Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
17 January 2025
This week, The Lancet reported that figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on mortality due to traumatic injury in Gaza from Oct 2023 to June 2024 likely underestimated numbers by 41%. The study estimates the actual number of deaths to be around 64 000, corresponding to approximately 2·9% of Gaza's projected pre-war population (2 227 000) - equivalent to about one in 35 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the BMJ Global Health urges the public health community to join journalists and aid workers in exposing the uncounted deaths caused by malnutrition and healthcare shortages and demand the removal of barriers to aid delivery.
In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Epicentre examined the effect of mass pneumococcal vaccination campaigns, some using full-dose and some using one-fifth dose, on nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage in children in rural Niger. One-fifth dose was slightly less effective but may offer a cheaper and easier strategy to accelerate herd protection in vulnerable populations. In the same journal, both Epicentre and MSF investigated the potential of a two-dose regimen of the Hecolin vaccine for controlling hepatitis E outbreaks. The findings suggest two-doses as an alternative and feasible approach in resource-limited and highly mobile settings.
In BMJ Open, DNDi outlined the challenges of individual participant data sharing for secondary research, emphasising the need for a case-by-case method to balance participants' rights with scientific progress while promoting a collaborative effort to speed up research on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In PLOS NTDs, a study highlighted significant barriers to lymphatic filariasis care in rural Uganda, including stigma, social isolation, healthcare disparities, and infrastructural challenges, underscoring the need for targeted interventions in underserved areas.
Best regards,
Lydia Lampiri, Zhi Wei Ching, Madeleine Baxter and Holly Baker with MSF-authored article assistance from Amelia Zhao.
All MSF-authored publications can be found on the MSF Science Portal, as well as recordings, abstracts and posters from the MSF Scientific Days 2024 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
IJTLD • Review: Phenotypic and genotypic landscape of antibiotic resistance through One Health approach in Sri Lanka: A systematic review
Climate change and Planetary Health
BMJ • Editorial: Climate action is pandemic resilience
Conflict, migration and health
The Lancet • Article: Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: a capture–recapture analysis
BMJ • News: Gaza: WHO urges Israel to stop blocking medical evacuations as patients deteriorate
BMJ Global Health • Article: The role of public health professionals in addressing the health and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Women and children first: Delivering solutions in conflict-affected settings
Conflict and Health • Article: The association between perceived neighborhood social cohesion and intimate partner violence in a refugee camp in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Protecting the Safe Water Chain in Refugee Camps: An Exploratory Study of Water Handling Practices, Chlorine Decay, and Household Water Safety in South Sudan, Jordan, and Rwanda
Global health
BMJ Global Health • Article: Evolution and effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral development assistance for health: a mixed-methods review of trends and strategic shifts (1990–2022)
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Individual and organizational factors associated with public health workforce competencies to advance health equity
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Moving toward universal health coverage with a national health insurance program: A scoping review and narrative synthesis of experiences in eleven low- and lower-middle income countries
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Acceptability of improved cook stoves-a scoping review of the literature
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Emergency care knowledge, utilization, and barriers in Northern Tanzania: A community-based survey
HIV
eClinicalMedicine • Article: Alcohol use and HIV suppression after completion of financial incentives for alcohol abstinence and isoniazid adherence: a randomized controlled trial
BMJ Global Health • Article: Health and economic impact of oral PrEP provision across subgroups in western Kenya: a modelling analysis
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Enhancing engagement in HIV care among adolescents and young adults: A focus on phone-based navigation and relationship building to address barriers in HIV care
Infectious diseases
JAMA • News: Little-Known Oropouche Virus Is Spreading: What Clinicians Need to Know About the Insect-Borne Illness
Malaria
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Effect of mass drug administration on malaria incidence in southeast Senegal during 2020–22: a two-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised controlled trial
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Situational analysis of malaria in Cabo Verde: From endemic control to elimination, history, cases data and challenges ahead
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Human mobility and malaria risk in peri-urban and rural communities in the Peruvian Amazon
Malaria Journal • Article: Factors associated with malaria in pregnancy among women attending ANC clinics in selected districts of the Ashanti Region, Ghana
Malaria Journal • Article: Effectiveness of a tailored forest package of interventions, including topical repellents, in reducing malaria incidence in Myanmar
Malaria Journal • Article: Anopheles mosquitoes in Mondulkiri forest, Cambodia: abundance, distribution, seasonal patterns and Plasmodium prevalence
Malaria Journal • Article: The costs and logistics of distributing ‘forest packs’ containing novel vector control tools to forest-exposed populations in Cambodia
Maternal and child health
BMJ Global Health • Article: Avoidable factors associated with maternal death from postpartum haemorrhage: a national Malawian surveillance study
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Level of completion of maternity continuum of care among ever-married women: An analysis of Somalia’s health and demographic survey 2020
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Educational interventions to improve pediatric emergency care: A qualitative assessment of the perspectives of African healthcare workers
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Repeatability of RRate measurements in children during triage in two Ugandan hospitals
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Predictors of physical activity among pregnant women in Harare, Zimbabwe
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Dengue severity by serotype and immune status in 19 years of pediatric clinical studies in Nicaragua
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Congenital Chagas disease: A cohort study to assess molecular diagnostic methods at the Chagas disease national reference center of Argentina
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Using ESPEN data for evidence-based control of neglected tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: A comprehensive model-based geostatistical analysis of soil-transmitted helminths
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Exploring barriers to accessing treatment for Lymphatic Filariasis through a socio-ecological lens in Buvuma and Napak districts, Uganda
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Effect of health education in the control of schistosomiasis in Dass Emirate Council of Bauchi State, Nigeria: An intervention study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: A new guide for basic psychological support for persons affected by neglected tropical diseases: A peer support tool suitable for persons with a diagnosis of leprosy and lymphatic filariasis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Developing and applying a training needs analysis tool for healthcare workers managing snakebite envenoming: A cross-sectional study in Eswatini
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Viewpoint: The growing challenge of arboviruses in Latin America: Dengue and Oropouche in focus
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Understanding reasons for delay in diagnosis of leprosy in Pakistan: A qualitative study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Prevalence, intensity and risk factors of soil-transmitted helminthiasis after five effective rounds of preventive chemotherapy across three implementation units in Ondo State, Nigeria
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Toxoplasma gondii from Gabonese forest, Central Africa: First report of an African wild strain
IJTLD • Article: Progress towards the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in four counties of Eastern Equatoria State, Republic of South Sudan
RSTMH Transactions • Article: Redefining the severity of orofacial tissue damage caused by noma: a novel classification approach
BMJ Open • Article***DNDi AUTHOR***: Challenges of sharing individual participant data for secondary research on neglected tropical diseases: the experience of Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and a call for action
Non-communicable diseases
eClinicalMedicine • Article: Evolving trends in lung cancer risk factors in the ten most populous countries: an analysis of data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study
eClinicalMedicine • Article: Global, regional, national burden of asthma from 1990 to 2021, with projections of incidence to 2050: a systematic analysis of the global burden of disease study 2021
JAMA • News: As Lifespan Increases, People Sypend More Years Burdened by Disease
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Prevalence of mental health conditions in post-conflict Kasai Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A repeated, cross-sectional study
Sexual and reproductive health
eClinicalMedicine • Article: Longitudinal impact of past-year reproductive coercion on contraceptive use dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from eight population-based cohorts
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Are we ready for self-sampling for cervical cancer screening? Insights from service providers and policy makers in Nepal
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Quality of care offered by health care retail markets for medication abortion self-management: Findings from states in Nigeria and India
Vaccines
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: The effectiveness of two doses of recombinant hepatitis E vaccine in response to an outbreak in Bentiu, South Sudan: a case–control and bias indicator study
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Effect of mass campaigns with full and fractional doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Pneumosil) on the reduction of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage in Niger: a three-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised trial
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Long-term impact of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine among children <5 years, Uganda, 2014–2021
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Effect of mass campaigns with full and fractional doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Pneumosil) on the reduction of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage in Niger: a three-arm, open-label, cluster-randomised trial
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: The effectiveness of two doses of recombinant hepatitis E vaccine in response to an outbreak in Bentiu, South Sudan: a case-control and bias indicator study