The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Service Coverage Index, 2023 - Our World in Data

The US-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns that drew global backlash was halted, the lead researcher said on Wednesday. It was “now clear” that the study “will not move forward in Guinea-Bissau”, Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, a Danish researcher, wrote on LinkedIn, adding, “we were not given the necessary governmental approval.”The minister of health in Guinea-Bissau, Quinhin Nantote, previously denied that the project would move forward. “This is not even remotely true,” Nantote told the Guardian in Portuguese last week. The study was to be funded with $1.6m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with another $1.6m from private partners like the Bill Ackman-backed Pershing Square Foundation and the Bluebell Foundation. “The solution is clear here: take the money and vaccinate as many kids as you can,” said Paul Offit, a vaccines expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who sharply criticized the proposed study as unethical. The government of Guinea-Bissau now has control over the researchers’ vaccines, which they apprehended when they searched the offices of the Bandim Health Project on Monday.

When transplant candidates become frail, doctors often worry that they are too weak to survive transplantation. But according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh, frailty can be significantly improved with the right personalized, physician-led fitness program. In the study, more than 350 liver transplant candidates participated in a highly individualized workout and nutrition program. Nearly two-thirds of patients who attended at least three program visits lowered their frailty score by an average of nearly 0.4 points - a number which turned out to be a game changer.

Skip to mainWed, October 21, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. UTCA clinical trial of a vaccine against the deadly Ebola Bundibugyo virus is underway in Uganda. Uganda was declared Ebola-free in August but the virus has killed at least 4,500 in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. (AP video shot by: Patrick Onen)

The province’s flu season is off to an early start with the total number of lab-confirmed cases of the illness at ten as of October 4th. The provincial government’s graph of flu cases over time to October 4th, 2026The province’s influenza dashboard was updated last Friday, showing two flu-related hospitalizations – one of which involves a patient in critical care. Hospitalizations over time up to October 4th, 2026 (Government of NL)Flu and COVID vaccine clinics are now up and running across the province, while pharmacies are also taking vaccine bookings.

Efforts to understand how classic psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD summon powerful changes in consciousness tend to focus on what's happening inside our head. That's because these compounds bind tightly to serotonin receptors that densely populate certain structures of the brain, and a growing number of studies demonstrate they can exert long-lasting changes in mental health and well-being for people with a range of psychiatric conditions.