Global buzzwords for 2026; a controversial vaccine trial
GLOBAL HEALTH & DEVELOPMENT
editor's note
Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua/via Getty Images
As a journalist, I always want a definitive answer to my questions.
Did you REALLY run a mile in 4 minutes? Yes or no?
This week our stories reminded me that there is a lot of uncertainty in the world -- and sometimes it's really tough to come up with a final answer.
Is the U.S. a member of the World Health Organization? Well ... depends on whom you ask. The Trump administration gave notice of withdrawal from the U.N. agency a year ago. And they say they are now officially no longer a member. But ... WHO officials say that a condition of withdrawal is to pay all dues for the current fiscal year in full. That hasn't happened.
And then there's the controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial set for Guinea-Bissau and funded partly with a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers say they want to give the shot right after birth to half the infants in a group of 14,000 -- and delay the shot for the other half (which is the current policy in Guinea-Bissau). The goal is to see if the vaccine impacts the overall health of the kids: Does one group, for example, develop neurological differences? Critics say holding back on the vaccine is unethical because it is most effective at preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B when given immediately after delivery. They also point out that many studies have already shown the vaccine to be both effective and safe.
Is the trial on or off? The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it was definitely canceled. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was definitely a go. Then on Friday, the U.S. changed its answer and acknowledged that it's paused.
Global buzzwords that will be buzzing in your ear in 2026
Will it be a year of "fractured resilience"? Or "pragmatic empathy"? Will "MOUs" be the next global health strategy? Are we in a new age of "decolonization" — or of "localization"?
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream ... about health care
A doctor from Nigeria tells what Martin Luther King Jr. taught him about health, justice and inequality: "King is rightly remembered for his leadership in the civil rights movement but far less attention is paid to his views on health and justice. He once observed, 'Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.' "
Two Sudanese friends took a stroll -- well, more like a 900-mile hike -- through the U.K. to raise funds for schools in their homeland. The Guardian reports.
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