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

31 July 2026

Calling all researchers: BMJ Global Health is seeking papers on population mortality in fragile and conflict settings. Head to the MSF Science Portal to find out further details, and to stay up to date with the latest call for submissions across leading journals in humanitarian and global health.

This week, MSF research published in BMJ Global Health examined the characteristics of violence, perceived barriers to care, and timely access to care among survivors of sexual violence in North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It demonstrated that increased violence and displacement impact the nature of sexual violence experienced as well as care-seeking behaviour, calling for better awareness raising to support survivors access to care.

In Pharmaceuticals, a DNDi article presented a computational tool that helps identify possible new drug targets for Chagas disease. The tool successfully predicted targets for most of the compounds it was tested on, offering a faster and more affordable way to speed up early drug discovery for Chagas disease and other neglected diseases.

An MSF article in Open Forum Infectious Diseases looked at outcomes for patients with tuberculosis (TB) resistant to bedaquiline in Uzbekistan. Findings demonstrated that treatment took well over a year on average, with many patients still not being free of TB by the end, underscoring the need for better options as resistance to key TB drugs rises.

Finally, a comment with MSF contribution in The Lancet Infectious Diseases argued that MSF's existing Ebola vaccine could offer partial cross-protection against the related Bundibugyo virus, and called for its cautious and carefully monitored use in high-risk groups during the current outbreak.

Best regards,

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.

Antimicrobial resistance

The Lancet • Article: Oral step-down, optimal drug, and total duration of antibiotic treatment in African children hospitalised with severe community-acquired pneumonia (PediCAP): a factorial randomised controlled trial

The Lancet • Comment: How long must we treat? A question as old as penicillin

Climate change and Planetary Health

The Lancet • Comment: Intersectionality in climate and health equity research

The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: Mitigating the effects of air pollution on cardiovascular diseases: community-based interventions for risk monitoring and communication

The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Environmental suitability of Coccidioides in the USA under climate change scenarios: a modelling study

The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: Plant-based misinformation as a barrier to dietary transition

The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Pandemic impacts on protected rainforests and rural communities with variable health and livelihood support in West Kalimantan, Indonesia: a mixed-methods approach combining household surveys and remote sensing

Conflict, migration and health

The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: How the Strait of Hormuz is restructuring nutrition in small island developing states

Global health