U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden both recently tested positive for COVID-19 and took the antiviral medication Paxlovid. (The First Lady announced this week she now has "rebound" COVID, testing positive again, which her husband also experienced earlier this summer after taking antivirals.) Like many higher risk patients in the United States, President Biden and the First Lady had no problem getting a prescription for Paxlovid, but our first piece reports on why equitable access to antiviral therapy remains elusive for people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Public health communication failed during the pandemic for various reasons. Our next author explains the hard work to be done to dispel disinformation better in future crises and rebuild public trust in government.
In Pakistan, the targets of gender-based violence are often blamed for instigating it, even by some in the health system. A journalist and gender-justice advocate from Karachi says more cases of gender-based violence and more survivor voices are receiving public attention—but until national and local initiatives target femicide, it will continue.
The U.S. opioid epidemic has reached heartbreaking highs, and Washington, DC, has been among the cities hardest hit. Isabella Turilli, Council on Foreign Relations staffer and volunteer emergency medical technician in the U.S. capital, examines the causes of this public health crisis: the city's increasingly tainted drug supply and poorly implemented policies have made Washington a hotspot for fatal overdoses.
Our final piece looks at a recent agreement between two drugmakers who have slashed the price of their tuberculosis prevention drugs in 138 LMICs. The move comes at a critical moment for the United States.
We love to publish compelling pieces and encourage you to share our submissions page with your colleagues. As always, thank you for reading, and be well. —Thomas J. Bollyky and Mary Brophy Marcus, Editors
