Gaza’s Health by the Numbers and Revamping Medicaid

Editors' Note

Last weekend, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel in a retaliatory attack. Defenses intercepted the majority, but CFR experts say the event marks a new escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict, shifting the focus beyond Gaza.

In this week's edition, CFR's Simone Lipkind weighs in on how the war has stopped food from reaching Gaza, noting that even if a peace were reached tomorrow, the aftershocks of hunger would last years. Christina Bouri continues our coverage of the conflict by delineating how more than 800 attacks on Gaza's health-care system have elevated malnutrition and increased levels of diseases, including respiratory infections, scabies, and chickenpox.

Next, Maya Fransz-Meyers, David Knapp, and Jinkook Lee from the University of Southern California's Center for Economic and Social Research propose ways to revamp Medicaid, the public health insurance program, to offer easier access to better care for aging adults.

Turning to South Asia, Neelika Malavige, head of the Global Dengue Program at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, describes how the Dengue Alliance, launched in 2022, will advance clinical treatments for the mosquito-borne disease in endemic countries, starting with Sri Lanka.

Journalist Joseph Maina wraps the week with a dive into how high fluoride content in Kenya's water supply is harming citizens' health and economic opportunities.

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