The hottest Global Health Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health & Wellness Topics

The Rabies Vaccine Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1689 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Global Health
  1. Sri Lanka treats rabies as a national priority with widespread post‑exposure vaccination, and that access has driven annual deaths down from around 400 in the 1970s to about 10 today.
  2. In many Western places people have grown complacent about vaccines because deadly diseases became rare and vaccines were politicized, and that complacency has been linked to falling vaccination rates and resurgences of illnesses like whooping cough, measles, and local polio cases.
  3. Cultural attitudes toward nature shape risk tolerance: societies that live closely with animals accept coexistence and take practical steps like readily available rabies shots, seeing medicine as a necessary protection rather than an optional lifestyle choice.

Nipah in India, measles is the first building block to fall, flu increasing again, and US out but CA in on WHO

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1697 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Measles protection is breaking down as falling vaccination and rising misinformation have already cost several countries (and possibly soon the U.S.) their elimination status, fueling large outbreaks that mostly affect unvaccinated people.
  2. The Nipah outbreak in India is serious but currently small and controlled; the virus doesn’t spread easily between people, lives mainly in bats, and poses a very low risk of becoming a global pandemic.
  3. The U.S. has left the WHO, which reduces U.S. influence and support for global outbreak response, while states like California are linking into WHO networks to try to stay informed and protect their populations.

Chartbook 426 Greenland v. the price of lab monkeys.

Chartbook • 2017 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Global Health
  1. Chaotic, personality-driven politics distracts from deeper, long-term global trends and makes it harder to focus on real problems. There’s a growing split between technocratic, planned modernization and idiosyncratic, destabilizing governance.
  2. The price of lab monkeys is a practical proxy for biotech activity—rising prices show a boom in testing, especially in China. Because it takes about four years to raise monkeys for trials, supply lags create big, cyclical swings in price.
  3. Pandemic shocks, policy shifts, and supply-chain disruptions have made monkey supplies unreliable and put key research—from vaccines to neuroscience—at risk. These problems are part of a wider set of interconnected crises that tie politics, geopolitics, and science together.

20 public health wins in 2025

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1767 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Public health teams delivered measurable, lifesaving results by preventing and containing outbreaks and reducing harms like heat-related deaths.
  2. Policy and clinical advances expanded access to prevention and care at home and abroad, from broader vaccine coverage and affordable HIV prevention to new treatments and programs like free child care and adult vaccines.
  3. The public health community showed resilience and civic engagement by forming coalitions, defending evidence in courts and politics, and putting scientists into public office to protect science-based policy.

The changing (and perhaps surprising) geography of diabetes

Sustainability by numbers • 427 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Global Health
  1. Diabetes is rising much faster in South Asia, parts of Africa, the Middle East and some Pacific islands than in Europe or North America, with countries like Pakistan showing some of the highest age‑standardised rates.
  2. Rising overweight and obesity — even where undernutrition still exists — is the main modifiable driver of type II diabetes, and these increases have been rapid in many low‑ and middle‑income countries.
  3. Certain ethnic groups, especially South Asians, develop diabetes at lower BMIs because they tend to carry more visceral fat. That means modest weight gain leads to much higher risk, and many cases stay undiagnosed or untreated as health systems struggle to keep up.
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The Privatization of Everything

Anima Mundi • 370 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Global Health
  1. Public authority is retreating and private power is filling the vacuums, so things that used to be public are increasingly controlled by wealthy individuals, corporations, and paid private bodies.
  2. That privatization creates unaccountable two‑tier systems—family banks, paid “boards,” philanthropic exits, and corporate control of key technologies—and produces real harms like preventable deaths, deeper inequality, and weakened global cooperation.
  3. With institutions weakening, the practical response is to bear witness, grieve, and sustain community integrity while trying to build new collective forms; naming the change and acting with integrity is itself a form of resistance.

The low life expectancy of Americans is not just about deaths among young people

Sustainability by numbers • 570 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Americans have much lower life expectancy at birth than other high-income countries, lagging by several years for both men and women.
  2. Much of the gap comes from high deaths among infants and younger adults—especially from drug overdoses, car crashes, violence, and suicide. These early deaths are important but do not explain the whole difference.
  3. People who reach 65 in the US still have fewer expected remaining years than peers, especially women. By age 80 the gap largely narrows, but the US spends far more on healthcare to achieve these outcomes.

Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?

Sustainability by numbers • 761 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Global Health
  1. For the first time we can improve human wellbeing while reducing environmental harm. Cheap clean energy, smarter farming, and meat alternatives make less-damaging development feasible.
  2. Many major gains in health, education, and poverty reduction were achieved at a big environmental cost, especially from fossil fuels and expanded agriculture, while earlier societies had lower impact but much worse living conditions.
  3. Breaking the trade-off is an opportunity, not inevitable — it requires deliberate investments, policies, and support for poorer countries; the world is still awful in many ways, but it is also much better than before and can become much better.

How China's Preparing for the Next Pandemic

ChinaTalk • 385 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. China has shifted from emergency reaction to building a centralized, legally codified pandemic readiness system, with new laws that strengthen national surveillance, early reporting, and interagency coordination.
  2. The reforms increase clarity and give central authorities more power. Many rules remain vague and protections for early reporters are weak, so local officials and doctors may still hesitate to raise alarms.
  3. China still lacks robust governance of dual-use biotechnology and lab safety. At the same time it funds and promotes international health projects while limiting data sharing and outside scrutiny.

Top Links 958 Burned-out doctors. UK deconvergence. The kola trade & "Good tank farms".

Chartbook • 286 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🌐 International Global Health
  1. A large international survey found high levels of physician burnout, with 43% of American doctors reporting they feel burned out.
  2. The roundup brings together diverse geopolitical and economic topics—like UK deconvergence, the kola trade, and industrial "tank farms"—alongside striking images and historical material.
  3. The content is a curated, subscription-supported collection that mixes free and paid posts to fund its continued publication.

Outbreak Outlook - National - February 1

Force of Infection • 94 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Global Health
  1. Flu has started to rebound after weeks of decline, driven mainly by increases in school-age children and a rise in influenza B, though overall activity and hospitalizations remain well below the recent peak and influenza A still makes up most cases.
  2. COVID-19 indicators are generally declining — wastewater and ED visits are down and hospitalizations are low — but the Midwest is seeing very high wastewater levels and regional differences persist.
  3. RSV is at quite elevated levels and growing in parts of the country while norovirus trends are mixed regionally, and public health attention is also on multiple food recalls and a Nipah outbreak in India; a partial U.S. government shutdown could disrupt CDC surveillance reporting.

World Health Organization Now Disingenuously Walking Back Their Support For Masks, Lockdowns

Unmasked • 67 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The WHO backed China’s strict COVID measures early on, appearing to put funding and relationships ahead of independent assessment.
  2. Despite pre-pandemic WHO documents that warned against or questioned harsh mandates, the organization abandoned that guidance and supported panic-driven policies like lockdowns and widespread masking.
  3. As funding wanes and scrutiny grows, the WHO is now distancing itself and denying responsibility for those earlier recommendations.

The AstraZeneca vaccine saved millions of lives – it should not be demonised

Independent SAGE continues • 479 implied HN points • 19 May 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The AstraZeneca vaccine played a crucial role in saving millions of lives during the pandemic. It was affordable and easy to distribute, especially in poorer countries.
  2. Although there were concerns about rare side effects like blood clots, these issues were quickly identified and monitored. The benefits of the vaccine far outweighed the risks.
  3. Now, there are newer vaccines that are safer and easier to update for new variants. This doesn't take away from the important impact the AZ vaccine had in 2021.

Pandemic and Panopticon: The Rise of the Biomedical Security State

Human Flourishing • 2181 implied HN points • 14 Jun 23
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. During the pandemic, extreme measures like lockdowns and vaccine mandates were imposed with little debate or explanation.
  2. The biomedical security state involves magnifying risks, imposing control on citizens, justifying surveillance and merging public health with military-industrial complex.
  3. The global elite aim to establish a new world order using entities like the World Economic Forum and International Monetary Fund, pushing for international pandemic treaties and digital IDs.

The U.S. withdrawal from the WHO

Your Local Epidemiologist • 2760 implied HN points • 23 Jan 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The U.S. withdrawal from the WHO means less influence in global health decisions, leaving a gap that countries like China might fill.
  2. The WHO faces challenges like limited funding and authority, which makes it hard to enforce health policies effectively.
  3. Even though the U.S. has strong public health systems, global health threats affect everyone, so it's important to stay involved with organizations like the WHO.

Spanish Lab Leak Investigation Raises Questions About Transparency in Biological Security

Who is Robert Malone • 10 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Global Health
  1. Dead wild boars infected with an African swine fever strain near a high-security lab showed genetic and timing red flags, but the official investigation was done by national authorities and key sequencing data were not published for independent review.
  2. A six-layer AI monitoring framework (genomic surveillance, OSINT, supply-chain tracking, environmental sensors, behavioral analysis, and predictive modeling) could have rapidly flagged these anomalies and helped provide independent evidence.
  3. The case echoes earlier incidents where governments investigated their own labs and limited transparency, showing how economic and reputational incentives can undermine trust and why independent international verification is needed.

Vaccines for all?

Independent SAGE continues • 299 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Many children around the world are not getting vaccinated, especially in poor or remote areas. This puts them at high risk for diseases like measles, which is highly contagious.
  2. Vaccine access can be improved with flexible delivery methods, like mobile clinics that bring vaccines directly to communities. This has worked well in places like Sierra Leone and Scotland.
  3. There's a lot of fear and misinformation about vaccines that affects people's willingness to get vaccinated. It's important to listen to concerns and provide accurate information to build trust.

The Invisible Inspectors: How Artificial Intelligence Is Quietly Reinventing Biological Weapons Monitoring

Who is Robert Malone • 7 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Global Health
  1. AI can combine six data streams—genomic surveillance, open-source literature mining, supply-chain and procurement tracking, environmental biosensors, financial/behavioral analysis, and predictive modeling—into a continuous, evidence-based early-warning system that functions like a new form of Biological Weapons Convention verification.
  2. These AI monitoring tools are powerful triage systems but have real limits: they cannot prove intent, will produce false positives and negatives, may miss wholly clandestine programs, and create privacy and misuse risks that demand clear legal and international governance.
  3. A retrospective look at the COVID-19 origins shows such an integrated system would likely have produced convergent signals (genomic oddities, data removal, funding and procurement patterns, environmental hints) that could have improved early investigation, and current political momentum offers a chance to build and govern these capabilities if sustained diplomacy and investment follow.

The Prophets: D.A. Henderson

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 3125 implied HN points • 16 Mar 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. D.A. Henderson, an epidemiologist, warned that pandemic lockdowns may not effectively stop a disease but could lead to severe public health consequences.
  2. Lockdowns during the pandemic caused disruptions in education, social development, mental health issues, domestic violence, and overdose deaths, highlighting the broader impacts of such measures.
  3. Public health should focus on not just stopping a disease but also consider the broader health of society, including targeted protection for the ill and medically vulnerable, to avoid harmful consequences of overreaction like societal shutdowns.

Chartbook 334 Triumph and tragedy: trends in maternal mortality worldwide.

Chartbook • 1130 implied HN points • 23 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Global maternal mortality in childbirth has decreased from 446,000 in 2000 to 287,000 in 2020, showing some progress over time. However, it's a mix of good news and bad news.
  2. While areas like Central and South Asia have seen significant drops in maternal deaths, Sub-Saharan Africa still faces high rates, with Nigeria alone accounting for a large percentage of global maternal mortality.
  3. Some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, like Rwanda and Ethiopia, have shown that progress in maternal health is possible, even under difficult conditions, by reducing maternal deaths significantly.

Did Draconian Lockdowns Kill More People Than Covid?

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 32 implied HN points • 07 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The harsh, society-wide lockdowns did a lot of harm — they deepened poverty, delayed or blocked medical care, worsened mental and physical health, and likely caused many non-COVID deaths, with some open-society places showing lower excess mortality.
  2. Big claims about how many lives were saved by lockdowns or vaccines are often based on weak models, hidden data, or unrealistic assumptions, so those headline numbers should be treated as highly uncertain.
  3. You can’t cleanly separate virus deaths from deaths caused by pandemic policies, and global excess-death estimates run into the tens of millions, which argues for a new pandemic playbook and tighter oversight of risky research.

The Mosquito Edition

Why is this interesting? • 844 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🔬 Science Global Health
  1. Mosquitos are the world's deadliest animal and are vectors for diseases like Malaria.
  2. Innovative strategies like gene-editing are being used to control mosquito populations.
  3. Technology like Oxitec's gene-editing approach shows promise in suppressing mosquito populations without harming other species.

Stanford led study: at least 20,000 global deaths from COVID jabs

Who is Robert Malone • 16 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. COVID-19 vaccination likely prevented many deaths worldwide (central estimate ~2.5 million), but that figure is model-based and very sensitive to key assumptions.
  2. Estimates put vaccine-associated deaths on the order of tens of thousands globally (roughly ~20,000; range ~16,000–48,000), so harms are probably much smaller than benefits overall but remain highly uncertain.
  3. The mortality benefit was overwhelmingly concentrated in people aged 60 and older, with children and young adults receiving minimal benefit, suggesting vaccination strategies should account for age-specific risks and benefits.

The Politicization of Science Diplomacy

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 667 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🌍 World Politics Global Health
  1. Nations are considering a Pandemic Agreement to enhance preparedness and response to disease outbreaks, focusing on science advice for a new international science advisory committee.
  2. Implementing a new science advisory committee to oversee genetic research and supervision of pandemic potential pathogens across various settings is challenging due to current political and diplomatic hurdles.
  3. The politicization of science diplomacy poses risks like compromising scientific integrity, creating 'policy-based evidence,' and jeopardizing the independence of expert advisory mechanisms, showing the need for stronger institutions where science intersects with politics.

The Transplantation Society Medical Guild (TTS), COVID, and the CCP

Who is Robert Malone • 11 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The Transplantation Society acts like a powerful, closed medical guild that shapes global transplant science, ethics, and policy while operating with limited transparency or accountability.
  2. The Society’s close ties to pharmaceutical sponsors and Chinese health authorities led it to publicly endorse China’s claimed transplant reforms without independent audits, effectively giving the CCP reputational cover despite reported coerced organ procurement.
  3. During COVID the Society pushed vaccination as an ethical prerequisite for transplant access, producing de facto medical conditionality and reflecting a compliance-first ethic; fixing this requires radical transparency about financial and political conflicts.

Making a “Miracle” HIV Medicine

Asimov Press • 206 implied HN points • 23 Feb 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Lenacapavir is a new injectable drug that can prevent HIV for up to six months, showing a higher effectiveness than daily pills.
  2. The drug is being offered at reduced prices in many low-income countries, but there are concerns about access and affordability in some regions.
  3. Despite its promise, lenacapavir's future depends on getting it to those who need it, especially given changes in government funding for HIV prevention programs.

Covid "Twindemic"

Diane Francis • 419 implied HN points • 16 Jan 23
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. COVID-19 is still a huge problem worldwide, with China facing severe issues due to poor vaccination and lockdown strategies. Many people are getting sick, and there are concerns about the virus spreading more because of this situation.
  2. There is a rising trend of both COVID-19 and flu cases happening together, called a 'twindemic', which is making hospitals very busy. People are not taking preventive measures seriously, thinking the worst is over.
  3. Vaccines and boosters for both COVID-19 and flu are very important now. It's essential for people, especially older adults, to stay careful and continue using masks in crowded or poorly ventilated places.

The State of Children's Health

Splattern • 19 implied HN points • 04 Jun 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Global Health
  1. Children's health has improved over the years, but many are still facing serious issues like poor nutrition and mental health problems. There's a need for better support in different areas to help them thrive.
  2. In the US, reducing greenhouse gas emissions could lead to better health for children by improving air quality and nutrition. It’s also important for kids to feel a sense of purpose amidst challenges.
  3. In places like Tanzania, children's health problems are more about basic needs like food and medical resources. Building hospitals and providing proper care is essential to help those kids succeed.

The true story of the Samoa measles outbreak

Vinay Prasad's Observations and Thoughts • 152 implied HN points • 24 Dec 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. Measles was introduced to Samoa in the 1880s and a significant outbreak occurred due to a combination of poor health systems and low vaccination rates. The outbreak was worsened by significant events, including the deaths of two children after a vaccination mistake.
  2. After the vaccine-related deaths, the Samoan government paused the vaccination program, leading to a sharp decline in vaccination rates. Many people turned to traditional medicine instead of seeking proper medical care when measles spread.
  3. The story of the Samoa measles outbreak highlights that the responsibility for the crisis is complex, involving multiple factors like poor health literacy and governance. Blaming any single person for the outbreak, like RFK Jr., oversimplifies the true situation.

Tribute to Carter's public health work

Force of Infection • 121 implied HN points • 29 Dec 24
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. President Jimmy Carter was very active in global health efforts, especially through The Carter Center, aiming to eliminate diseases like Guinea worm and malaria.
  2. His work led to a huge drop in Guinea worm cases from 3.5 million to just 7, showing the real impact of his dedication.
  3. Carter even negotiated a ceasefire in Sudan to help health workers reach people in need, emphasizing how much he cared about public health.

Europe Reacts to US Global Health Policy Shifts

Who is Robert Malone • 12 implied HN points • 18 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Global Health
  1. The US is changing its approach to global health by focusing on direct government-to-government aid rather than working through organizations like the WHO, which could impact health initiatives worldwide.
  2. Europe is facing economic challenges that make it hard for the EU to lead in global health efforts, even as they push for more leadership in light of US policy changes.
  3. There's a sense of resignation among European leaders as they realize the US is stepping back from global health commitments, leaving them to figure out how to cope with the situation.