#global health

#global health

Most people don't like getting vaccines, much less seeing their children have needles poked into their thighs and arms. But context can change that. Besieged by terrifying outbreaks of paralytic polio and the spectre of iron-lung respirators, many parents were happy to see their children receiving the first polio vaccinations in the 1950s. Similarly, when I got my first COVID-19 vaccine, it instantly relieved the sense of existential dread that I had felt for almost a year as the death toll rose.

The last outbreak of cholera in Britain was in 1866; in the United States there has not been an outbreak since 1911. And yet today people are sick with this ancient disease in 32 countries, with more than 6,800 deaths reported so far this year already exceeding all of last year's toll of 6,000 deaths, which was itself a 50% increase on 2023.

Antibiotics have turned once deadly infections into minor inconveniences. They make lifesaving interventions, from surgery to chemotherapy, safer. But every time this powerful tool gets used, there's a risk antibiotic resistance. Out of the billions of bacteria causing an infection in an individual, some small fraction may be naturally resistant to a given drug. Taking an antibiotic can clear the field for those resistant bacteria to spread.

The extremely limited availability of mpox vaccines in DRC has already drastically reduced the reach of the national strategic plan for vaccination against mpox. This means that without improved access to vaccines, thousands of people may be left unprotected.

Morie Abibu, paralyzed and suffering from a growing mass near his spinal cord, requires urgent neurosurgery to prevent suffocation and a devastating end of life.

An estimated 107,500 people died from measles in 2023, most of them under the age of five, according to a new World Health Organization study.

In South Korea, a stockpile of oral cholera vaccines is in constant use, shipping about 5 million doses monthly to countries like Angola, Sudan, and South Sudan.

World leaders face immense challenges in securing funds for development. Aid cuts have disrupted health and humanitarian work while economic instability drains government resources.

Despite monumental vaccine rollout efforts leading to the saving of 154 million children, progress on immunization has stalled or even reversed, putting millions at risk.

I was born in Thomasville, Alabama, and raised in Florida. I'm the first male of seven siblings, and our parents, especially my father who was a preacher, taught us to live with purpose. Four of us were high school valedictorians. I studied chemistry and biology at Oakwood University and then entered Loma Linda Medical School, finishing in three years. I knew early on I wanted to help others.

"Blood donation services in many countries are unable to meet the demands for collecting and storing healthy blood, leading to critical shortages worldwide."