The U.S. infant formula shortage is currently in the headlines, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has struggled to anticipate and respond to drug and medical device shortages for years, writes a former FDA deputy commissioner. Our first piece provides an insider look at how U.S. supply chains can break down, even for the essential health products people's lives depend on most.
Next, we shift to parents' struggle to find infant formula and breastfeed babies during the war in Ukraine and in other countries in conflict, and how humanitarian and other groups are working to support infant nutrition during crises.
That the United States has struggled against COVID-19 relative to its fellow wealthy nation peers is no secret, but our third piece shows the cause for those struggles has changed since the omicron variant emerged. The United States had been an outlier on prevention but surprisingly strong on treatment. That narrative no longer holds.
Two different sets of authors take on the topic of global surgery, reporting their unique takes on last month's World Health Assembly in Geneva, where global surgery side events were a highlight.
In a piece that looks at the fight to tame malaria in Bangladesh and what a malaria vaccine rollout might look like, the author recalls his early childhood there sleeping under nets and his surprise after moving to Canada when he realized not everybody in the world did the same.
As always, thank you for reading, and be well. —Thomas J. Bollyky and Mary Brophy Marcus, Editors
