Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
22 August 2025
This week in International Orthopaedics, Epicentre and MSF evaluated clinical outcomes of internal fixation (IF) surgery at the Aden Trauma Centre in Yemen. The study found IF is feasible and effective in humanitarian settings when minimum standards of surgical care, sterilization, and prophylactic antibiotics are applied, but strengthening postoperative follow-up remains essential to improving long-term outcomes.
In The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Epicentre and MSF evaluated the field performance of three rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) during a hepatitis E genotype 1 outbreak in the Bentiu internally displaced persons camp in South Sudan (March–December 2022). The study found RDTs to be effective for outbreak surveillance in resource-limited settings, emphasising the need for timely care-seeking and strengthened surveillance systems to guide detection, response, and vaccine strategies.
In Journal of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, MSF found that liver function tests in children with moderate acute malnutrition in Burkina Faso were largely normal. However, higher bilirubin in stunted children suggested possible subclinical liver damage, with minor improvements observed after nutritional supplementation.
In Case Reports in Women’s Health, MSF reported a rare well-differentiated Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor found during cesarean in a 21-year-old with clitoromegaly, noting that while usually benign, these hormonally active tumours make pregnancies high-risk and pose diagnostic and management challenges in low-resource settings.
Best regards,
Zhi Wei Ching, Lydia Lampiri, Madeleine Baxter 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 2024 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Series: Tackling antimicrobial resistance in people who are immunocompromised: leveraging diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Comment: NDM-driven cefiderocol resistance: effect and therapeutic considerations
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Comment: Multidrug-resistant bacteria amid health-system collapse in Gaza
Climate change and Planetary Health
The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: On the WEIRDo neoliberal policies that protect free markets over the planet and its people
The Lancet Planetary Health • Comment: Climate change and pandemics: a call for action
The Lancet Planetary Health • Viewpoint: Environmentally sustainable health care: the opportunities and challenges of life cycle assessments
Conflict, migration and health
The BMJ • News: Gaza: Volunteer doctors speak out as colleagues are “starved and shot by Israel”
The BMJ • Editorial: Allergies and international food aid
PLOS Mental Health • Article: The mediating effects of perceived social support and shame on psychological distress and its dimensions among Liberian refugees in Nigeria
Conflict and Health • Article: Prehospital blood for the injured in conflict zones: what about civilians? - a scoping review
Conflict and Health • Article: Access and satisfaction with healthcare services among chronic disease patients during the Sudan armed conflict: a cross-sectional study
Conflict and Health • Article: Bridging the data divide: challenges and opportunities for trauma registries in conflict-affected MENA countries: a qualitative analysis of key informant interviews
International Orthopaedics • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Clinical outcomes of internal fixation orthopaedic surgery in humanitarian settings: a retrospective cohort study at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) trauma centre in Aden, Yemen
Global health
The Lancet Primary Care • Viewpoint: US isolationism, HIV, and primary care integration: the inflection point for low-income and middle-income countries is now
The Lancet Public Health • Article: Tackling health inequalities in Indigenous Peoples
The BMJ • Letter: Ethical prioritisation in the face of global health cuts
The BMJ • Opinion: The politics of plenty: why food insecurity persists in a world of abundance
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Emergency preparedness and health system resilience assessment tool: development and initial validation
HIV
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Corticosteroids for reducing tuberculosis mortality in persons living with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis using reconstructed individual patient data
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Patterns of engagement in care during clients’ first 12 months after HIV treatment initiation in Zambia: a retrospective cohort analysis using routinely collected data
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Understanding stakeholder perspectives on integrating and sustaining a vertical HIV prevention programme into routine health services in Zimbabwe: a qualitative study
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Disparities in antiretroviral therapy adherence among selected adult subpopulations with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania: Analysis of a population-based survey, 2022/23
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Case Study: Paediatric case of invasive group A streptococcal necrotising myositis: diagnostic challenges and lessons learned
The BMJ Global Health • Article: The epidemiology and outcomes of adults with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure in a low-income country in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Development of an affordable multiplex quantitative RT-PCR assay for early detection and surveillance of Dengue, Chikungunya, and co-infections from clinical samples in resource-limited settings
Malaria
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: Malaria resurgence in Africa: confronting the challenges
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Single low-dose primaquine for malaria control in Africa: a systematic review of safety, efficacy and implementation barriers
PLOS Medicine • Article: The transmission blocking activity of artemisinin-combination, non-artemisinin, and 8-aminoquinoline antimalarial therapies: A pooled analysis of individual participant data
Malaria Journal • Article: Measuring growth, resistance, and recovery after artemisinin treatment of Plasmodium falciparum in a single semi-high-throughput assay
Malaria Journal • Article: “We witnessed medicines help our children, then we became proud”: experiences and acceptability of seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Aweil, South Sudan
Malaria Journal • Article: Relating household entomological measures to individual malaria risk
Malaria Journal • Article: Comparative analysis of the use of Community Health Workers while deploying the Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait (ATSB) for malaria control in Western Province, Zambia
Malaria Journal • Article: Community readiness and acceptance for the implementation of the malaria vaccine among caretakers of at-risk children in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Malaria Journal • Article: Resilience of long-lasting insecticidal net distribution system on the Thai-Myanmar border: pre, during, and post COVID-19 pandemic insights
Maternal and child health
The Lancet Global Health • Comment: Cerebral palsy in young children: bridging the global data gap
The Lancet HIV • Health policy: Research gaps for children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected: outcomes of a research prioritisation workshop
The BMJ Global Health • Article: A brief international screening tool for traumatic birth and childbirth-related PTSD: the city BiTS-short form
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Uncovering systemic barriers related to equity, diversity and inclusion in child health research: a scoping review addressing marginalised communities
The BMJ Global Health • Article: From poverty to health: intraurban inequalities in child health indicators in low-income and middle-income countries during the SDG era
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Social and geographical inequalities in prenatal care coverage in Colombia: a multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA)
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: Factors affecting antenatal corticosteroid use in low- and middle-income countries: Facility characteristics, structural readiness, and past performance of CEmONC signal functions
Journal of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Liver function tests among children with moderate acute malnutrition: A secondary analysis of a randomized trial from Burkina Faso
Mental health
PLOS Mental Health • Article: Hepatic safety of pretomanid- and pyrazinamide-containing regimens in TB Alliance clinical trials
PLOS Mental Health • Article: Lung function trajectories in children with pulmonary TB and non-TB lower respiratory tract infections
PLOS Mental Health • Article: Acceptability of a clofazimine tablet in children with rifampicin-resistant TB in three high-burden countries
Neglected tropical diseases
PLOS Global Public Health • Review: The occurrence of cross-host species soil-transmitted helminth infections in humans and domestic/livestock animals: A systematic review
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Venomics of the Arabian saw-scaled viper (Echis coloratus) through transcriptome-guided proteomics and in vitro functional profiling
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Development and application of a novel beta-tubulin genotyping tool reveals host-specific transmission cluster in Balantioides coli
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Limited efficacy of cold and heat therapy as adjunctive treatments for local, systemic, and functional outcomes of Bothrops atrox snakebite envenomation: A randomized clinical trial
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Knowledge and attitude of populations on blackflies and onchocerciasis and participation in mass drug administration in first-line communities near Erin-Ijesha and Arinta waterfalls, Southwest Nigeria
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Disruptions in gene interaction networks abolish host susceptibility to Trichostrongylus colubriformis infections in sheep
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Classification of Trypanosoma brucei mammalian life cycle stages using Deep Learning Algorithms
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Global sociodemographic, clinical, and epidemiological profiling of patients with mycetoma: A systematic review
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Schistosoma japonicum in Ethiopia: Is there a need for tuning schistosomiasis surveillance in Africa?
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Elucidating the functional role of the novel BdP50 protein and extracellular vesicles in the human erythrocyte infection by Babesia divergens
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Rift Valley fever virus and Coxiella burnetii infections among febrile patients, Eastern Ethiopia
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Social and healthcare-seeking experiences of people affected with lymphedema in Bangladesh
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Putting behaviors into context for vector-borne diseases: Examining behaviors that may reduce exposure to disease vectors
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Perception of cattle owners towards risk of raw milk consumption for bovine tuberculosis transmission in Hosanna, Central Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Long-term clinical sequelae in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome: A longitudinal cohort study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Identification of arboviruses in mosquito populations in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and the first record of Wyeomyia mitchellii in the Old World
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Population genomics of Aedes albopictus across remote Pacific islands for genetic biocontrol considerations
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Assessing the effectiveness of the community participation approaches to improve access to mass drug administration for trachoma elimination in a pastoral conflict area of Baringo County, Kenya
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Genetic analysis of Schistosoma mansoni in a low-transmission area in Brazil suggests population sharing between wild-hosts and humans and geographical isolation
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Advancing Mycobacterium leprae transmission research: Insights from the R2STOP fund
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Rabies control via co-creation: A model for sustainable one health interventions
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Barriers to leprosy elimination in Bolivia: Exploring perspectives and experiences of medical professionals and leprosy patients–A phenomenological study
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Occurrence, risk factors and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter from poultry and humans in central Ethiopia: A one health approach
PLOS Mental Health • Article: Sharing is healing: The power of storytelling to transform mental health in the field of neglected tropical diseases
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Serological Evidence of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections as a Potential Risk for Severity in Leprosy Patients
Non-communicable diseases
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology • Article: Once-weekly semaglutide 2·4 mg in an Asian population with obesity, defined as BMI ≥25 kg/m2, in South Korea and Thailand (STEP 11): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology • Comment: Growing evidence for semaglutide efficacy in Asian adults with obesity
PLOS Global Public Health • Article: A cluster randomised controlled trial of community groups using Participatory Learning and Action to prevent and control diabetes and intermediate hyperglycaemia in rural Bangladesh
Outbreaks
The BMJ • News***MENTIONS MSF***: Sudan: Cholera outbreak worsens as clinics record 40 deaths in past week
The Journal of Infectious Diseases • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Diagnostic performance and kinetics of hepatitis E viral RNA and IgM antibody test positivity in a genotype 1 outbreak in South Sudan
Sexual and reproductive health
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health • Article: Global research priority-setting exercise on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young adolescents
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Using causal loop diagrams to examine the interrelationships between factors influencing family planning utilisation in urban east central Uganda
Case Reports in Women's Health • Case Study***MSF AUTHOR***: Incidental detection of a virilizing Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor during cesarean section: A case report
Tuberculosis
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Article: Caregiver perspectives on TB-related stigma experienced by young children
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Article: Using linezolid as a substitute for the injectable in case of ototoxicity is safer and as effective as all-oral treatment for rifampicin-resistant TB
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Article: Community-based pulmonary rehabilitation for post-TB lung disease – a programmatic intervention
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Article: Tuberculous endocarditis: a case-based proposal for new diagnostic criteria
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Letter: Risk of relapse: TB treatment outcome associates with differentially culturable M. tuberculosis counts in sputum samples
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease • Letter: Analysis of gene expression in patients prior to TB treatment to identify those associated with pyrazinamide-hepatotoxicity
Vaccines
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Series: Innovation in active and passive immunisation of people who are immunocompromised: a call to action
The Lancet Infectious Disease • Article: Safety and immunogenicity of novel live attenuated type 1 and type 3 oral poliomyelitis vaccines in healthy adults in the USA: a first-in-human, observer-masked, multicentre, phase 1 randomised controlled trial
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Accelerating the approval of mpox vaccines based on lessons learnt from COVID-19 vaccines through the lens of regulatory science
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Equity in protection: bridging global data gaps for an EBV vaccine—a systematic review and meta-analysis