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A child receiving a vaccination. Global immunization efforts are off track to meet the 2030 targets. Nearly 90% of infants globally received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 2025, while around one-third of girls globally received at least one dose of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer. This is according to the annual World Health Organization (WHO)-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released on Wednesday, based on data from 195 countries and territories. The number of children who have not received a single dose of vaccine ever, called zero-dose…
The Africa Clean Air Forum 2026 opened this week in Pretoria. PRETORIA, South Africa – Participants from 47 African nations are meeting at the Africa Clean Air Forum this week as part of a continental drive to address the air pollution health crisis. The forum, convened by the Africa Clean Air Network (AfriCAN), is in its fourth year, and this is the first time it is being held in southern Africa. The theme of the four-day forum is “investment case for clean air and healthy cities”, and participants have been sharing evidence-driven clean air actions, discussing sustainable funding and promoting cross-border knowledge…
As the Trump administration’s January deadline looms for states to enforce new Medicaid work requirements, some state lawmakers are turning the tables by pushing to publicly name the largest companies that have employees enrolled in the government program covering low-income and disabled people. California lawmakers seek to revive an expired law that would require the state to identify companies that employ 100 or more people and have employees enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. Nevada has had a similar law in place since 2017, though a proposal for one in Oregon stalled when its legislative session ended in March.…
Lawmakers urging a phased youth social media restriction insist children cannot resist deliberately addictive platforms on their own. The European Commission is preparing more robust youth social media restrictions to protect children from addictive algorithms, following urgent expert warnings and landmark court rulings. But unlike the blanket digital bans imposed in countries such as Australia on everyone under the age of 16, restrictions would be eased gradually as children grow older. As countries increasingly move toward youth social media restrictions, an EU expert panel recommends the bloc enforce a “phased and gradual” digital childhood. The experts advise no independent access…
From left to right: Dalila Hamou (WIPO), lain Labrique (WHO), and Bilel Jamoussi (ITU) hold the newly launched joint strategic guidelines at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. As artificial intelligence drives rapid health innovations, global guardrails, equitable data, and local capacity are needed to ensure equitable progress. To address this, a landmark framework launched by three United Nations agencies lays out a strategic roadmap for innovators. Meanwhile, health leaders emphasise that lower-income regions must become co-creators of future innovations. New guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence lay out a roadmap for health innovators to navigate complex…
In the past decade, nearly 1.8 million people in the United States lost their lives by suicide or alcohol and drug consumption. Collectively, these deaths are sometimes referred to as “deaths of despair”, a term that emphasizes economic and social deterioration as driving factors. However, additional and more complex factors may be linked to these deaths, such as health disparities, challenges with treatment access, reduced public services, and changes in drug supplies. Therefore, the term “substance use and suicide deaths” is used throughout this brief as a composite measure describing deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and/or suicide. These causes are…
Section 1115 waivers generally reflect priorities identified by states as well as changing priorities from one presidential administration to another. Key Biden administration 1115 initiatives included waivers addressing enrollee health-related social needs (HRSN), pre-release coverage for individuals who are incarcerated, and multi-year continuous eligibility for children. In March 2025, the Trump administration rescinded HRSN guidance issued by the Biden administration. CMS indicates this does not nullify existing HRSN 1115 approvals but going forward they will consider HRSN / SDOH requests on a case-by-case basis. In April 2025, the Trump administration announced it would be phasing out federal funding for “Designated State Health Programs” (DSHP)…
On July 16, 2022, the federally mandated crisis number, 988, became available to all phone users at no charge. This three-digit number connects users–via phone, text, or chat–to a network of over 200 local and state-funded crisis call centers that provide access to crisis counseling, resources, and referrals through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The introduction of 988 came against the backdrop of rising suicide rates. Between 2014 and 2024, more than half a million lives (516,790) were lost to suicide, and over half of those involved firearms. In 2024, suicide and substance-related deaths, combined, were the third leading cause of death in the U.S.,…
Thousands of Americans who undergo a common knee surgery might be making their problems worse rather than better. Researchers who followed patients for 10 years after they received either the actual procedure, arthroscopic knee surgery to trim degenerative cartilage tears, or merely “sham surgery” — a skin incision — for knee pain, found that the surgery provided little or no benefit and was, in fact, associated with accelerated osteoarthritis and higher rates of reoperation. That generally meant a total knee replacement. “I don’t know how I would defend this procedure at all,” said one of the study’s authors, Teppo Järvinen,…
When Gov. Gavin Newsom, using his executive power, refused to extradite a physician accused of prescribing and mailing abortion pills to a Louisiana woman, he said California would “not ever” allow “extremist politicians” to punish its doctors. Newsom, who is considering a run for president, has long championed reproductive rights, but state lawmakers in the Democratically controlled California legislature know future governors might not have the same political beliefs. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host endorsed by President Donald Trump, has vowed to honor these types of extradition requests from other states if he’s elected, saying…
The Business of Health with Chip Kahn July 14, 2026 Video About this Episode Episode 12, AI Series: Caroline Pearson, executive director of the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) and the Peterson Center on Healthcare, joins Chip to discuss who really benefits as AI moves into health care’s back office. A quiet arms race is underway — providers deploying AI to code, bill, and capture revenue and insurers deploying it right back to review, deny, and hold the line. The open question is whether any of this lowers what the country actually spends or just speeds up the fight over…
The NHS will aim to prevent thousands of deaths from sepsis by 2035 as part of a series of measures to improve the treatment of the deadly condition. Sepsis is a life-threatening response to an infection in the body, which can cause significant damage to tissues and organs, and is estimated to cause around 4,000 deaths a year in England. The NHS blueprint includes measures to give wearable devices to people at risk of sepsis which could be on their mobile phones or worn as watches or bracelets. The devices tested by the NHS will monitor people’s vital signs at…
Plant-based substances remain the basis of today’s illicit drug trade, but more powerful and dangerous synthetic drugs have inherent advantages that position them to take over ever more of the market, according to a new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Conflict is reshaping the global trade map, and the collapse of Afghanistan’s opium production could, paradoxically, be pushing the world even faster toward more dangerous synthetics. Meanwhile, governments continue to prioritise punishment over care for people caught up in the cycle of drug use. Nearly half a million people died from drug use in 2023,…
HPV vaccination of school girls in Malawi. The WHO set an ambitious goal of having 90% of girls vaccinated against HPV by 2030. Regionalized vaccines can help meet that target faster. HPV vaccines have transformed cervical cancer prevention, but the next generation of vaccines must better reflect regional disease patterns, including the HPV35 genotype prevalent in Africa. The recent WHO Global Status Report on Cancer paints a sobering picture. Among the many challenges, human papillomavirus, or HPV, is one of the world’s most serious infectious causes of cancer. Cervical cancer kills hundreds of thousands of women each year, with the greatest…
The Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) limits the share of premium income that insurers can keep for administration, marketing, and profits. Insurers that fail to meet the applicable MLR threshold are required to pay back excess profits or margins in the form of rebates to individuals and employers that purchased coverage. In the individual and small group markets, insurers must spend at least 80% of their premium income on health care claims and quality improvement efforts, leaving the remaining 20% for administration, marketing expenses, and profit. The MLR threshold is higher for large group…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is taking aim at California’s Medicaid program for providing housing assistance, food, and other social services to high-need, low-income patients who tend to rack up big healthcare costs and, he argued, strain taxpayer funds. The Republican blasted California during back-to-back political attacks in May, saying the heavily Democratic state is committing “outrageous fraud” and “stealing” by spending state and federal Medicaid money meant for basic medical treatment on unconventional services such as housing and nutrition assistance, gym memberships, and even tribal prayers and, he claimed, exorcisms. “The California Medicaid program will pay…