Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
24 April 2026
Building on two MSF reports published in 2026 underscoring the scale of sexual and gender-based violence and the urgent need for response in Haiti and Sudan, MSF Scientific Days 2026 will feature an installation showcasing three MSF studies exploring barriers to care, evolving dynamics of sexual violence in conflict-affected settings, and under-recognised patterns of violence among older adults. Register here to attend in person or online.
This week, an MSF co-authored correspondence in IJTLD Open calls on global health actors to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law, highlighting the severe impacts of the conflict in Gaza on civilians and healthcare workers and systems.
In The Lancet Global Health, a systematic analysis of antenatal care across 131 LMICs from 1995 to 2023 finds substantial improvements in coverage and service delivery, but underscores persistent gaps that mean many women still do not receive essential interventions.
Marking World Malaria Day on 25 April, a study in Clinical Infectious Diseases finds high rates of malaria misdiagnosis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with substantial false-positive and false-negative rapid diagnostic test results and frequent deviations from test-and-treat guidelines. At MSF Scientific Days, new research will also be presented on delivering the R21 malaria vaccine alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad, showing high coverage and strong acceptability of this integrated approach.
Best regards,
Ahmed Abdelghany, Lillian Matthes, 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 2025 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
JAMA • Article: Fast Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Gram-Negative BacteremiaThe FAST Randomized Clinical Trial
JAMA • Article: Amoxicillin-Clavulanate vs Amoxicillin for Acute Sinusitis in Adults
Climate change and planetary health
Lancet Planetary Health • Viewpoint: Global environmental change and the gut–kidney–brain axis: a review and framework of vulnerability and resilience
Lancet Respiratory Medicine • News: Local coalitions track pollution in neglected US communities
New England Journal of Medicine • other: Bronchial Casts from Inhalation of Forest-Fire Smoke
WHO Bulletin • Article: Carbon emissions associated with antenatal testing for hepatitis B prophylaxis eligibility, the Gambia
WHO Bulletin • Practice: Ethical and social difficulties of addressing environmental harms related to health research
WHO Bulletin • Perspectives: Justice in priority-setting for research on health and climate change
Conflict, migration and health
Conflict and Health • Article: From discovery to delivery: a systems-based pathway for translating science into global and humanitarian health impact
IJTLD Open • Correspondence***MSF AUTHOR***: Response to the Union’s statement on ongoing conflicts and impact on health services
Global health
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Health System Response and Recovery in Ukraine after Three Years of War: Perspectives of Front-Line Communities and Internally Displaced Persons
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Assessing the progress in implementing population-based policies to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 2010-2024
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Understanding the formulation of non-communicable disease policies in Nepal: A qualitative study
Global Public Health • Article: Biomedical technologies in context: Acceptability of a screening tool for sexually transmitted infections and bacterial vaginosis in Zimbabwe and South Africa
Global Public Health • Article: Capacity to care: Provider agency and socio-structural constraints in breast cancer care across public secondary and tertiary hospitals in Soweto
HIV
Lancet Global Health • Review: Untangling the complex relationship between HIV-exposure and tuberculosis in children: a narrative review
Lancet HIV • Comment: Ending HIV requires research in and with South Africa
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Renal and Cardiovascular Complications Following Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in People With and Without HIV: Data from Cohort Study on Morbidity and HIV in Sweden (COSMOHS) between 2010-2024
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Economic burden of depressive disorders and HIV for people living with HIV in Uganda
Infectious diseases
Lancet Infectious Diseases • other: Severe inguinal bubo and haemorrhagic exanthem in autochthonous clade Ib mpox
Lancet Respiratory Medicine • Editorial: Campaigning to improve sepsis recognition and outcomes
JAMA • Article: What to Know About Cicada, or BA.3.2, the Latest SARS-CoV-2 Variant Under Monitoring
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Review: Infectious Agents of Non‐Malarial Febrile Illnesses in 20 African Countries, 2019–2024: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Malaria
Lancet Global Health • Article: Uncomplicated malaria as a risk factor for COVID-19 duration and severity in western Kenya and Burkina Faso (MALCOV): a prospective cohort study
Lancet Global Health • Comment: The fascinating malaria–COVID-19 relationship
JAMA • Editorial: Long-Term Cognitive Ability and Academic Achievement After Childhood Severe Malaria
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Model‐Based Assessment of the Effects of Selective Free Healthcare and Differentiated Diagnosis on Malaria Burden in the Republic of Guinea
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) • Article: Epidemiological characterisation of dengue fever across Saudi Arabia
Malaria Journal • Article: Prevalence and spatial distribution of malaria-causing Plasmodium infections in the Niger Republic
Malaria Journal • Article: G6PD variants but not Filipino beta-thalassemia are associated with reduced risk of Plasmodium knowlesi infection in Sabah, Malaysia
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Challenges in malaria diagnosis and treatment in Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Maternal and child health
Lancet Global Health • Article: Measuring antenatal care timing and content across 131 low-income and middle-income countries, 1995–2023: a systematic analysis of trends
Malaria Journal • Article: Integrated housing quality and insecticide-treated net use: propensity score methods for childhood anemia prevention in The Gambia
WHO Bulletin • Article: Maternal and neonatal outcomes in a cohort of pregnant women during conflict, Gaza Strip
WHO Bulletin • Article: Cost of adapting the International Guide for Monitoring Child Development, Guatemala and India
WHO Bulletin • Perspectives: WHO recommendations for pregnancy and postpartum care should include hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Development and validation of an early risk-stratification model for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: SkitoSnack 2.0 - A Bloodmeal Alternative for Anopheles and Aedes Mosquitoes
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Susceptibility of wild and domestic songbirds to Usutu virus
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Burden of antimicrobial resistance in culture-confirmed Salmonella Typhi isolates in India from 1977 to 2024: A systematic review and meta-analysis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Genomic diversity analysis enables development of pan-Dengue Toehold RNA sensors
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Community-wide deworming strategies to reduce high hookworm burden in endemic communities: Results from a cluster randomized trial in Southern India
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: One-pot nanoflower-based sensitive colorimetric biosensor for multihost detection of zoonotic clonorchiasis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Sensitivity analysis of factors influencing the ecology of mosquitoes involved in the transmission of Rift Valley fever virus
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: The dynamics of asymptomatic Plasmodium spp. infections following 10 years of malaria control interventions in Northern Sahelian Ghana
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Microbiota-derived indole differentially shapes Entamoeba histolytica physiology and promotes host-compatible colonization
Non-communicable diseases
Lancet Global Health • Article: Effects of a peer-support lifestyle intervention on diabetes incidence in India (K-DPP): 9-year follow-up of a cluster-randomised, controlled trial
Lancet Digital Health • Review: ChatGPT for obesity management: a review of evidence, potential challenges, and clinical implications
BMJ Global Health • Practice: Bringing severe non-communicable disease care to district-level hospitals in Nepal: PEN-Plus experience and regional policy implications
JAMA • News: FDA Approves Weekly Basal Insulin for Adults With Type 2 Diabetes
JAMA • News: Metabolically Healthy Obesity in Children Still Raises Cardiometabolic Risk
JAMA • News: Hypertension Burden Increasing Worldwide, With Stark Disparities
Research and reporting
New England Journal of Medicine • Perspectives: Anticompetitive Mergers — Pharmaceutical Buyouts as a Strategy for Maintaining Market Dominance
New England Journal of Medicine • Perspectives: Closing the Evidence Gap for Drugs in Children — Measures to Strengthen the Pediatric Research Equity Act
New England Journal of Medicine • Editorial: EGFR’s Poor Sibling
New England Journal of Medicine • Article: First-Line Zongertinib in Advanced HER2-Mutant Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer
New England Journal of Medicine • Editorial: Stenting for Post-Thrombotic Syndrome — A Step Forward
New England Journal of Medicine • Article: Endovascular Therapy for Post-Thrombotic Syndrome — A Randomized Trial
JAMA • Article: Intrawound Tobramycin Plus Vancomycin to Prevent Surgical Site Infection in Tibial FracturesThe TOBRA Randomized Clinical Trial
PLOS Global Public Health • Blog: Behind the paper: Male allyship to advance women’s leadership in global health academia: A qualitative study
Tuberculosis
JAMA • News: WHO Releases New Tuberculosis Testing Guidelines
Nature Communications • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Unexpected detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in US-born patients in putative association with clinical syndromes
Vaccines
Clinical Infectious Diseases • Article: Vaccine Performance Helps Explain Heterogeneity in Indirect Protection Across Influenza Vaccine Trials
WHO Bulletin • Article: Hepatitis A virus endemicity and vaccine policy, India