I hope you're right, but I fear the transactional intentions and other negative processes (e.g. overnight program terminations last winter) that produced these agreements will poison the well. A document / agreement / plan is only as strong as the trust built while creating it.
"The brutality of U.S.A.I.D.’s closure & the disregard for the human toll betrayed a vision of a crueler, meaner, more insular world — one in which America aspires not to any pretense of moral leadership but simply to naked power, dominance & extractive self-interest."
-@jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social
Via The Guardian:
“The US government has amplified anti-vaccine rhetoric and signaled that it does not consider measles to be a priority, which could have global ramifications as countries around the world have lost or are on the brink of losing measles elimination status.”
Highly concerning finding and raises questions of accountability when these errors lead to mortality and morbidity.
Source article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I read all the public opinion polling I could find related to the war in Iran.
It's extremely unpopular. Elites aren't acting like it, because apparently constraints only exist for things like giving people health care or fighting hunger🧵
timhirschelburns.substack.com/p/public-opi...
New Post! Today at the Archive we talk about the life of Mary Mallon, known to history as Typhoid Mary, and how the idea of Living Carriers confronted New York's public health system with a set of policy conundrums that are with us still.
tinyurl.com/5w6hrt6e
#WomenInSTEM #PublicHealth #MedSky ⚕️
Just under the wire ;)
The February edition of the Apothek Dispatch is live now!
This is my monthly newsletter on health, environment, and technology… and as always I’ve shared dozens of grant, consulting, and job opportunities across these fields.
apothek.substack.com/p/february-2...
"The breakdown was not the result of bureaucratic failure or miscommunication. It was a deliberate act of sovereignty, and it signals something much larger than one failed deal."
www.globalhealthunfiltered.com/blog/jn2u6d5...
Timeline cleanse; on the lighter side:
Africa by Toto... except it lists all countries across the continent!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhmd...
A new Nature Medicine study on ChatGPT Health isn't encouraging.
The system under-triaged 52% of emergencies, telling folks with DKA to wait 24-48 hours. It does fine on routine stuff, but fails at clinical extremes.
I'll take a deeper look 🧵
#MedSky #ChatGPTHealth
As I have mentioned previously, RFK Jr. is taking steps to eliminate the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
This is a group that was started by Reagan, who I guess was too woke lol.
USPSTF’s evidence-based screening recommendations must be covered by insurance.
Latest post live on Substack!
Sharing notes on health financing & universal health coverage from 2 recent lectures I delivered at the University of Texas Medical Branch & UT at San Antonio.
#GlobalHealth #PublicHealth #HealthFinancing
#UniversalHealthCoverage
apothek.substack.com/p/financing-...
"Climate change is also exposing and accelerating long-standing weaknesses in healthcare infrastructure. The regions that are most vulnerable to climate extremes, such as heatwaves, floods and prolonged drought, often coincide with areas that already face fragile medical provision."
#planetaryhealth
Pete Epanchin's key points, 1 year since the freeze on US foreign assistance: 1) the benefits of foreign assistance did not stop with partner countries; 2) Americans gained as well; 3) trust is far easier to break than it is to rebuild; and 4) unmanaged risks abroad do not stay abroad.
Landmark glyphosate safety study retracted in December, leading to a "...crisis of confidence in the science behind a weedkiller that has become the backbone of American food production. It is used on soybeans, corn and wheat, on specialty crops like almonds, and on cotton and in home gardens."
Latest post live on Substack!
Sharing notes on health financing & universal health coverage from 2 recent lectures I delivered at the University of Texas Medical Branch & UT at San Antonio.
#GlobalHealth #PublicHealth #HealthFinancing
#UniversalHealthCoverage
apothek.substack.com/p/financing-...
Via @thinkglobalhealth.org:
Over 2 decades, USAID "...invested more than $140 million in India's TB response, supporting nongovernmental organizations, private-sector partners, & survivor-led networks that bridge gaps between hospitals & households."
Now this progress in India is under threat...
The last mile challenge is a common phenomenon in global health… treating the hardest to reach cases, & achieving disease eradication, requires the highest amount of resources per individual. The overnight disruption of USAID programs last year is expected to lead to NTD resurgence across the globe.
NeoDravidian architecture example. Karnataka state legislature building in Karnataka, south India. An auto rickshaw is in the foreground of the image driving by.
Karnataka state legislature building (Vidhana Soudha) in Bengaluru, India.
Constructed in 1956.
The inscription above the columns reads: "Government work is God's Work"
1 year on from the brutal, overnight termination of USAID programs, @timhirschelburns.bsky.social evaluates the consequences and brings names and stories to the statistics. With vital health programs shuttered overnight, without any plan for a safe transition… cruelty was the point.
I don’t think people realize how monstrous the destruction of USAID was.
It was stuff like locking warehouses of medicines the US had ALREADY paid for. Discharging sick people from hospital. Cutting HIV meds w/ no notice.
They were warned people would die, and we know the names of people who did
"There is no antiviral drug to treat measles. The best protection against the disease is vaccination with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Among the 646 cases in South Carolina, 563 are unvaccinated..."
Every dollar invested in global and domestic climate-resilience measures yields between $2 and $10 in avoided losses. Cutting these programs is a false economy that will cost far more in natural disasters, forced migration, and other global powers filling the void we leave behind.
“Fraternity, being together in harmony, is an act of resistance.”
-Georges Collinet (Afropop Worldwide @prx.org)
Decorative sign featuring a figure in top hat and top hat and 17th century plague style face mask with hooked beak. Text at bottom of sign reads "wash your hands."
PSA for flu and COVID season: If someone dressed like this tells you to wash your hands, you should probably listen.
Via @thehill.com:
Approaching 1 year since the dismantling of USAID with devastating consequences: 700K+ deaths, loss of outbreak surveillance systems, and the end of ag. research that benefitted US farmers... all for <1% of the federal budget.
@thelastmileusaid.bsky.social | @altusaid.altgov.info
Area People Amazed At Discovery That Watching TV While Driving Is Distracting
Via @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social on new negotiated agreements with former USAID partner countries: "...what is being sold as autonomy is, in practice, a more transactional and conditional model of engagement that mirrors rather than reduces the colonial relationships critics have long decried."
📡 The January 2026 Apothek Dispatch is live: Reflecting on one year since USAID's dissolution, insights from Kenya on financing Africa's health frontline, & 50+ opportunities spanning internships to senior roles.
Plus: WHO withdrawal, exposomics, quantum computing, & what's next for global health.
See also this coverage from @undark.org :
"In short, the paper was ghostwritten — a clear violation of any imaginable standard of scientific ethics."
undark.org/2025/08/15/o...
