Facing the challenge of COVID-19, Xavier Becerra appeared before @who.int in 2021 to reassert U.S. leadership as a foundation to realize the #RightToHealth. Much has changed in the past five years, but I am inspired to see Becerra continuing this fight for health and human rights in California.

With support from Markwayne Mullin and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the kratom industry is pursuing a potentially lucrative policy. Mr. Mullin owns equity in a company that could benefit. Kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths TAT: [Corruption | Attacking science]

How Kratom, an Addictive Gas Station Drug, Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet

With support from Markwayne Mullin and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the kratom industry is pursuing a potentially lucrative policy. Mr. Mullin owns equity in a company that could benefit.

nytimes.com

Morning It's GREAT to see organized resistance to MAHA & MAGA! Thx to @standupforscience.net & @defendpublichealth.bsky.social for leading the way The AMA was, until now, collaborationist, but the AMA president-elect, Dr Fryhofer, is an anti-RFK Jr activist 1/2 www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr.

The American Medical Association has sought a working relationship with the health secretary. Members saw moral compromise.

politico.com

GOOD MORNING NEW YORK CITY.

NEW IN @hhrjournal.bsky.social: We trace the long evolution of US conservative opposition to the #RightToHealth — challenging who is entitled to rights and what rights should be upheld by government — with this past opposition culminating in the current administration.

Former top US officials - Anthony Fauci, @spsaki.bsky.social, @nschwalbe.bsky.social - recently highlighted what we need to do to prepare for the next pandemic. I've seen their words echo through outbreak response already. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

‘We’re not ready’: US lags on pandemic preparedness after Covid, experts say

Experts say slashed funding and growing misinformation are some of the greatest challenges facing public health

theguardian.com

Culminating the WashU School of Public Health convening on "Building for a New Era of Global Health" www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mLo..., it was an honor to join the "Complicating the Narrative" podcast, discussing rapid, ongoing shifts in global health governance. youtu.be/Ci8BGLOalIc?....

The past, present and future of global health with Gbenga Ogedegbe and Benjamin Mason Meier

YouTube video by Complicating The Narrative

youtu.be

Nicotine pouches, flavoured and appealing, are designed to hook young people. And these products evolve rapidly. WHO is calling on governments to regulate them now. Read WHO’s Global Nicotine Pouch Report 👉 bit.ly/4nymmbk #TobaccoExposed

Save the Date- The future of the WHO EML and access to novel medical technologies Date: Thursday, 21 May 2026 Time: 13:00 - 14:30 CEST Venue: Red Cross Museum, Salle Henry Dunant (in-person only) Please register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #WHA79 @keiwashdc.bsky.social

When UN Partners With the Harm It Is Meant to Prevent healthpolicy-watch.news/when-the-un-... @unnicycles.bsky.social Credibility of UN system depends on clear separation of its public mandate from commercial interests its work often contests. Once blurred, it becomes very difficult to draw again.

When The UN Partners With The Harm It Is Meant To Prevent - Health Policy Watch

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) announced a "strategic partnership" with Nestlé to establish the World

healthpolicy-watch.news

Member States of WHO progressed work on the Pathogen Access & Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, a key part of the WHO #PandemicAgreement, & today agreed additional time was needed to finalize the framework for ensuring a better, more equitable, response to future pandemics. www.who.int/news/item/01...

WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex

Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) have progressed work on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, a key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, and today agreed additional...

who.int

"Kennedy says the children are getting obsolete shots with dangerous ingredients that the U.S. has long since phased out. He is holding up $600 million Congress appropriated for the vaccines to pressure the international humanitarian group, Gavi, that distributes them."

RFK Jr. is holding up $600M in vaccines for poor countries

The distributor of the shots said it would cost tens of thousands of lives.

politico.com

Pushing back against a common criticism of socioeconomic rights: "How can they be rights if they depend on money!?"

Everyday Human Rights@everydayhumanrights.substack.com · 3mo ago

Rights You Can't Have All at Once Realizing human rights when you ain't got no money, honey https://everydayhumanrights.substack.com/p/rights-you-cant-have-all-at-once

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance Sobering piece by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance

nytimes.com

Saturday @ @cughnews.bsky.social Conference: How to Respond to a Shifting Global Health Landscape Int'l Ballroom East 5:00-6:30 PM Global health is undergoing rapid, disruptive change. This panel explores how universities, governments & organizations are adapting to this new global health landscape.

“Public health needs to be a higher priority," said @drpanmd.bsky.social. “I know people get really nervous that this will politicize public health. But it’s not been a priority. And it’s already been politicized.” my latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Public health takes center stage in US midterm campaigns: ‘It’s already been politicized’

Some candidates are making public health a central part of their midterm campaigns amid Trump’s war on science

theguardian.com

A thousand NYU contingent faculty went on strike Monday and today they have a real contract with real security in one of the most expensive places on earth

N.Y.U. Professors Reach a Deal on a Contract to End Strike After 2 Days

nytimes.com

Gosh, perhaps there are fewer campus protests because schools, as The Atlantic urged them to do, aggressively went after protestors. Columbia suspended, expelled, and retroactively revoked degrees in proceedings that were so arbitrary and capricious they were overturned by a NY state judge.

Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Honestly, fuck off.

🌍 Tensions are rising at final pandemic accord talks. African nations have rejected the draft, warning it fails on equity and access. ✍️ @kerrycullinan.bsky.social @who.int @euatun.bsky.social #GlobalHealth #PandemicPreparedness #HealthEquity #GlobalHealthPolicy 📖⬇️ and 🔁🙏

Tense Start To Final Pandemic Agreement Talks As Africa Rejects New Draft Text - Health Policy Watch

Tension was palpable at the start of the sixth – and supposedly final – round of talks on an annex to the Pandemic Agreement, with the African region

healthpolicy-watch.news

We're looking for a program director for Salus Populi, which trains judges and lawyers about the social determinants of health and their relationship to the judicial system. JD required. Spread the word! Salus Populi Program Director Position - northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...

🧪Everyone needs to know that the Bethesda Declaration is and why it is important. www.the-scientist.com/nih-scientis... www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

NIH Scientists Issue ‘Bethesda Declaration’ to Protest Research Politicization

In an open letter, researchers and staff at the National Institutes of Health raise concerns over recent policy changes.

the-scientist.com

Inspired to work with @judithmesquita.bsky.social & Sharifah Sekalala in developing our AJIL Unbound essay — examining human rights limitations in @who.int law reforms & analyzing the imperative to strengthen human rights obligations to ensure global health equity. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

AJIL and AJIL Unbound@ajil.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🌍 New AJIL Unbound Symposium Global Health at a Crossroads – Part II is now live from the American Journal of International Law. Read Part II 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

🌍 New AJIL Unbound Symposium Global Health at a Crossroads – Part II is now live from the American Journal of International Law. Read Part II 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

WHO Pandemic Agreement is only the beginning: strengthening implementation to protect global health. Here is a mind-map of the pathways forward for the Pandemic Agreement outlined (Box 2). Full article: www.bmj.com/content/392/... @benjaminmasonmeier.bsky.social @jocalynclark.bsky.social @bmj.com

“Early in his career, Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University…worked with the CDC to implement the measles vaccine. When he tells medical students today that in the 1960s, before the measles vaccine, 400 to 500 kids died of measles & its complications each year, “They’re stunned”

South Carolina Hospitals Aren’t Required to Disclose Measles-Related Admissions. That Leaves Doctors in the Dark.

Physicians across South Carolina, home to the largest measles outbreak in decades, are advising patients without the benefit of real-time data on hospitalizations due to measles-related pneumonia, bra...

propublica.org

A privilege to work with Joe Stiglitz, Monica Geingos and Michael Marmot on the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS & Pandemics. Please read & amplify their call to action in Project Syndicate, to get world leaders to tackle inequality to keep us all safe. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/i...

🚨The US EPA says climate pollution is no longer a public health issue — and moves to stop regulating greenhouse gases. ☠️A major legal and policy shift with global health consequences. @cleanairfund.bsky.social @thelancet.com @wmo-global.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social 📖⬇️ & 🔁🙏

US EPA Stops Regulating Climate Pollution - Says It's Not A Health Concern - Health Policy Watch

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has eliminated the scientific finding that determined planet warming gases also harm human health.

healthpolicy-watch.news

Once more: Columbia could have fought; it chose not.

Jaweed Kaleem@jaweedkaleem.bsky.social · 6mo ago

NEW: The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a federal court order blocking its $1.2-billion settlement demand to UCLA over alleged campus civil rights violations: www.latimes.com/california/s...

#CDC has had a full-time director for less than a month in Trump 2.0. People watching the situation think it's unlikely there will be another Senate-confirmed CDC director in this term. With Jim O'Neill's firing, it doesn't have an acting director either. www.statnews.com/2026/02/15/c...

Exit of CDC’s acting director highlights agency’s lack of leader

The lack of a Senate-confirmed leader is deepening the turmoil at the CDC.

statnews.com

🚨 New from @hrw.org: #UN member states should select a champion of #HumanRights as the next UN Secretary-General as the UN faces a crisis amid a global retreat on rights & democracy. - by Widad Franco

Next UN Secretary-General Should Champion Rights

United Nations member countries will select a new UN secretary-general this year to succeed António Guterres in January 2027.

hrw.org