War Injuries in Ukraine and U.S. Disaster Preparedness

Editors' Note

On Wednesday, EU leaders convened in Copenhagen, Denmark, to deliberate over defense plans—days after unidentified drones appeared over Danish airports. The event followed recent incursions by Russian drones into Estonia, Poland, and Romania. The meeting yielded a new proposal for a "drone wall" along the Russia-Ukraine border to repel unwelcome military aircraft.

Modern war thrives off drones, physician Laurence Ronan writes this week for Think Global Health, and the aerial vehicles are propelling a growing trend of traumatic injuries and amputations. Ronan recounts a summer trip with Project HOPE to Dnipro, Ukraine—just 62 miles from the front lines—where one hospital performs 50 or more emergency surgeries each night on the wounded. The same day that article published, Russia hit Dnipro with a rare, daytime drone attack.

Next, the U.S. federal government shut down Wednesday as the fiscal year lapsed and Congress failed to reach an agreement on a budget continuation. The shutdown, which could stifle the already struggling National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), comes during the busy period of hurricane season. Against that backdrop, journalist Rachel Nuwer interviews Alice Hill, CFR senior fellow for energy and the environment, on the changing nature of U.S. disaster preparedness and the separation of responsibilities between the federal government and states.

Switching gears, professors Matthew D. Marr, Hiroshi Goto, and Dennis P. Culhane highlight the strategies Japan used to reduce unsheltered homelessness over the past two decades and how that approach contrasts with U.S. encampment sweeps.

To cap the newsletter, health scientist Danilo Farias de Morais analyzes how Brazil's population is aging faster than its social protection system, public health infrastructure, and economic resources can provide support.

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