Very sad to learn that Stephen Lewis died today. Stephen was a remarkable person, and someone that very likely changed the trajectory of the global response to HIV/AIDS, not only saving lives but empowering people who are too often marginalized by the structures and systems he pushed back on.

No rules of engagement. No "nation building... no democracy building exercise" So, a tacit endorsement of war crimes with no particular end game or objective of what they're seeking to accomplish.

Countering the misinformation & disinformation ecosystem needs to involve more than debunking bad information that's circulating - we need evidence-based medicine to answer questions that people have about their every day health needs, no matter how mundane or esoteric. My letter in the @bmj.com

I realize this is newsworthy (to some degree, I guess?), because we live in the absolute stupidest timeline right now, but I can't make it through this article. I have a PhD and I can't make sense of what's going on here (I also just don't care). Go outside, folks. Have a coffee with another human.

Bruuuutallll

Reporting in northern Cameroon, I noticed a few people sitting at the back of a hospital compound. They had drug-resistant TB. They weren't there to get meds or see a doctor: they LIVE there. For months. In isolation. That's government policy. Sanitarium throwback. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

Detour from posting about health and foreign policy In my not-work life, I run and hike and explore. This June: We're organizing 360 Ottawa. A race around the entire perimeter of #Ottawa. Team relay. Whole city. Slightly unhinged. Very fun. Registration's open. Come run with us. DM for details.

This article is intellectually lazy and mischaracterizes how drug prices in Canada are set and regulated. It uses data that stop in 2002 - decades before today’s extraordinarily high drug prices - to justify its claims. Nonsense.

New from @srinmurthy.bsky.social and I at @healthydebate.bsky.social re: studies on university R&D + the private sector (SRSR) & "Canada's pharmaceutical sovereignty" (HESA). "These parliamentary studies are low-profile but have implications for access to medicines" healthydebate.ca/2026/02/topi...

Horrific. Medical staff are working under impossible circumstances to provide care to patients during an ongoing genocide, where much of the health system has been systematically destroyed. Warring parties have an obligation to protect medical staff. The fighting needs to end immediately.

Lots of potentially good work being done here to improve the affordability and thermostability of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine which currently (1) is, I believe, the most expensive vaccine in use in global health; and (2) requires resource-intensive ultra-cold chain that is not ideal.

If you're in Ottawa, join me tomorrow night at the Bronson Centre where I'll be moderating a panel discussion featuring @heathermcpherson.bsky.social and a remarkable group of human rights advocates to talk about Canada's place in the world.

I just learned that you can buy a premium metal inhaler case for your MDIs. Also comes in fun colours. I'm down for zuhz-ing up medical devices that you have to carry around every day (as long as health professionals can still read the label so we know what medication it is!).

Thursday, join me and some very special guests for an important conversation about Canada's Place in the World. Come be part of this conversation. RSVP: www.heathermcpherson.ca/ottawa_town_...

This is a good update on the state of tobacco use in Canada, with surprisingly positive results. In 2024, 13% of Canadians were using tobacco, that's down from 29% in 2001. Good progress. Smoking among youth hit a record low in 2024: 2% among 12-17 year olds. www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...

The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.

Christmas Travellers Maud Lewis c. 1960

Today I learned that NORAD’s Santa tracker started in 1955 when a Sears store in Colorado Springs ran a newspaper ad with a phone number for kids to call Santa that was, accidentally, the NORAD top secret phone line to be used by the US president, but instead had kids calling asking for Santa.

I’ve come to think of AI as being a pretty-good-intern on my team. I don’t trust it with anything important and it definitely shouldn’t do independent work. I find AI helpful for organizing my thoughts in a way I might not, but key point is these are my thoughts, my work, my analysis.

Oh my God just go read the papers, do the research, and learn the stuff you need to know. I realize the incentive structure in academia is bullshit, but have some integrity - and some interest in learning things and producing quality work!

👀

The fact that no pharma company is showing much interest in getting market approval for a #frostbite treatment IN CANADA of all possible places is a market failure.

Oh my God just go read the papers, do the research, and learn the stuff you need to know. I realize the incentive structure in academia is bullshit, but have some integrity - and some interest in learning things and producing quality work!

Consider signing up for FluWatchers! A quick weekly email asking about cough or fever helps track flu activity and supports public health officials in spotting early signs of outbreaks. Visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/flu-influenza/fluwatcher.html

Some potentially groundbreaking and life changing medicines and vaccines are on the horizon, including for major public health threats (Lassa fever, rabies) and respiratory disease (the most promising Tuberculosis vaccine in a century). 🧪

Some potentially groundbreaking and life changing medicines and vaccines are on the horizon, including for major public health threats (Lassa fever, rabies) and respiratory disease (the most promising Tuberculosis vaccine in a century). 🧪

Canada's governments need to take action to ensure Canadians have access to respiratory therapy services in acute care, primary care, critical care, and home care. Supporting the Canadian and international respiratory therapist workforce is essential. Read our recommendations:

Lots being written about a need to reorient global health, but this statement refreshingly honest: “Global health is now seen by many as a rarified world occupied by elites making decisions that are out of touch with everyday realities.” This is correct. The Global Health Country Club needs to end.

Lots being written about a need to reorient global health, but this statement refreshingly honest: “Global health is now seen by many as a rarified world occupied by elites making decisions that are out of touch with everyday realities.” This is correct. The Global Health Country Club needs to end.

Thank you to every one of my health professionals for your text messages between 8-8:30AM today wishing me a happy birthday. Good to know my optometrist is thinking of me on my birthday. 👍

This is a great paper by @jocalynclark.bsky.social and Tina Purnat, highlighting something that I don't think is being said often enough: "The challenges of health misinformation go beyond countering false claims." We need to give people credible answers to their real questions and problems.

Look, this is an absurd stunt and I am here for all your hot takes taking the piss out of it. But it is offensive and unjust that there are thousands of people actually working to create peace and restore dignity in some of the most horrendous conflicts on the planet who get no recognition at all.

I agree with this, but I also worry that large parts of the medical community and the anti-misinformation health advocates are massively out of touch with many people's daily realities & questions they have that are being answered by online influencers and others in the wellness space. What I mean:

France has identified two cases of MERS in travellers returning from Saudi Arabia. Both are reported to be in stable condition in hospital, no additional chains of transmission identified.

DRC has declared the Ebola outbreak in Kasai over - this is good news. The case fatality rate in this outbreak, however, is very high (43 deaths out of 53 confirmed cases). And higher than in recent outbreaks.

Great obituary in today’s Globe and Mail. A reminder to make sure that you exit this world on a, uh, high note. www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...

Seeing too many articles talking about challenges accessing extremely pricey drugs in Canada that make no mention of the absolutely outrageous amounts of money the pharma companies are pulling in.💰💊 Vertex is on track to make $10 Billion+ USD off Trikafta this year (again). 👀A 10x blockbuster drug!

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.) RTs appreciated.

Lauren is right: Canadian civil society, and Canada as a donor, is trying to do too many things and we need to stop doing some of them. I would add to this that Canada is a very good humanitarian donor that gets out of the way of humanitarian orgs delivering services & Canada should focus on this.

Update from the Ethiopian Ministry of Health on the #Marburg outbreak.

Lots to like in this #pharmacare report (it's feisty!) tho I still worry its approach to WHO #EssentialMedicines lets fall through the cracks the many drugs on the WHO EML💊📜, from #albendazole to #tuberculosis drugs, that aren't actually sold in Canada despite being the recognized standard of care.

Canadian foreign policy at this point basically consists of a series of banal tweets about important things. These tweets take 3-5 days to write and approve.

Folks, it’s probably time to stop posting glowing content praising Liberal ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries for standing up for global health or international assistance or having any kind of helpful foreign policy.

Can’t help but feel like Putnam predicted this in some way, 30 years ago. We’re now in a place where bad (or delusional) ideas and fake videos/text/“events” are given an air of credibility by a fake polished AI veneer. This is so obviously bad for trust, and just knowing what is going on.

Ottawa’s boondoggle of Lansdowne 2.0 will funnel a bunch of taxpayers dollars to a handful of private companies and now will drive out Ottawa’s very successful women’s hockey league team who say they won’t play in an arena that can seat fewer people than they have attending a weekday hockey game.

Ethiopia has confirmed that the cases of hemorrhagic fever identified in Jinka town are Marburg virus disease. There have been several Marburg outbreaks in the past couple of years, the largest occurred in Rwanda in the fall of 2024. There are no approved vaccines and therapeutics for Marburg.

Not good: Ethiopia is reporting a cluster of 8 suspected cases of a possible viral hemorrhagic fever. It is not yet clear: (1) if these are true, confirmed cases; and (2) what the suspected illness is - many possibilities here ranging from not a VHF, to Ebolavirus, Ebola Sudan, Marburg, etc.

Join us next week in Ottawa for a screening of the documentary “Restoring Dignity” and a discussion on neglected diseases (specifically Noma) moderated by me, with some wonderful panelists.

For clarity, here: Health Canada didn't "lose" them in the sense that they didn't, like, "fall off the back of a truck". Health Canada says there was a temperature deviation that, presumably, led to spoilage of temperature-sensitive products like vaccines or drugs. Which is bad, yes, but different.