Global health review

MSF outreach workers test people for kala azar, Fulbaria, Mymensingh district, Bangladesh.

A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond

23 October 2026

Last chance to register for MSF Scientific Days Latin America 2026! Taking place next week, 28-29 October, at Casa Cemefi in Mexico City, the event is open to both in-person and online attendees. Don't miss out, register here!

This week, an MSF opinion article in Frontiers in Public Health explored how global targets for antimicrobial resistance can better reflect the realities of humanitarian settings. Drawing on MSF's operational experience, the authors called for more context-specific measures of progress, covering appropriate antibiotic use, access to essential antibiotics, laboratory capacity and emergency preparedness.

In Conflict and Health, an Epicentre and MSF study examined infant feeding practices and barriers to accessing nutrition services in Herat, Afghanistan. It found low rates of exclusive breastfeeding and widespread maternal food insecurity, alongside financial, geographic and sociocultural barriers to care, pointing to the need for improved breastfeeding support, targeted food assistance and more accessible nutrition services.

Finally, an MSF review in the International Journal of Women's Health examined the scale-up of human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling for cervical cancer screening in resource limited settings. Drawing on country experiences, the role of community-based screening, digital health tools and follow-up systems were found to best support wider implementation.

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 Microbe • Article: Implementation of rapid pan-microbial metagenomics in paediatric intensive care: a single-centre, prospective, observational study

TRSTMH • Article: Whose sepsis? Tropical infections and the limits of contemporary sepsis evidence

Clinical Infectious Disease • Article: Antibiotic Stewardship, Resistance, and Mortality in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus: A Quasi-Experimental Study of Linezolid Restrictions

Clinical Infectious Disease • Article: Prior Antibiotic Exposure and Subsequent Resistance in the Individual Patient: How Close Are We to the Bedside?

Conflict, migration and health

The BMJ Global Health • Article: Attacks on healthcare workers and healthcare facilities during the 2024 war on Lebanon: a geospatial information system (GIS) mapping study

Conflict and Health • Article: The morbidity of displacement: epidemiological status, determinants, and knowledge of diarrheal diseases in Gaza (2023-2025)

Conflict and Health • Article***MENTIONS MSF***: Early nutrition practices and access to food and nutrition services for young malnourished children attending MSF-supported facilities in Herat, Afghanistan: a mixed-methods study

Ebola

The Lancet eBioMedicine • Article: Early detection of immunoglobulin A against a vaccine backbone protein enables fast, durable, and objective identification of individuals vaccinated against Ebola virus

Global health