Weekly Health Digest: HIV Prevention, CDC Firings, Somalia’s Healthcare, Chikungunya in New York

South Africa’s health minister hails new HIV prevention jab but warns of limited supply

By Micheele Gumede, Associated Press

South Africa has started using lenacapavir, a new injection that can prevent HIV infection for up to six months. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi called it a major step in fighting the virus, which affects more than 7 million people in the country. The shot may help those who find it hard to take daily prevention pills, making long-term protection easier.

The first doses will reach the public in 2026 with help from international funding, but the demand is expected to exceed supply. The health minister warned that South Africa must still build sustainable funding and local manufacturing to make the program last.

The plan became controversial after no South African companies were allowed to produce the drug under Gilead Science’s licensing deals, while firms in Egypt, Pakistan, and India were included. Activists say that this decision undermines fairness and local participation, especially for a country carrying one of the world’s highest HIV burdens.

Experts view lenacapavir as both a medical breakthrough and a test of health equity. The shot could reshape HIV prevention, but it also exposes ongoing dependence on global donors and pharmaceutical companies. Real progress will require ensuing that innovation reaches everyone.

— by Yiying Zhang

A Quarter of the CDC is Gone

By Emily Mullin, WIRED

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has experienced another detrimental round of mass firings, averaging 3,000 people who either voluntarily or unethically were terminated from the agency’s workforce.  The downsizing is a direct product of the broader initiative led by the Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

CDC has been a long standing pillar contributing to America’s leadership in the progression of public health. However, the disorder of the infrastructure’s internal relations has dramatically increased a strain that was felt by the world. These firing come after RFK Jr. oversaw the dismissal of CDC director Susan Monarez, resulting in the resignation of several other senior officials across all major departments. Experts who were part of the former leadership in the agency are wary of CDC’s ability to accurately inform the public due to the lack of qualified, professional input at the moment. Their primary concern remains in how what was historically the backbone of science and health will respond to future public health crises. 

— by Emily Zhou

America’s Retreat From Aid Is Devastating Somalia’s Health System

By Stephanie Nolen, The New York Times

With the Trump administration dismantling the Agency for International Development, which funded large foreign assistance initiatives in the world’s poorest countries, health outcomes among countries like Somalia are worsening drastically. The United States has been a longstanding donor to Somalia, contributing a large supply of aid that funded several programs that have improved overall health in recent years, including reduced malnutrition, less child and maternal deaths, and increasing vaccine coverage. Due to many healthcare and food aid programs being abruptly halted, more children are suffering from hunger and various illnesses. 

Save the Children, the International Medical Corps, and the World Food Programme were among those that were cut off, causing closures of 47 community health facilities and medical centers in several regions of Somalia. The U.S.A.I.D. grant, approximately $15 million annually for the past 8 years, was not renewed, forcing Save the Children to make incredibly difficult decisions regarding emergency center closures. These centers often play key roles in lifesaving interventions, especially for children.

With U.S. aid cut off, other countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom, have begun pulling aid as well—British aid for healthcare will end in March. With this severely reduced funding, the World Food Programme has predicted that less than one out of 10 people who need food assistance will receive it. Another major issue is resource shortages in skilled staff, hospital wards, and supplies. For example, retaining skilled staff members for childbirth facilities has remained a high priority, but the limited budget makes this increasingly difficult. Although organizations like Save the Children are currently using funds from individual donors to maintain operations in Somalia, these funds will not last past the end of the year, when the threat of final closures of its emergency centers looms.

— by Kimberly Yang

Fever, Joint Pain, Aching Toes. A Mystery Ailment, a Stunning Diagnosis.

By Joseph Goldstein, New York Times

A 60-year-old woman from Long Island has become the first person to acquire the chikungunya virus in New York. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that mostly circulates in warm, tropical areas. The only locally-acquired cases in the United States have been in Florida and Texas. However, the patient from New York had not travelled outside of the northeastern U.S. in the past eight years. When she went to the emergency room with severe joint pain (a symptom characteristic of chikungunya), no doctor thought to test her for the virus until days later. Employees at the Nassau County Health Department were so stunned by her test results that they seemed initially skeptical of her claim that she had not travelled outside of New York recently. 

Two main theories exist as to why the patient was infected in such an unlikely location. One possibility is that an infected mosquito travelled in a plane back to New York from a place where chikungunya is endemic. However, the other belief is that a New York resident may have travelled home after being infected with chikungunya abroad. This person may have then been bitten by a mosquito capable of becoming infected with chikungunya and passing it on to others.

Both of these theories illustrate the extreme adaptability of the Asian tiger mosquito, which is one of the two species responsible for chikungunya’s spread. These mosquitoes, after being introduced to the U.S. only 40 years ago, are now able to survive and lay eggs in colder climates. The case in New York is also indicative of climate change. Regions which were once too cold for these mosquitoes to survive in can now serve as adequate habitats. Though this case is striking, the state health commissioner has said that the risk of further infection in New York is low.

— by Clara Silvestri

Items summarized by: Yiying Zhang, Emily Zhou, Kimberly Yang and Clara Silvestri