On Wednesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the country will invest up to $1 billion to contain the spread of H5N1 avian influenza. The statement comes after the death of one person from the virus in Louisiana, the culling of more than 54 million chickens since December, and a record-setting spike in egg prices.
The funds could be a step in the right direction, and Amanda McClelland, senior vice president of Prevent Epidemics at Resolve to Save Lives, says that public health and politics should work together to restore trust, ensure cohesion across agencies, and commit to long-term investments that protect against the ongoing bird flu outbreak and future threats.
Next, with women’s history month approaching, physician and journalist Mohammad Saeed Gharaati Jahromi describes how endometriosis—a condition that affects more than 190 million women worldwide—influences mental health. Jahromi notes that endometriosis and mental disorders connect through multiple pathways, but health systems fail to train physicians to recognize those links.
CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo continues the discussion of women’s health by previewing the upcoming short documentary The Power of Joy. The film follows an Ethiopian woman who survived a traumatic childbirth and fistula to become an ambassador for women’s health in her country—but not all share that triumph. As a result of Ethiopia’s ongoing conflict, more than 400 new cases of fistula now happen annually in the Tigray region, versus just 50 in 2019.
To wrap up the issue, journalist Isabella Rolz shares a dispatch from an emergency center for U.S. deportees in Guatemala. She speaks with two young women who were recently deported after migrating to the United States in search of job opportunities. They describe their deportations as “terrifying” and say they no longer want to pursue the American dream.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
