#UN needs transformative leadership to confront the myriad of challenges the organisation (& planet) face. A range of excellent women leader candidates exist - among them Michelle Bachelet, whom Chile will nominate for Madam Secretary General. Brava! 🌎🌐 May this be the 1st of many woman nominees.

Surviving the aid cuts: how countries are sustaining health services www.bmj.com/content/390/...

7/ UK’s lack of political engagement is increasing health risks in the UK and abroad, argues @clarewenham.bsky.social

'Sails' batik by Tatiana Belokonenko, contemporary artist born in Odessa, Ukraine #WomensArt

🚀 LAUNCH TOMORROW: #HealthEquity #SocialDeterminants #Inequalities #EUHealth

📣 BMJ Medicine is now on Bluesky 📣 Follow them at @bmjmedicine.bsky.social

🧵 NEW: As world leaders gather for the UN’s annual meetings, The BMJ publishes several articles to inform needed action and international cooperation on health. Several obstacles are in its path . . .

A new strategy for U.S. global health aid after months of cuts www.npr.org/sections/goa...

UK tells patients to ignore Trump’s advice on paracetamol on.ft.com/46yOmDI

Over the past nine months, the U.S. foreign aid sector has faced unprecedented upheaval as the Trump administration’s "America First" policy dismantled USAID and shifted aid programming to the State Department.

Worth remembering many people will be unfamiliar with terms like "indefinite leave to remain" and "settlement". People know what immigration is + citizenship, but settlement is less intuitive So its important for those countering the proposals to put in schoolgate language what is being proposed

New articles @bmj.com to capture some of the challenges facing #UNGA80 as it marks its 80th anniversary and possible demise. All freely available. Pls read & share. 1/ @eloder.bsky.social reviews recent retreats on science and its successes: www.bmj.com/content/390/...

"...when reporters are barred, threatened, or killed, medics are forced to bear witness. They become both healers and narrators of suffering." New World Report by Saleyha Ahsan—Doctors as witnesses of war tinyurl.com/46u36hcf

One of my favorite things about being an editor at Vaccine is that I get to read really cool papers like this about the history of vaccination in different social and cultural contexts around the world 👇🏻

Timely, beautifully written reminder of the links between racism and health, and what structural racism really "is." Ignoring the evidence is a political choice. By the indomitable Nancy Krieger and Mary Bassett in @nejm.org

“As world leaders gather in New York for the annual #UNGA, renewed action on health must be a top priority. New articles in The BMJ illustrate the obstacles they are up against” 🌐 @bmj.com’s head of research @eloder.bsky.social lays it out: www.bmj.com/content/390/...

THIS. Never forget this👇 The authoritarian play is a war on women. www.bmj.com/content/388/...

I also obtained a Trump administration memo stating that the cost of shutting down USAID is $6.4 billion over 2 years. That sum could save more than 1 million children's lives; instead, it is being spent to to shut down programs that save lives. Help spread the word. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

Leaving aside optics of attending at any time an event hosted by industry that does so much to create misery, transferring billions from the poor and desperate to billionaires, Rachel Reeves’ decision to do so ahead of a budget seriously questions her judgment www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Editorial: "Remembering Drummond Rennie—Champion of Integrity in Science and Scientific Publication." ja.ma/3KvjOuX

@who.int's #UNGA highlight will be the High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) & Mental Health on 25 Sept. NCDs include 7 of the 🌍’s top 10 causes of death. Almost 1 billion people face mental health conditions. Countries that act decisively to #BeatNCDs will save millions of lives.

🇬🇧🌎 UK must step up to support global multilateral efforts to tackle disease and fully support the Global Fund , argue Peter Piot & Ibrahim Abubakar in @bmj.com www.bmj.com/content/390/...

IT'S OFFICIAL: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. The collaborative will issue their own vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts.

Editorial: "Remembering Drummond Rennie—Champion of Integrity in Science and Scientific Publication." ja.ma/422578O

UBC prof Dr. Karim Qayumi created the Canadian Virtual Medical University Initiative, an online university exclusively for women. Currently, 164 Afghan women are enrolled in the Medical Doctorate program via @universityaffairs.bsky.social

"Impunity has been the norm." @lenrubenstein.bsky.social, Rohini J Haar, and Joseph J Amon look at growing attacks on healthcare and say anguish and hang-wringing is not enough www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Sanctions for doctors found guilty of sexual misconduct are too lenient & Tribunal service is not fit for purpose New set of articles in @bmj.com urge reform: www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Don’t forget - the steady creep of censorship impacting #Kimmel started with MEDICAL JOURNALS via Trump’s Jan 31 executive order instructing CDC scientists to withdraw or retract manuscripts with “forbidden terms” We @bmj.com & many others condemned political orders www.bmj.com/content/388/...

MMR vaccines do not cause autism (see my 🧵 of studies) At the same time, one potential cause of autism is rubella, which is *prevented* by MMR vaccines. Which means...vaccines may actually help prevent autism. 🧵 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21592401/

Don’t forget - the steady creep of censorship impacting #Kimmel started with MEDICAL JOURNALS via Trump’s Jan 31 executive order instructing CDC scientists to withdraw or retract manuscripts with “forbidden terms” We @bmj.com & many others condemned political orders www.bmj.com/content/388/...

i don’t think i can unclench my jaw or relax my muscles anymore 2025 is breaking me

🚨 Applications Open! We are seeking 3 journalists from the #GlobalSouth to report on fascist & fundamentalist movements. 💡 Pitch your story & bring it to life. 📌 Apply: wearenoor.org/feminist-jou... #JournalismAsResistance @globalvoices.org @untoldmag.org @jamhoor.org @designaction.bsky.social

Did we nearly achieve #worldpeace? According to the data, international law & norms, a decade or so ago, world peace was within grasp, but the historic opportunity was not seized Read more from Alex de Waal on what achieving world peace may have looked like & where it went wrong: shorturl.at/xbPcI

Globally we are spending over $630bn annually on weapons of war. @markabellis.bsky.social argues that it's time to start scrutinising the way the arms industry is telling governments, and their populations, that more weapons are the answer to more conflict. #DSEI2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_5N...

"Too often, attempts to humiliate colleagues are dismissed as banter or the result of a personality or generational clash. These aren’t acceptable excuses . . ." How should you respond to being humiliated at work? www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Terrifying. 🇺🇸 Who Makes Decisions About Vaccine Policy Now?

Drummond Rennie (1936-2025), in his own words Rennie, who died on September 12, was a towering figure in scientific publishing, known for promoting improved standards in medical journals, and for organizing the first Peer Review Congress, held in 1989, and every four years since.

Sad (but not surprised) to read the latest Global Health 50/50 report, amidst turmoil in global health, erosion of democracy, withdrawal from multi-lateralism, aid cuts, attacks on science, DEI, human rights @kentbuse.bsky.social @jocalynclark.bsky.social global5050.org/2025-report/

Now I am being silenced by the Washington Post for -- *checks notes* Lamenting America's acceptance of apathy towards political violence and gun deaths-- especially when the violence is encouraged and carried out by white men.

NEW: the harms of the arms industry covers this week’s BMJ print issue 🔷

On 18th Sept, ahead of the 4th UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), a panel hosted by @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social will discuss NCD progress, setbacks, and priorities as the SDG framework enters its final phase. Register to attend 👉 tinyurl.com/mtm64fky

Some people have wished I wrote more about the bad old days of silencing and gender violence since I put up that Guardian piece about how normalized it all was in the 1970s-1990s, and, well, I did: Recollections of My Nonexistence. Here are some excerpts.

In a world in which politically palatable downstream thinking reigns, teaching upstream determination of health inequity can be difficult. But it’s what "global health” shld be about. In this paper led by Neha Faruqui we share lessons from our experience & observations! gh.bmj.com/content/10/9...

Such a cool paper. #EpiSky @amjepi.bsky.social #DataScience #Reproducibility Led by @sfackley.bsky.social at @brown-epi.bsky.social Research on reproducible research funded by NIH/NIA - thank you!

NEW: the harms of the arms industry covers this week’s BMJ print issue 🔷

BMJ urges renewed support for, "global peace dividend campaign established by science & health leaders in 2021 to “cultivate peace-supporting economic opportunities... [& promote} scrutiny of the arms industry by recognising it as a commercial determinant of health" www.bmj.com/content/390/...

2/ and www.bmj.com/content/390/...

new @bmj.com series on Arms industry as a commercial determinant of health www.bmj.com/content/390/... featured in the latest "The Week in Arms Trade Publications" mailchi.mp/forumarmstra... Get on the list www.forumarmstrade.org/get-on-the-l... @muggah.bsky.social

Weapons, wealth, and health: the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health. #BMJ Open Access www.bmj.com/content/390/...