Global health review
A weekly round-up of all the latest global health research from MSF projects and beyond
12 June 2026
Do you conduct research relevant to health and humanitarian challenges in Latin America? The call for abstracts for MSF Scientific Days Latin America is now open.
This year's theme, "Adapting to a changing humanitarian landscape: innovative responses to evolving health challenges in Latin America", invites submissions for research papers (including operational research and quality improvement case studies), innovation projects, and storytelling and field experiences. For further details and submission guidelines, visit the MSF Science Portal. Abstract submissions close on 5 July 2026 at 23:59 GMT.
This week, in BMJ Global Health, a retrospective analysis of MSF-supported health facilities finds that those with dedicated infection prevention and control programmes achieve higher standards of patient safety. The study calls for targeted strategies to strengthen healthcare-associated infection surveillance.
An article in Sexually Transmitted Infections with MSF contribution reports that acute HIV infection accounts for nearly a quarter of new HIV diagnoses in rural Eswatini, highlighting the limitations of routine rapid tests in detecting early HIV infection.
In BMC Pediatrics, Epicentre and MSF assess in-hospital neonatal mortality at Al-Salam Hospital in Yemen, finding high mortality rates and underscoring the need for improved maternal care, neonatal resuscitation, and antibiotic stewardship in humanitarian settings.
Finally, in Scientific Reports, an Epicentre study conducted during cholera outbreaks in Cameroon shows that cholera rapid diagnostic tests can be reliably used by non-laboratory health workers. The findings support the use of decentralised testing to accelerate outbreak detection and response in resource-limited settings.
Best regards,
Clara von Kaehne, Rosie Wharton, 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 2025 conference.
Antimicrobial resistance
Emerging Infectious Diseases • Article: Antimicrobial-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae of Public Health Concern, New South Wales, Australia, 2022–2024
American Journal of Epidemiology • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Estimating the effect of hepatitis C infection on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment outcomes under hypothetical interventions on regimen composition and adherence
Climate change and planetary health
The Lancet Planetary Health • Article: Severe droughts and the tuberculosis and HIV care cascade in the Brazilian Amazon: a Bayesian, structural, interrupted time-series analysis of 24 years of surveillance data
The Lancet Regional Health - Europe • Article: Upward Air Temperature Shifts and Acute Cardiovascular Events in Individuals with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Study
The BMJ • News: Snakebite: Climate change propagates risk as landmark study maps all 508 venomous species
Conflict, migration and health
Conflict and Health • Article: A review of practices and policies of international humanitarian organizations in conflict-affected settings: are we ensuring sustainability of surgical care?
Conflict and Health • Article: Survival under armed conflict: displacement, dialysis continuity, and financial burden among hemodialysis patients in Sudan
Ebola
The Lancet • Correspondence: Urgent call for an Ebola truce in DR Congo
The Lancet • Correspondence: WHO and Africa CDC declare the 2026 Ebola disease outbreak a public health emergency
The Lancet • Correspondence: Ebola: ignoring past lessons puts women at risk
The Lancet • Comment: Urgent need for a reliable rapid diagnostic test for the Ebola epidemic caused by Bundibugyo virus in Africa
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Cross-border transmission of Ebola virus disease caused by Bundibugyo virus into Uganda, 2026
The Lancet Microbe • News: Rare Ebola species drives new outbreak
The BMJ • Comment: The heat is on to contain the Ebola outbreak
Global health
The Lancet Global Health • Article: WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of 42 foodborne infectious and chemical hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Use of tocilizumab for severe hantavirus pulmonary syndrome: a MEURI case series with contextual comparisons
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Global burden of enteric infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases, and corresponding aetiologies, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
The BMJ • Article: Estimates of global causes of death for children and adolescents aged 5-19 in 2000-24: secondary data analysis using bayesian multinomial logistic regression
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Surgical site infections after abdominal surgeries: a prospective multicentre study in 53 Nigerian hospitals
JAMA • Article: Point-of-Care Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Pneumonia
Health Policy and Planning • Article: A qualitative study of stakeholders’ perceptions towards the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Zambia: equity and financial sustainability in question
Health Policy and Planning • Article: Does health insurance increase health care utilization? Evidence of ex-post moral hazard from the Social Security Scheme in Thailand
Health Policy and Planning • Article: COVID-19 kit distribution in six Latin American countries: bureaucratic autonomy, populism, and evidence-based policymaking
HIV
The Lancet Regional Health - Americas • Article: Health factors, stigma, and psychosocial resources associated with self-rated health: a cross-sectional analysis of the People Living with HIV Stigma Index 2.0 in Bolivia
The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific • Article: Adverse childhood experiences and risk of living with HIV among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people: a cross-sectional study
Sexually Transmitted Infections • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Diagnosing established and acute HIV in the context of facility-based HIV testing services in rural Eswatini: a cross-sectional study
Infectious diseases
The Lancet Microbe • Article: Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Neisseria gonorrhoeae across anatomical sites within and between individuals in the Netherlands: a retrospective observational study
The Lancet Regional Health - Africa • Article: Awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the adult population of seven African cities: a comparative analysis with asthma and HIV from the RACE Africa study
The Lancet Regional Health - Americas • Article: Epidemiology and severity of pediatric influenza hospitalizations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a surveillance study of the Canadian immunization monitoring program (IMPACT), 2012–2023
The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific • Article: Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of invasive group A streptococcal infection in the Republic of Korea, 2015–2024: a nationwide multicenter study
The BMJ • News: Measles: Bangladesh and Pakistan outbreaks near 30 000 cases with over 170 deaths of children
Tropical Medicine & International Health • Article: Risk Factors Associated With Time to Disease Onset Among Leprosy Contacts: A Cohort-Based Survival Analysis
BMJ Global Health • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Strengthening infection prevention and control in humanitarian settings: lessons and opportunities from Médecins Sans Frontières (2021–2023)
Scientific Reports • Article***EPICENTRE AUTHOR***: Decentralised rapid diagnostic tests enable cholera diagnosis by non-laboratory health workers during outbreaks in Cameroon
Malaria
Malaria Journal • Article: Behavioral factors associated with artemisinin resistance: linking community treatment practices with pfkelch13 mutations in Northern Uganda
Malaria Journal • Article: Analysis of the effect of primaquine dose on efficacy, safety, and tolerability in patients with Plasmodium vivax malaria in Ethiopia: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis
Malaria Journal • Article: Serological surveillance for malaria elimination in Southeast Asia: a scoping review
Maternal and child health
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health • Article: Respiratory trajectories of infants born before 26 weeks of gestation from birth to discharge: an exploratory analysis of a randomised controlled trial
The Lancet Global Health • Comment: Including female genital mutilation or cutting in the WHO Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire: the case and the barriers
The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific • Article: Temporal trends in late-pregnancy exposure to ambient temperature and risk of preterm birth in Japan, a nationwide study from 1979 to 2023
The BMJ • Article: Systematic estimates of global causes of neonatal and under 5 mortality in 2000-24: secondary data analysis using bayesian multinomial logistic regression
Global Public Health • Article: Maternal and newborn health services in Papua New Guinea: Health system stakeholder priorities for health system strengthening
BMC Pediatrics • Article***MSF AUTHOR***: Clinical characteristics and in-hospital mortality outcomes of admitted neonates at the MSF-supported Al-Salam MOH Hospital, Amran Governorate, Yemen: A retrospective descriptive analysis
Mental health
The Lancet Regional Health - Africa • Article: Trends in child homicides in South Africa: evidence from three national surveys: 2009, 2017, and 2020/2021
The BMJ Global Health • Article: Mental health of internally displaced persons: a meta-analysis
The BMJ Global Health • Comment: Unignorable burden of mental health disorders among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for urgent action
BMC Health Services Research • Article: Mitigating hallucinations in healthcare AI: a systematic review of evidence-based strategies
Conflict and Health • Article: Between trauma and resilience - an ecological model of the determinants of mental health among Ukrainian war refugees in Europe: a cross-sectional study
Neglected tropical diseases
The Lancet • Correspondence: Rapid tests for Bundibugyo virus in DR Congo
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Correspondence: Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in DR Congo: current trajectory and potential risk for a Pandemic Emergency
The Lancet Microbe • Article: Accuracy of rapid diagnostic tests for Strongyloides stercoralis detection: a systematic review and meta-analysis
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Emergence of Marburg virus disease in Ethiopia: Implications for public health preparedness and its impact on Ethiopia’s health system
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Plant-based therapeutics for leishmaniasis: A systematic review emphasizing human studies and clinical trial evidence
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: A systematic mapping review of therapeutic clinical trials in dengue
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Severe visceral leishmaniasis in Ethiopia: Outcomes, co-infections and mortality in a prospective real-world cohort
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Article: Xeno-monitoring the impact of Vector Control on trypanosome transmission in the Forecariah sleeping sickness focus (Guinea)
Non-communicable diseases
The Lancet • Series: Advances in the diagnosis and detection of chronic kidney disease
The Lancet • Series: Advances in understanding the impact of sex on kidney health and disease
The Lancet • Series: Chronic kidney disease, complex conditions, and advancing therapeutics: new hope and challenges
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health • Article: Delgocitinib cream for adolescents with moderate to severe chronic hand eczema (DELTA TEEN): a multicentre, double-blind, phase 3 randomised controlled trial
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health • and comment: Navigating the complexity of adolescent chronic hand eczema
The Lancet Health Longevity • Article: The effects of anti-osteoporotic medication on fracture healing and outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
The Lancet Health Longevity • and comment: Treat the bone, not the fear: antiosteoporosis medications and fracture healing
The Lancet Regional Health - Africa • Article: Burden of chronic conditions and associated risk factors in young women living in urban South Africa: cross-sectional data from the Bukhali trial
The Lancet Regional Health - Africa • Article: Anaemia in Madagascar: selected biochemical determinants and population attributable fraction among women, adolescents, and children–results from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey
The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia • Article: Association of micronutrient levels with dementia risk in adults in Telangana, India: a cross-sectional study (2023–2024)
BMC Health Services Research • Article: Availability, prices, and affordability of essential medicines for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes: a multi-regional survey using the WHO/HAI methodology in Pakistan
Research and reporting
Occupational and Environmental Hygiene • other***MSF AUTHOR***: Occupational exposure to chlorine gas and ultrafine particles during surface disinfection: A comparative study of wiping versus spraying methods
International Journal of Preventive Medicine • Letter***MSF AUTHOR***: The Anchor in the Storm: A Healthcare Professional’s Guide to Preventing and Managing Collective Trauma
Sexual and reproductive health
European Journal of Midwifery • other***MSF AUTHOR***: Breaking taboos of gender-based violence: A community-based care approach in humanitarian contexts
Tuberculosis
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) • Article: Double trouble: enhancing integrated services for TB and diabetes
Emerging Infectious Diseases • Article: Characteristics of Plausible Source Cases Responsible for Recent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Transmission, United States, 2018–2022
Vaccines
The Lancet Global Health • Article: Global, regional, and national impact of the Expanded Programme on Immunization against 14 pathogens from 1974 to 2024: an economic evaluation
The Lancet Infectious Diseases • Article: Safety and immunogenicity of mRNA-based mpox vaccine candidate BNT166a: an open-label, dose-escalation, first-in-human trial
The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia • Article: Pneumococcal meningitis among hospitalised children after introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in India: a sentinel hospital surveillance (2019–2022)
The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia • Article: Incidence of acute diarrhoea among children (0–59 months old) in Thailand after introduction of rotavirus vaccine: a retrospective national database analysis (2014–2024)
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases • Review: Accelerating vaccine research and development for skin neglected tropical diseases: A case for leishmaniasis, leprosy, and Buruli ulcer
BMC Health Services Research • Article: Uncovering and investigating reasons for inaccuracies in vaccine card records in Kiyawa LGA Jigawa, Nigeria: a mixed method study