Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
11 September 2026
A new DNDi report draws on inequalities in access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics during COVID-19 to explore how governments can ensure fairer access in future pandemics. It sets out practical ways to use public R&D funding to achieve this under the WHO Pandemic Agreement. Read the full report here.
This week, an MSF article published in AIDS Care explored women’s decision making when offered different forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications for HIV prevention in Eswatini. PrEP use and product preference were found to be shaped by social norms around sexual relationships, practicalities of use and perceptions of effectiveness.
In BMJ Global Health, a study examined how armed conflict compounded barriers to hospital care across Myanmar between 2021 and 2024. Conflict disproportionately affected populations with poorer pre-existing access, with the number experiencing both poor hospital access and intense conflict rising from 400,000 in early 2021 to 3.1 million in early 2024.
A protocol in BMJ Open with Epicentre contribution outlined a trial investigating how best to deliver WHO recommended post discharge malaria chemoprevention to children recovering from severe anaemia or malaria in Benin. The study will compare facility and community based delivery strategies to assess adherence, clinical outcomes and feasibility.
Finally, a study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases evaluated an on-site rapid test for mpox across six health facilities in Uganda. The test showed high accuracy compared with laboratory-based PCR and delivered results in under 40 minutes, supporting faster diagnosis where access to laboratory testing is limited.
Best regards,
Maya Fenyk, Lillian Matthes, and Holly Baker with MSF-authored article assistance from Alys Barton and 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 2026 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Designing eligibility and evaluation criteria for antibacterial pull incentives: a comparative review of implemented and emerging initiatives
Global Public Health • Article: Education as a mediating interface in global health: A conceptual synthesis of antimicrobial resistance education
Climate change and Planetary Health
Malaria Journal • Article: Environmental indicators and large-scale climatic variability associated with malaria incidence in southeastern Iran: a 23-year negative binomial analysis
Conflict, migration and health
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Geographical accessibility to hospital care amid armed conflict in Myanmar: a population-weighted analysis of compounding health inequality, 2021- 2024
Global Public Health • Article: Access to maternity services for women asylum seekers and refugees: A transnational document analysis of international, European regional, and United Kingdom governance
Global Public Health • Article: From exclusion to responses: Migrant participation in addressing health challenges in a Chilean informal settlement
Ebola
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: Ring and community vaccination for Bundibugyo virus outbreak response: a stochastic network modelling study
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: Accelerated qualification of diagnostic tests during an ongoing outbreak of Bundibugyo virus disease: a collaborative analytical validation study
The Lancet Discovery Science • Article: Bundibugyo virus disease evidence map: a rapid research needs appraisal
Global health
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Affordability of new drugs in the Brazilian public health system: a 13-year monitoring analysis of reimbursement decisions based on health technology assessments (2012-2024)
The BMJ • News: Mosquito that carries dengue, Zika, and chikungunya found breeding in UK for first time
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Costs of surgeries in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review
Health Policy and Planning • Article: The unintended consequences of health policy processes: a qualitative systematic review of experience with the 2007 Occupation-Specific Dispensation (OSD) strategy in the South African public nursing sector
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Are global health commitments relevant in low-income countries? Considering discussions at Davos 2026
Global Public Health • Article: Navigating context, power and politics: A qualitative case study of co-designing gender integration in South Africa
HIV
The Lancet HIV • Article: Targeted point-of-care HIV testing at birth for newborns at high risk of vertical transmission in Botswana: a prospective cohort study
The Lancet HIV • Article: Plasma dolutegravir exposure testing to identify people with HIV at highest risk for dolutegravir resistance (ITREMA-2): a two-centre, prospective implementation study in South Africa
The Lancet Discovery Science • Article: Long-acting HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence and discontinuation: a global systematic review and meta-analysis
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Change in HIV incidence, prevalence and population viremia in Tanzania: findings from population-based HIV impact surveys in 2016–2017 and 2022-2023
PLOS Medicine • Article: Effect of a person-centered care intervention on return and sustained reengagement after treatment interruptions from HIV care in Zambia: A post-hoc analysis of a stepped-wedged cluster randomized trial
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: In people with HIV frailty is associated with worse health-related quality of life: results from the AGEhIV study
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Small Mean Differences May Hide a Vulnerable Subgroup: Frailty and Quality of Life in Aging People With HIV
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Direct Initiation of Long-Acting Cabotegravir Plus Rilpivirine in People with HIV and Suboptimal Virologic Suppression: A Randomized Trial
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy for people with HIV and adherence challenges to oral medications: From trials to implementation
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: Clinical accuracy, performance, and usability of the Dragonfly point-of-care molecular diagnostic platform for mpox: a mixed-methods field evaluation in Uganda
PLOS Medicine • Article: Neutralising antibodies and protection from progression to severe COVID-19: A meta-analysis
Malaria
Malaria Journal • Article: Characterization of invasive Anopheles stephensi populations in Djibouti: understanding population dynamics, biotypes and insecticide resistance to guide new vector management methods
Malaria Journal • Article: Evaluation of the “1–3–7” surveillance and response approach for malaria elimination and challenges faced in its initial phase of implementation: Farta district, Ethiopia
Malaria Journal • Article: Assessment of the coverage, use rate and physical integrity of long-lasting insecticide nets after scaling up of their distribution in Gujarat, India
Malaria Journal • Article: Efficacy and safety of artesunate-amodiaquine and artemether-lumefantrine for the treatment of uncomplicated plasmodium falciparum malaria in South Sudan: a multi-site therapeutic efficacy study, 2024-2025
Malaria Journal • Article: Factors associated with malaria prevention behaviours among residents in endemic areas of Tak Province, Thailand: a mixed-methods study
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Antibodies targeting blood stage antigens of Plasmodium falciparum are associated with resistance to malaria infection and disease
Maternal and child health
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Health facility readiness for maternal and newborn health care and its link with service utilisation: a geospatial analysis of four African countries, 2008-2023
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Antenatal care, birth outcomes, health, development, maternal bonding and nutrition among children of women seeking abortion in a health facility in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study
The Lancet Global Health • Article: Hypoxaemia and mortality in children with lower respiratory infection in low-income and middle-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis
Malaria Journal • Article: Determinants of insecticide treated nets ownership and use and antenatal attendance among pregnant women in selected hospitals in Enugu State, Nigeria
Malaria Journal • Article: Determinants of suboptimal antenatal care utilization in malaria-endemic countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Medicine • Article: Overall and serotype-specific dengue virus transmission intensity in Mexico, 2016-2023: A modelling study of case-notification data
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Endemicity and environmental reservoirs of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections in Ghanaian rural communities
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Predictive association between control measures and chikungunya fever incidence based on random forest and SHAP analysis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Preparing for the tiny predators: Community readiness and perceptions of copepod-based dengue control in eastern guatemala
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Qualitative risk assessment of Japanese encephalitis virus introduction and transmission in Pacific Island countries and territories
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Estimating enteric fever seroincidence in rural western Cambodia: Findings from a population-based cross-sectional serosurvey
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Viewpoint: Chikungunya waves in 2025 signal risk of endemicity in China
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Syndromic cholera diagnosis masks diverse causes of diarrhoeal disease in Burundi revealed by portable metagenomics
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) on Dengue Fever in Burkina Faso: Findings from the national household survey in Burkina Faso
RSTMH • Article: Sustaining interruption of leprosy transmission in Eswatini: lessons from years of programme transition
Non-communicable diseases
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Temporal trends in the epidemiology of primary biliary cholangitis in the public healthcare system of Brazil: a large population-based study
The Lancet • Article: Aetiology, management, and outcomes of acute heart failure in 17 African countries (THESUS-HF II): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study
Research and reporting
Malaria Journal • Article: Streamlined durability monitoring of DuraNet® Plus and Interceptor® G2 insecticide-treated nets in Northern Region, Cameroon: assessment results in two sites from 2022 to 2025
Sexual and reproductive health
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Access to abortion and subsequent fertility preferences and reproductive outcomes in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: The impact of abortion denial on women’s empowerment in Nepal (2019–2024): a prospective cohort study
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Self-rated mobility, physical health, and chronic pain among women seeking abortion in a health facility in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Projections of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination impact on non-cervical cancer outcomes among women in 117 low- and middle-income countries: a modelling study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Understanding the association between immune-modulating helminths and HPV or cervical cancer: A scoping review
Tuberculosis
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Temporal changes in age at diagnosis with tuberculosis in high-HIV prevalence settings: a pooled multi-cohort analysis from Zimbabwe
Vaccines
The Lancet Regional Health • Article: Pre-exposure prophylaxis as a complementary vaccination strategy to reduce rabies in Kerala, India: a cost-effectiveness modelling study
The Lancet Global Health • Article: Cost-effectiveness of the hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine in South Africa: a mathematical modelling analysis
The Lancet Discovery Science • Article: Quantifying how HIV-1 envelope sequence features impact vaccine efficacy in the HVTN 705/HPX2008 randomised trial in southern African women