“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released new data today estimating a notable decrease in people killed in crashes in the first three months of 2025. NHTSA projects that traffic fatalities declined about 6.3% in the first quarter, with 8,055 lives lost. This is the 12th consecutive quarterly decline in fatalities, and the estimated quarterly fatality rate is the lowest in six years.”
From NHTSA.
“A new global mpox vaccine stockpile is set to begin operations later this month, creating a long-term mechanism to help ensure that countries facing mpox outbreaks have rapid and equitable access to vaccines.
Like existing global emergency stockpiles for yellow fever, meningitis, Ebola and cholera vaccines, the mpox stockpile will be available to any country that needs it. However, because supplies are limited and must be distributed equitably, it is designed primarily for emergency outbreak response.
Countries eligible for Gavi support receive stockpiled vaccines free of charge. Wealthier countries can access the stockpile just as quickly, but these countries must subsequently reimburse the cost of the vaccines.”
From Gavi.
“In 2025, 90% of infants globally – or nearly 116 million – received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, and 85% – or 110 million – completed the full three-dose series, according to the annual WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released today.
While both indicators rose by one percentage point from the previous year, global coverage remains one point below 2019 levels – hovering within the same narrow range since 2009.
According to the data, an estimated 13.5 million 'zero-dose' children did not receive a single vaccine in their first year during 2025. While these represent nearly 750 000 fewer children than the previous year, progress is offset by a rising number of children who start the schedule and do not complete it. Most of these children live in countries where national immunization programmes receive support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.”
“The global health workforce has expanded since 1990, mainly due to an increase in female health workers, according to a study published online Aug. 18 in The Lancet Public Health.
Megan Knight, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and colleagues describe the composition and density of health workers by sex among 20 cadres for 204 countries and territories during 1990 to 2023. Overall, 1,816 country-years of data from population-based surveys, 82 from censuses, 3,888 from administrative sources, and 96 from scientific literature were used.
The researchers found there were 122.1 million health workers across 20 cadres in 2023, representing an increase of 81.2 million (198.5 percent) relative to 1990; the number included 15.1 million doctors, 33.2 million nurses, 2.4 million midwives, and 7.6 million community health workers (CHWs).”
From HealthDay.
“eGenesis, a biotechnology company developing human-compatible engineered organs to address the global organ shortage, announced today clinical updates from an ongoing Expanded Access study of EGEN-2784, the Company’s genetically engineered porcine kidney for the treatment of kidney failure.
Since March 2024, five patients with kidney failure have received EGEN-2784 kidney transplants under Expanded Access in collaboration with the Mass General Brigham health system. Three of these patients have achieved sustained kidney function for more than eight months without the need for dialysis. One patient has surpassed nine months of dialysis independence, establishing a new global record for a genetically engineered porcine kidney transplant, and remains on study. Two of the five patients have successfully transitioned to human donor kidney transplants.
These two cases represent the first reported transitions from xenotransplantation to allotransplantation and provide important clinical evidence that transplantation with a genetically engineered porcine kidney can support a subsequent transplant with a human donor kidney. The experience of one of these patients, Tim Andrews, was published today in The Lancet. Andrews achieved approximately nine months of dialysis independence with an EGEN-2784 kidney before successfully receiving a human kidney 82 days following xenograft removal.”
From eGenesis.
