NIH global health research newsletter: Research in humanitarian crises, Biden team elevates science, pandemic prevention, hoping for a healthier and more equitable future

Global Health Matters e-newsletter from Fogarty International Center at NIH

January / February 2021

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Biden team elevates science, global engagement

In his first weeks in office, U.S. President Joe Biden has taken steps to elevate the role of science in government, re-engage with the global community to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and advance global health, and renew the U.S. commitment to the WHO.

 Photo courtesy of the White House. President Joe Biden meets with NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins during a visit to NIH.

Pandemic prevention more effective than response, study says

Unless urgent action is taken to change the global approach to infectious diseases, pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the economy and kill more people than COVID-19, according to a recent report issued by a group of the world’s leading experts on biodiversity and pandemics.

 Dr. Peter Daszak wearing protective coverall, surgical gloves, mask and safety glasses holds a bird.

Q and A with Adolfo Rubinstein, MD, PhD

Argentina’s Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein, recipient of numerous Fogarty and NIH grants, discusses his varied career, the goal of his Fogarty NCD grant, his current implementation research, and considerations for the Fogarty community.

 Headshot of Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein.

Profile: Impact of apartheid-based prenatal stress and COVID-19 in South Africa

Fogarty Fellow Dr. Andrew Kim, a biological anthropologist, shifted his study to focus on how the adversity of a pandemic would compound ongoing histories of HIV, unemployment, poverty and racism in South Africa.

 Dr. Andrew Kim working with samples in a lab with a colleague.

Opinion: Hoping for a healthier and more equitable future

As Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass takes stock at the beginning of a new year and a new U.S. administration, he is hopeful that we are on our way toward reducing COVID-19’s terrible toll and entering a period of healing and reconciliation.

 Fogarty Director Dr. Roger Glass receives a covid vaccine from a healthcare worker at a vaccine clinic.

Focus on research in humanitarian crises

The project Advancing Health Research in Humanitarian Crises, managed by Fogarty's Center for Global Health Studies, has published "Lessons from the field," an open-access collection of case studies by the journals Conflict and Health and BMC Public Health.

The projects highlighted in the collection cover several different types of humanitarian crises across diverse geographic locations, populations, diseases and health risk factors, including maternal and child health, nutrition, mental health, infectious diseases and gender-based violence. The case analyses go beyond what research was conducted and explain why the research was important and how it was conducted in these extremely challenging settings

 Photo by UN Photo/Tobin Jones. Groups of people and a herd of animals walk along an unpaved toward the sunset.

By UN Photo/Tim McKulka. Woman holding baby outdoors looks at camera, another woman and baby and men on bikes in background.

Also in this issue

  • Funding data for 2019 now available in World Report mapping tool
    2019 research funding information from a number of international organizations - including NIH - is now available online in World Report, an open-access, interactive mapping database.

  • WHO offers tobacco users 100 reasons to quit
    The World Health Organization has launched a year-long “Commit to Quit” campaign to encourage the 780 million people world-wide who say they would like to stop using tobacco.

  • People in the news:

    • Zimbabwean scientist Dr James Hakim has died
    • Fogarty grantee Dr David Katzenstein is lost to COVID
    • Dr Rochelle Walensky appointed to lead US CDC
    • Dr Elizabeth Cameron will direct global health at NSC
    • Drs Salim S Abdool Karim and Anthony Fauci receive honors for defending science
    • Dr Paul Farmer awarded Berggruen Prize
    • Fogarty mHealth collaborator Dr. Esther Freeman honored by Medscape
    • Details: People in the news

  • Global health briefs:

    • WHO issues genomic sequencing guide
    • Refugees’ survey shows COVID impact
    • Measles cases, deaths continue global rise
    • Toolkit launched to combat TB
    • WHO reveals leading causes of death
    • Details: Global health briefs

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Global Health Matters is produced by the Office of Communications at the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center. For more information, please contact managing editor Ann Puderbaugh at ann.puderbaugh@nih.gov or 301-496-2075.

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The Fogarty International Center, the international component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships.

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