Microplastics Over a Mexican Volcano and Sudan’s Cholera Outbreak

Editors' Note

On Tuesday countries around the world celebrated Earth Day. To recognize the occasion, Shanghai International Studies University's Chunhong Sheng and Jiyong Jin outline how China is promoting climate-health resilience as part of its commitment to improve global health governance. The country is prioritizing health adaptation to climate change through its Belt and Road Initiative.

Our Earth Day coverage continues with a journey up mountains to find microplastics. Medical students and researchers led by William McCarthy from the University of Texas's Health Science Center recount how they scaled Pico de Orizaba, an almost 18,500-foot volcano in Mexico, to collect saliva, snow, and water samples that revealed that microplastics are "everywhere one looks."

Tuesday also marked the two-year anniversary of Sudan's civil war. Since 2023, the conflict has resulted in 20,000 to 150,000 estimated deaths, displaced nearly 13 million people, and destroyed health infrastructure. To weigh those consequences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate Sameer Abbasi and coauthors explore how the destruction of sewage systems and decline of sanitation services has contributed to the country's massive cholera outbreak since last July.

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