Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
19 June 2026
Calling out the deprioritisation of sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian settings, MSF has published a clinical perspective in Obstetrics and Gynecology Open, outlining its experience adapting the Rapid Maternal Death Surveillance and Review (R-MDSR) system to strengthen maternal mortality monitoring in emergency settings. Implemented in conflict-affected Sudan, the tool proved both feasible and operationally useful, demonstrating how timely surveillance can inform action to improve maternal health outcomes during acute humanitarian crises.
This week, in BMC Public Health, a retrospective cohort study investigated factors influencing survival among patients with advanced HIV disease in Guinea. Male sex, older age, and advanced disease stage were associated with an increased risk of death.
An Epicentre study in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal found that children living with HIV in South Africa had similar rates of cryptococcal infection to adults, supporting calls to extend routine screening to all children.
An MSF opinion piece in The BMJ discusses the escalating Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, emphasising the need for stronger protection of healthcare workers, improved access to diagnostic tools, and sustained humanitarian support amid insecurity and funding cuts.
Finally, in BMC Infectious Diseases, MSF contributed to an article describing the outcomes of a consultation with 44 researchers, diagnostic developers, and health authorities on improving Chagas disease diagnosis. The paper outlines priorities for diagnostic innovation and evaluation to help address major gaps in access to testing and treatment.
Best regards,
Maya Fenyk, Ahmed Abdelghany, 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. The call for abstracts for MSF Scientific Days Latin America is now open.
Antimicrobial resistance
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • other: Calciphylaxis complicated by NDM-1-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa: first experience with cefepime–zidebactam alongside phage therapy in the USA
Climate change and planetary health
The Lancet Global Health • Correspondence: Health data poverty in low-income and middle-income countries: a challenge for climate justice
The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Five years of Greener NHS: improved carbon footprint assessment of the National Health Service in England
The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Health integration in national climate adaptation policies from 198 countries: a global policy analysis
The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Temporal changes in mortality risk associated with PM10 across 143 cities in 26 countries: a multicountry, multicity time-series study
The Lancet Planetary Health • Viewpoint: Therapeutic strategies to manage climate distress among young people
The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: Reliable data are crucial to ensuring women’s water security and influence
BMJ Global Health • Article: The role of tropical cyclones in accelerating dengue transmission: insights from field experiments and dynamical modelling
Conflict, migration and health
The Lancet • Comment: Climate, war, and the global health-care supply chain
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Review: Returned but Not Restored: Experiences of Health and Access to Care Among Return Migrants in Sub-Saharan Africa—A Scoping Review
Ebola
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • News: Update on the Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Estimation of the Ebola outbreak size in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The BMJ • Opinion***MSF AUTHOR***: DRC has strengthened its response to Ebola - but conflict and funding cuts are testing its capacity
The Lancet • Comment: Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus: challenges and priorities for epidemic preparedness and response
Global health
The Lancet Global Health • Article: WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of 14 foodborne diarrhoeal enteric hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis
The Lancet Global Health • Article: WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of eight foodborne non-diarrhoeal enteric disease hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis
The Lancet Global Health • Editorial: Barriers to voluntary blood donation in LMICs: a state of play
The Lancet Global Health • Comment: Mexico’s Servicio Universal de Salud: a pathway to integration and universal health coverage?
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine • other: Africa's inhaler dilemma: balancing cost, climate, and care
BMJ Global Health • Practice: Gi4SaveLife: a community-led model for sustainable voluntary blood donation in rural Sierra Leone
BMJ Global Health • Article: Disparities in deworming coverage between children with and without disabilities: insights from the DeWorm3 trial in India
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Review: Beyond the Mosquito: Social Determinants of Health and Global Strategies for Aedes‐Borne Disease Control
HIV
The Lancet HIV • Feature: HIV prevention in Chile has a mountain to climb
The Lancet HIV • Article: Epidemiological and economic effect of preference-driven HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis implementation for men who have sex with men and transgender women across 16 countries and territories in the Asia–Pacific region: a modelling study
The Lancet HIV • Review: HIV-1 subtype diversity in Europe
The Lancet HIV • Article: National and regional analysis of HIV transmission dynamics in Morocco: a mathematical modelling study
The Lancet HIV • Feature: Hungary's LGBTQ+ and HIV communities’ cautious optimism
The Lancet HIV • Correspondence: Immigration enforcement and HIV care
BMJ Opinion • Opinion: Prisons: A missing front in England’s HIV action plan
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Multivariate predictive model for predicting in-hospital mortality in HIV-associated talaromycosis: a multicenter retrospective study
BMC Public Health • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Factors influencing the survival of patients with advanced HIV disease in Guinea from 2015 to 2024
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Seasonal influenza versus COVID-19 hospitalisation risk during the 2025–26 influenza season
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Effectiveness of oral care for the prevention of non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAPPEN): a multicentre, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised trial in Australia
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Comment: Can better oral care reduce non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia?
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Review: Sero‐Diagnosis of Scrub Typhus Infection in India: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Malaria
Malaria Journal • Article: From silent infection to symptomatic malaria: host phenomic determinants of Plasmodium falciparum outcomes in Fanteakwa South District, Ghana
Malaria Journal • Article: Prevalence of asymptomatic malaria and its associated factors in the Al Zuhrah district, Al-Hodeidah Government, Yemen, 2022
Malaria Journal • Article: Association of interleukin-33 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum infection
Malaria Journal • Article: Exploratory analysis of the correlation between precipitation and storms and malaria cases from national surveillance in Mozambique
Malaria Journal • Article: Community perspective on feasibility of malaria mass drug administration: a qualitative evidence from the Eastern Region of Ghana
Malaria Journal • other: Droplet digital PCR assays for Pvmdr1 and Pvcrt-o gene copy number variation determination in Plasmodium vivax
Malaria Journal • Article: Searching for new candidates for antimalarial therapy: physicochemical and in vitro evaluation of gold(I) and silver(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes
Malaria Journal • Article: Assessment of malaria prevalence and determinants among clinically suspected individuals attending Dejen Primary Hospital, East Gojjam Zone, northwest Ethiopia
Malaria Journal • Article: The social experience of malaria treatment-seeking: pathways, gender, and inequality in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia
Malaria Journal • Article: Insecticide-treated net utilization and associated factors among infants in Southwestern Nigeria
Malaria Journal • Article: Effect of malaria training on community healthcare providers’ compliance with malaria treatment guidelines in Nigeria using propensity score matching
Malaria Journal • Article: Accurate and sensitive TaqMan real-time PCR assays to detect and quantify simian malaria parasites Plasmodium cynomolgi, Plasmodium inui and Plasmodium coatneyi
Malaria Journal • Article: Policy-practice gaps and barriers to the effective management of insecticide resistance in Tanzania
Maternal and child health
The Lancet • Perspectives: Arri Coomarasamy: preventing postpartum haemorrhage
The Lancet • Series: Diagnosis and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage: a race against time
BMJ Global Health • Article: Feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of group antenatal care on maternal health continuum of care and perinatal outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Feasibility and Validity of Mobile Phone-Based Proxy Full Pregnancy History (mPFPH) for Estimating Perinatal Mortality in Rural Northwest Bangladesh
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Under-Five Mortality in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Comparison of Face-to-Face and Mobile Phone Survey Estimates From Burkina Faso
PLOS • Article: Placenta accreta spectrum in the 21st century: Challenging dogma and redefining disorder
PLOS • Article: Prediction of hospitalisation in young children with pneumonia in Malawi: A machine learning-based approach
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Prevalence of hookworm infection and its proportion among pregnant women with intestinal helminth infection in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Obstetrics and Gynecology Open • Perspectives***MSF AUTHOR***: The Application of Maternal Death Surveillance and Review in Acute Humanitarian Responses
The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal • other***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Cryptococcal Antigenemia in South African Children Living With HIV
Mental health
The Lancet • Comment: What can psychiatrists expect from the next DSM?
The Lancet Digital Health • Article: Large language models as experimental systems in human psychopathology: a modelling study
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Viewpoint: Hiding in plain sight: A call to prevent cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in the United States
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Artificial intelligence algorithm for real-time detection and counting of Trypanosoma cruzi parasites using smartphone microscopy
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Experiences and perceptions on diagnostic delay of leprosy by affected people in Colombia: A qualitative study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Editorial: Editorial Note: Multispacer Sequence Typing Relapsing Fever Borreliae in Africa
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Editorial: Editorial note: multiplex real-time PCR diagnostic of relapsing fevers in Africa
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Identification of a persistent Ascaris-derived Kalirin epitope associated with chronic T cell activation in the lung
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Government health care worker training needs for intestinal schistosomiasis morbidity management
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Ecological signature on the epidemiological dynamics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Stranger swings: Temperature-dependent upsides and downsides of a densovirus in Aedes albopictus
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Preclinical animal models for onchocerciasis and loiasis: A systematic review of applications in drug screening
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Beneficiary feedback mechanisms: Exploring ways to systematically integrate community feedback in mass drug administration delivery for NTDs
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Discovery of a novel coltivirus in a newly identified Bat Bug Species (Heteroptera: Cimicidae) in Cambodia
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Plasma proteomics improves risk prediction in heart failure and reveals unique biology in chronic chagas cardiomyopathy
BMC Infectious Diseases • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Advancing diagnostics for Chagas disease: key product characteristics and harmonized evaluation strategies - an expert meeting report
Non-communicable diseases
The Lancet • Comment: Beyond a smoke-free generation: ending smoking within a generation
The Lancet • Comment: Integrated food policy and child obesity
The Lancet • Article: The impact of Chile's multipronged food labelling and advertising law on early childhood excess weight: a cohort difference-in-differences study
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology • other: A quarter-century of progress: innovations in lipid medicine that transformed cardiovascular prevention
The Lancet Digital Health • Editorial: Digital demands for chronic disease research and management
Research and reporting
The Lancet • Viewpoint: Global advances in health artificial intelligence: a workforce imperative
The Lancet Global Health • Article: Exploration of the vein to vein blood transfusion system in three Kenyan counties: a qualitative study
JAMA • News: FDA Approves First Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis Delta Virus Infection
JAMA • Editorial: High-Dose Vitamin C in BurnsTime to Stop
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Predictive Modeling of Localized Mobile App to Improve Snakebite Management in Ghana
Tuberculosis
The Lancet Global Health • other: Inclusion of young adolescents in policy development for new tuberculosis vaccines
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Association Between Sex Hormones and Lipid Profiles Among Adult Tuberculosis Patients in Northwest Ethiopia: A Comparative Cross‐Sectional Study
Vaccines
The Lancet • Correspondence: Single-dose mRNA vaccines against Andes hantavirus
The Lancet • Comment: How CEPI can enhance global vaccine equity and transparency
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Yellow fever vaccination in healthy Gambian children of different ages to establish safety and immunogenicity of a booster dose: a open-label, non-randomised, single-site, phase 3 vaccine trial
The Lancet Global Health • Viewpoint: Global health ethics in international collaborative research during policy transition: what can we learn from the proposed newborn hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau?
JAMA • News: Inside the Push for a Fentanyl Vaccine
JAMA • Viewpoint: Resurgence of Tetanus—Reasons Why the Vaccine Remains Instrumental