Trial Offers New Hope; and How Japan Rewards Antibiotic Stewardship

July 6, 2026

IN FOCUS

A healthcare worker takes samples from a patient at the Ebola Treatment Center of the Center Médical Évangélique. Bunia, Ituri, DRC, June 23. Benediction Murhabazi/AFP via Getty

Ebola Trial Offers New Hope

Two months into the DRC’s Ebola outbreak, researchers have launched a major clinical trial to test potential treatments—a step that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “offers real hope” as the Bundibugyo virus continues to sweep through the region, reports the AP.

As of today, the DRC has reported 506 deaths and 1,561 confirmed cases of the virus, which has no approved vaccine or targeted therapy, per Reuters via U.S. News & World Report.

The details: The WHO-supported trial will test the impact of two drugs: Gilead Sciences’ broad-acting antiviral remdesivir and Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s experimental antibody treatment MBP134.

Patients enrolled in the trial will receive standard care and be randomly assigned to also receive remdesivir, MBP134, a combination of the treatments, or neither. Survival will be tracked for 28 days.
Results could take several months and ~1,000 participants—unless one treatment proves “highly effective” earlier.

Challenging conditions: The study is operating at Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Center in Ituri province, where the launch was characterized by “urgency rather than ceremony,” amid overcrowding, conflict, attacks on healthcare workers, and community mistrust, per another AP report.

New diagnostic test: The trial was launched as the WHO added the first molecular diagnostic test for the Bundibugyo virus to its Emergency Use Listing last week. The blood test detects the virus by “rapidly and accurately” identifying its genetic material, per the WHO.

Meanwhile, the WHO and Africa CDC are rapidly expanding lab testing capacity.

Related:

Ebola outbreak containment hampered by USAID closure, experts say – CNBC

The Battle Against Ebola—and Misinformation – International Medical Corps

A safe return home: Tackling stigma on Uganda's Ebola frontline – UN News

The Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak: a warning signal for risks to health workers – The Lancet

DATA POINT

655 million

———————

People globally still living without electricity—with sub-Saharan Africa bearing a disproportionate share of 560 million+, while most regions are nearing universal access, per the latest Tracking SDG 7 Report. —WHO (news release)

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

How Japan Rewards Antibiotic Stewardship

In 2018, Japanese health officials looking for a way to curb unnecessary antibiotic use decided to try a new tactic: financial incentives.

At the time, antibiotic overuse was widespread in Japan, especially in pediatric outpatient clinics, where overprescription rates were notably high among children presenting with viral illnesses.

How the incentive works: Each time a pediatrician determines that a patient likely has a viral illness and holds off on antibiotic prescriptions, they can claim an extra 800 yen, or $5, when seeking government reimbursement.

Paying the doctors has paid off: Participating clinics cut antibiotic prescriptions by ~18% in the first year, with sustained reductions over four years and no increase in hospitalizations or healthcare costs.

Live Science

OPPORTUNITY

QUICK HITS

“He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis. – ProPublica

Regular Users Can Tolerate Previously ‘Unsurvivable’ Amounts of Fentanyl – The New York Times (gift link)

Why U.S. measles outbreaks have grown harder to extinguish – The Washington Post (gift link)

Majority of UK smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as cigarettes, experts find – The Guardian

Wisconsin Laborers union breaks new ground with peer support for troubled members – Wisconsin Examiner Thanks for the tip, Tanner Kattre!

Issue No. 2944

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��VR��Ƶ Faculty of Medicine news: Gambling addiction treatment underused in Quebec, study finds

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:08:40 -0400

A new study finds public specialized gambling addiction treatment services are underused in Quebec, pointing to a need to better reach people with gambling disorder.

Researchers at ��VR��Ƶ and the Douglas Research Centre followed more than 2,300 people with a gambling disorder over 13 years. Despite free access, patients averaged fewer than two treatments during that period.

World Health Organization: A safe return home: Tackling stigma on Uganda's Ebola frontline

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 08:00:00 -0400

As Uganda works to contain an Ebola outbreak that is also affecting neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers are doing more than responding to a deadly virus. They are helping families navigate fear, misinformation and stigma.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Fighting a Growing Fungal Threat; and How Scotland Treated Violence Like an Epidemic

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:20:08 -0400

Global Health NOW: Fighting a Growing Fungal Threat; and How Scotland Treated Violence Like an Epidemic

July 2, 2026

IN FOCUS

A woman holds her child with visible skin infections inside a medical tent in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on August 21, 2025. Doaa Albaz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty

Fighting a Growing Fungal Threat

Fungal infections affect 300 million+ people worldwide every year—and that burden continues to grow with rising antifungal resistance.

Yet fungal infections remain “one of the most neglected global health threats,” reports UN News: widely underrecognized, underdiagnosed, and largely absent from many national health plans and antimicrobial resistance strategies.

That is why the WHO has released a new blueprint for responding to fungal disease and antifungal resistance, which provides practical guidelines to strengthen prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance.

Growing stakes: The guidelines are the WHO’s latest effort to address a threat that is rapidly expanding because of climate change, international travel, and antifungal pesticide usage in agriculture. The blueprint builds on its 2022 first-ever list of fungal “priority pathogens,” reports CIDRAP.

While common infections such as ringworm are usually treatable, invasive fungal infections can be life-threatening, particularly for transplant recipients, cancer patients, and people living with HIV. People in LMICs face increased risk, says the WHO.

‘A concrete path forward’: The document calls on countries to focus on four core domains to strengthen response:

Bolster public awareness, preparedness, and antifungal stewardship.
Expand access to diagnostics and medicines while supporting research and innovation.
Improve laboratory capacity and surveillance.
Address environmental and agricultural drivers through a One Health approach.

Meanwhile, two pet-related fungal infections are on researchers’ radars:

A cat-carried fungus, Sporothrix brasiliensis, is a “growing public health concern” amidst an outbreak in South America, per Women’s Health.
And dogs may provide a bellwether for the potentially fatal fungal disease blastomycosis, say health officials in Northern Ontario, where five people died of the disease in 2021, reports SNnewswatch.

Related: Radio Health Journal + syndicated to multiple outlets: The Fungal Frontier: How Fungi Could Trigger A Zombie Pandemic – Radio Health Journal

SUCCESS STORIES

How Scotland Treated Violence Like an Epidemic

In 2005, Scotland was deemed “the most violent country in the developed world” by the UN and had Europe’s highest murder rate. But today, homicides are at their lowest level in 20+ years and now fall in the middle of European rankings.

What made such a turnaround possible?

Adopting a public health approach: Officials created the Scotland Violence Reduction Unit in 2005, seeking to reframe violence as a public health problem stemming from preventable risk factors, based on U.S. programs.

A slate of interventions has included peer support groups, school programs, and partnerships with courts and health workers—particularly the group Medics Against Violence, which trains health workers to support patients vulnerable to violence.

Rapid impact: Violent crime fell by almost a third between 2006–2015.

BBC

ALMOST FRIDAY DIVERSION

Ranch Goes with Everything, and Everyone

At what point does a charming trend become a homeland-security-threatening obsession? When it comes to ranch dressing, the answer is murky—with a nice, tangy aftertaste.

It all started a month ago, when international visitors in the U.S. for the World Cup seemingly encountered “one of America’s great indigenous foods” en masse, resulting in viral social media posts praising the sauce’s boundless virtues.

But that enthusiasm has escalated, per a Washington Post report (gift link), which documented a series of somewhat concerning (yet relatable) scenes:

A Panama fan “chugging a handle of ranch” before entering Newark International Airport.
A man at Boston Logan International Airport selling ranch packets out of a suitcase.
A Germany fan claiming he had consumed three bottles of ranch in a week, and “drank straight from it this morning.”

Global “dip-lomacy”: The TSA issued a cheeky statement reminding new ranch devotees to “make sure to keep your carry-on sauces to 3.4 oz or less.”

In response, food producer Kraft announced it was fast-tracking a “TSA-Compliant Ranch,” per USA Today. And UPS launched a "Ship and Dip" deal for travelers, reports Food Network, to ensure “no ranch left behind.”

QUICK HITS

Underground Births, Under Bombardment: Childbearing in Ukraine – The New York Times (gift link)

Kids with autism are prone to drowning. Florida is trying to prevent that – NPR

A Mom Said Infant Formula Killed Her Baby. The Manufacturer Didn’t Tell the FDA. – KFF Health News

Immigration hardliner takes over US foreign aid – Devex

Provision buried in controversial U.S. rule change would help people legally challenge ‘woke’ federal research – Science

Women more often hired after losing weight on GLP-1s: Study – The Hill

Coffee Lovers and Their Livers Can Celebrate, Study Suggests – MedPage Today

Issue No. 2943

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World Health Organization: Taking the world’s temperature: WHO chief spotlights global health emergencies

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The hantavirus global outbreak is officially over, Ebola outbreaks are growing in Africa and responders are helping recovery efforts in quake-hit Venezuela, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief said on Thursday, announcing updates on global health emergencies.

Global Health Now: Global Health NOW: Building Confidence in the Next Generation of Vaccines; and Untethering TB Testing

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:42:04 -0400

Global Health NOW: Building Confidence in the Next Generation of Vaccines; and Untethering TB Testing

July 1, 2026

IN FOCUS

A laboratory worker prepares mRNA at the Inserm ART-RNAm laboratory of the Regional Hospital Centre, in Orleans, France. November 18, 2025. Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty

Building Confidence in the Next Generation of Vaccines

Billions of doses of mRNA vaccine have been administered since the first COVID shots to use the technology were brought to market six years ago—and the efficacy, safety, and “transformative” potential only continue to bear out, finds a major new review published in The Lancet.

But public confidence in the vaccines hinges on the ways scientists and health providers communicate about them, researchers say.

Strong findings, per the CBC: mRNA vaccines had 87% effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection and 94% against mortality two to six weeks after vaccination.

‘Exceedingly rare’ side effects: While myocarditis and pericarditis are very rare side effects of mRNA vaccines, COVID itself puts people at far greater risk of the same heart issues, per News Medical.

New promise: The versatility of the mRNA platform is opening a new horizon of treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, influenza, and RSV.

Communication is crucial: In the face of uneven mRNA vaccine uptake, the researchers argue that vaccine hesitancy should be met with better communication and accessible information.

“People should feel empowered to ask questions about their health and what they put in their bodies,” lead study author Anna Blakney said in a news release from The University of British Columbia.

A new KFF Health News survey demonstrates the opportunity for trust-building, finding that relatively few adults firmly believe common vaccine myths, but many remain uncertain and open to credible information—a group researchers called the “malleable middle.”

The survey also found that trust in healthcare providers is strongly linked to lower belief in misinformation, reports CIDRAP.

Related:

If a Lyme disease vaccine gets approved, how would it go over? We asked hunters – NPR

RFK Jr Changes Terms for US Vaccine Committee as Email Leak Reveals Sustained Political Interference in Vaccine Policy – Health Policy Watch

Artificial intelligence could usher in a new era of vaccine development – CIDRAP

TECH & INNOVATIONS

Untethering TB Testing

Zambia’s devastating drought in 2024 led to widespread electricity shortages—disrupting TB testing that relies on large, power-intensive molecular diagnostic machines.

But health workers throughout the country will now be equipped with a lifesaving alternative: A handheld, battery-powered device known as a near-point-of-care (NPOC) test.

Designed to operate with minimal power, the NPOC can deliver results in under an hour and offers “immense” potential in underserved communities worldwide.

While the devices won’t replace molecular tests, they will allow doctors to “find people earlier, begin treatment faster and save many lives,” said Benin’s health minister Benjamin Hounkpatin.

Further reach: Over the coming months, the Global Fund and partners will deliver ~3 million tests throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The Global Fund

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES

QUICK HITS

Trump’s actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn – AP

Witchcraft and WhatsApp: The fight to contain Ebola misinformation – The Telegraph

Rizla maker and cult football fashion house cash in on World Cup – The Times

The shilajit dilemma – Bloomberg

Affordable Healthcare Emerges as a Voter Priority in Purple Nevada – KFF Health News

After Trump's reelection, these U.S. scientists found jobs in the U.K. – NPR

Issue No. 2942