H5N1 Wastewater Explainer and Rwanda’s Mental Health Thirty Years After Genocide

Editors' Note

As H5N1 avian influenza continues to infect cattle and humans across the United States, the Rockefeller Foundation's Megan Diamond explains how investing in wastewater surveillance, transparent data sharing, and effective communication can equip the country to better control the spread of the outbreak.

Since March, India has been experiencing a record-breaking heat wave that has claimed hundreds of lives. Journalist Puja Changoiwala examines how the heat wave disproportionately hurts the 75% of the workforce who depend on heat-exposed labor, pointing out that the country's labor laws have no provisions to protect workers from extreme temperatures.

Next, journalist Vida Foubister interviews Diné nurse-midwife and founder of Changing Woman Initiative Nicolle L. Arthun on her achievements and efforts to improve access to culturally sensitive, quality health care for expecting Native American women.

To wrap up this week's issue, Sam Muhanguzi, a global health scholar at Harvard Medical School, highlights the successes of Mvura Nkuvure, a community-based sociotherapy model in Rwanda whose name translates to "Heal me, I heal you." The model has facilitated emotional healing and peace-building for survivors of the 1994 genocide.

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