Lower U.S. Drug Prices, Nutrition Aid Loss in Nigeria, and Diabetes in Mexico

Editors' Note

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce prescription drug costs by instructing the secretary of health and human services to establish a path for Americans to buy medicine at the lowest available price offered to other developed nations.

To lead this week's coverage, CFR Senior Fellow Prashant Yadav explores how shifting U.S. policy on most-favored-nation pricing could increase costs for global health agencies , such as Gavi and the Global Fund, and impede essential medicines from reaching low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) at previously negotiated prices.

Next, researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) use a new computer simulation to quantify how U.S. foreign aid cuts will harm nutrition programs in LMICs and put lives at stake. Their predictions focus on Nigeria—home to the greatest number of annual deaths attributable to child malnutrition.

Heading back to North America, Project HOPE's Country Director in Mexico Corina Martínez Sánchez explains how poverty, inequality, and lack of access to care contribute to the nation's women being diagnosed with diabetes at higher rates than men, bucking the global trend.

To wrap up, TGH Research Associate Alejandra Martinez interviews science journalist Liz Kalaugher on her new book, The Elephant in the Room: How to Stop Making Ourselves and Other Animals Sick. It illustrates how humans have contributed to the historic rise and spread of infectious diseases among nonhuman animals.

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