public-health
4 briefs
The World Is Losing the Health Gains It Spent Twenty Years Building. The WHO Cannot Say Why.
The 2026 World Health Statistics report released today says malaria is rising, maternal mortality is stalling, and childhood vaccine coverage is slipping below herd immunity thresholds -- but the report conspicuously avoids naming the funding cuts causing it.
Trump's EPA Cuts Are Making the Air Dirtier. The People Breathing It Cannot Afford to Move.
DOGE-driven EPA staff cuts have gutted enforcement capacity in the same states where air quality was already failing federal standards. The regulatory apparatus still exists on paper. It has stopped functioning.
RFK Got 18 States to Ban Junk Food From Food Stamps. PepsiCo Cut Prices by 15%.
Florida and nearly two dozen states began restricting SNAP purchases to exclude soda, candy, and ultra-processed foods today. Within a week of the first bans, PepsiCo dropped snack prices 15%. The food industry is reacting faster than the policy can move.
A Judge Froze RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Changes. He's Already Working Around the Ruling.
US District Judge Brian Murphy blocked all Trump-era changes to the national vaccine schedule. The same day, HHS announced new criteria for the advisory panel RFK Jr. had already stacked. The courts and the executive are playing whack-a-mole with public health infrastructure.