14 h. ago ‘We called ourselves the lifeboat crew’: how fired USAID workers launched a rescue project ‘to save as many babies as we can’

After the Trump administration closed the organisation down, a group of former staff secured new funding for almost 80 programmes, benefiting an estimated 40 million peopleThey call themselves the “lifeboat crew”. After losing their jobs abruptly when the Trump administration slashed US overseas aid earlier this year, a group of dedicated workers decided to launch their own rescue package.Refusing to “wallow in misery”, Rob Rosenbaum, a former USAID economist, and a group of like-minded former agency staff began efforts to save some of the vital programmes that faced closure after the cuts. Continue reading...

Events

66 h. ago Colon cancer is on the rise among young people – and research points to one major culprit | Devi Sridhar

If smoking was the cancer villain of the 20th century, eating ultra-processed food may be its 21st-century counterpartProf Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of EdinburghCancer used to be seen as part of ageing: something that mainly afflicted people over the age of 60 or 70. But although it is still true that the majority of new cancer diagnoses affect the over-70s, the pattern is changing in subtle ways. Some cancers are increasingly found in younger people.Take colorectal (bowel) cancer: while rates have declined in those over 60, data shows a sharp increase in many developed countries among people under 50, in what’s called early-onset disease.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Science

4 d. ago Former MI5 boss warns aid cuts risk UK’s influence on world stage

Baroness Manningham-Buller says the cuts will allow China to ‘move in’ and lessen Britain’s diplomatic power

Events

5 d. ago Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's staggering in legal aid cost to taxpayers

Constance Marten, the jailed aristocrat, has been granted legal aid for her trial and family court battle for her older children - despite having a £2.4million trust fund

Economics

5 d. ago Child killer aristocrat Constance Marten and her lover are to get £1million legal aid... despite her £2.4million trust

The wealthy heiress, 38, who was jailed for 14 years for killing her baby, has been granted legal aid for her trial and family court battle for her older children - despite having a £2.4million trust fund.

Economics

7 d. ago Supreme Court says Trump is allowed to freeze $4 billion in funding, overriding Congress’s spending power

Trump had deemed $4 billion in foreign aid funding wasteful

Economics

7 d. ago Trump’s aid cuts bring fresh hate for those with HIV in Kenya: ‘It takes little to push people back’

The slashing of foreign aid and closure of HIV programmes earlier this year is continuing to impact people living with HIV, writes Nick Ferris in Nairobi, causing serious damage to long-term efforts to end stigma around HIV and its treatment

Politics

7 d. ago They fled war and sexual violence and found a safe space in Athens. Then the aid cuts hit

Thirty women and their children found themselves out on the streets when their shelter closed. It was a direct result of US and European governments slashing their aid budgetsThe night of 29 May was sombre at 15 Mitsaki Street, a women’s shelter in the centre of Athens. Shoes, winter coats, shampoo bottles and sheets lay strewn around: belongings the 30 refugee women and five children living there had worked hard to acquire, and would now have to abandon. The next day, the shelter would be shuttered for good.“I was so stressed I couldn’t sleep,” says Oksana Kutko, a Ukrainian. “I knew I had nowhere to go.” Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Unsafe abortions and no antenatal care: aid cuts hit women hardest in one of Africa’s poorest countries

Mobile clinics in rural Malawi that provided pregnancy checks as well as vaccinations and TB tests have been lostA blue, burgundy and white patterned wrapper hides the swell of Joanna Banda’s belly. Eight months pregnant, she has had just three of the five antenatal appointments she should have had. She is unlikely to attend her final three either, as she still has to save 3,000 kwacha (£1.28) for a bicycle to take her six miles on rutted dirt tracks to the nearest health centre when she goes into labour.In remote villages in Malawi, pregnant women such as 22-year-old Banda, who has one child after losing her first soon after giving birth, are struggling to get the medical care they need. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows

New interactive map tracking PM2.5 air pollution reveals 900m people in path of ‘super-emitting’ industrial facilitiesFossil fuel burning is not just damaging the world’s climate; it is also threatening the health of at least 1.6 billion people through the toxic pollutants it produces, data shows.Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, does not directly damage health, but leads to global heating. However, coal and oil burning for power generation, and the burning of fossil fuels in industrial facilities, pollute the air with particulate matter called PM2.5, which has serious health impacts when breathed in. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The nation where Trump’s aid cuts are colliding with a deadly Ebola outbreak: ‘What we feared has now happened’

As the Democratic Republic of Congo faces its 16th Ebola outbreak, aid cuts mean support for its response is dwindling, writes Rachel Schraer

Politics

1 week ago ‘Pay no attention’: global health agencies dismiss false Trump claim on everyday painkillers

Medical experts and regulators say US president should not be questioning established scienceGlobal health agencies and regulators have dismissed unscientific advice from Donald Trump that made an unproven link between autism and the use of everyday painkillers and vaccines.In a sign of how worried foreign governments are about the US president’s comments, the health secretary of the UK, which is one the US’s closest allies, told the British public they should not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Floods force 100,000 out of their homes – and the water in this African city is still rising

People fleeing the rising waters around Lake Tanganyika in Burundi are fighting for space and humanitarian care with refugees escaping civil war. Donald Trump’s slashing of international aid money has made a dangerous situation even more perilous. World affairs editor Sam Kiley investigates

Events

2 w. ago UN needs to cut $500m from 2026 budget and lose 20% of staff after US funding reductions

Job losses and global reorganisation expected amid Trump administration’s slashing of funding and ‘UN80’ reviewThe UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago UN faces $500m budget cut and 20% job losses after big drop in US funding

Core budget to fall to $3.2bn next year and initial minimum 3,000 job cuts expected amid streamlining processThe UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago Trump’s war on science leaves US public health experts reeling: ‘They’re sidelining science’

Career experts warn of decades of progress lost as administration fires staff, slashes budgets and buries dataDonald Trump’s second presidency has spelled upheaval or worse for multiple spheres of US government. But for science – long a key driver of the US’s global preeminence – it has heralded the perfect storm.In public health, climate science, environmental protection and nuclear safety, seasoned career specialists have been left bewildered and often jobless under a ferocious onslaught from the president, apparently aimed at gaining control over a sector about which he has displayed strongly-held views, if frequently flawed understanding. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s war on science leaves US public health experts reeling: ‘There will be lasting damage’

Career experts warn of decades of progress lost as administration fires staff, slashes budgets and buries dataDonald Trump’s second presidency has spelled upheaval or worse for multiple spheres of US government. But for science – long a key driver of the US’s global pre-eminence – it has heralded the perfect storm.In public health, climate science, environmental protection and nuclear safety, seasoned career specialists have been left bewildered and often jobless under a ferocious onslaught from the president, apparently aimed at gaining control over a sector about which he has displayed strongly held views, if frequently flawed understanding. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago How Mpox revealed an epidemic of untreated HIV in Sierra Leone – as Trump’s aid cuts begin to bite

The impact of the US slashing foreign aid on the country’s Mpox response has likely been huge, activists on the ground tell Rachel Schraer

Politics

2 w. ago Mass vaccinations underway and towns locked down as panic over Ebola pandemic 'crisis' spreads

Health officials have begun rolling out mass vaccines to combat an Ebola 'crisis' that has caused towns to go into lockdown and has sparked pandemic fears from global health organizations.

Events

2 w. ago Global insights, local impact: Gillings students explore public health innovation in London

Global insights, local impact: Gillings students explore public health innovation in London  UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Society