Eradicating Polio in the Middle East and Preventing Malaria in ASEAN Countries

Editors' Note

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told parents to do their "own research" on vaccines during a televised interview to mark the first 100 days of the Donald Trump administration. Kennedy, a known vaccine skeptic, has made false claims about the measles vaccine and his lawyer once asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke U.S. approval of the polio vaccine.

Yet the fight against polio continues—both in countries where the paralytic virus remains endemic and when sporadic infections emerge, such as the 2022 cases in New York. Against that backdrop, Associate Editor Allison Krugman interviews Hamid Jafari, the World Health Organization's polio director for the Eastern Mediterranean, to discuss the future of polio eradication after the fallout of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) dismantling. Jafari outlines how Saudi Arabia's $500 million commitment to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative "sends a strong message of confidence" for the program's continued success.

Research Associate Alejandra Martinez continues the vaccine conversation with John Molina, director of the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care. Molina explains why vaccine uptake has been historically low among American Indians and the challenges rural Native communities in the Southwest face during the ongoing measles outbreak.

Switching diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Research Fellows Mochammad Fadjar Wibowo and Surendar Selva Kumar draw on lessons from Egypt's decades-long journey from widespread malaria to zero indigenous cases to inform control efforts among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Wibowo and Kumar suggest environmental management, vector control, and cross-border collaboration could help move ASEAN countries closer to their 2030 malaria elimination goal.

To wrap up this edition, journalist and former global health diplomat Frank Burkybile discusses gender-based violence in Kenya—where about one-third of women and girls have experienced physical violence since age 15. Burkybile warns that along with unraveling years of progress in reducing gender-based violence, the U.S. aid withdrawal could spur shortages for HIV supplies and increase other health risks.

Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor