[Correspondence] Mass drug administration: time to consider drug pollution?
Gorka Orive, Unax Lertxundi | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mass drug administration is the strategy recommended by WHO to control or eliminate many neglected tropical diseases that cause devastating consequences worldwide. This strategic approach, which has produced unquestionable benefits, consists of treating every person, infected or not, living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time.1 In 2017, more than 1 ∑7 billion treatments (mainly albendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, azithromycin, and praziquantel) were delivered to 1 ∑04 billion individuals.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30053-2/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Education and research are essential for lasting peace in Yemen
Fathiah Zakham, Olli Vapalahti, Hilal A Lashual | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Yemen, known to many as the land of Sheba, and Manhattan of the desert, is now referred to only as one of the poorest countries on Earth. The name Yemen has become synonymous with cholera, famine, death, instability, and war. The war continues to erase the lives, history, and the future of Yemenis, and meaningful aid and peace have yet to reach Yemen.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30162-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] COVID-19 will not leave behind refugees and migrants
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Never has the "leave no one behind" pledge felt more urgent. As nations around the world implement measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdowns and restrictions on individuals' movements, they must heed their global commitments. When member states adopted the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they promised to ensure no one will be left behind. Chief among the world's most vulnerable people are refugees and migrants. The COVID-19 crisis puts these groups at enormous risk.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30758-3/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Man up
Tom Shakespeare | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography explores half a century of photographic representations of men–their bodies, their identities, and their social roles. Contemporary politics is full of powerful men–Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan–behaving in stereotypically dominant ways. You could be forgiven for thinking that the more things change, the more things remain the same. But #MeToo is here to say it can't go on like this, in the wake of the conviction of Harvey Weinstein.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30683-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] A planetary health perspective on COVID-19: a call for papers
Alastair Brown, Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
It is natural during the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to focus on emergency response planning, including containment, treatment procedures, and vaccine development, and nobody would doubt the need for these measures. However, an emergency can also open a window of opportunity for reflection and learning. We live in increasingly global, interdependent, and environmentally constrained societies and the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies these aspects of our world. We would therefore be wise to take a broad integrated perspective on this disease, the impacts of which are already spilling over in…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30742-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Offline: COVID-19–what countries must do now
Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
How should countries plan for the approaching health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck down with infection, has written to every household warning that, "we know things will get worse before they get better". The UK Government is right to prepare the public for the coming human catastrophe. All governments have a responsibility to do the same. But this advice does not go far enough. Here are five critical actions that need to be considered immediately.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30787-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[Obituary] Philip Leder
Geoff Watts | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Molecular geneticist and genetic code breaker. He was born in Washington, DC, USA, on Nov 19, 1934, and died from complications of Parkinson's disease in Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, on Feb 2, 2020, aged 85 years.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30685-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] Developing antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2
Anna Petherick | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Laboratories and diagnostic companies are racing to produce antibody tests, a key part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna Petherick reports.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30788-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] Open versus endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
When the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysms in May, 2018, it caused outcry. By recommending that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of unruptured aneurysms should not be offered–even in patients for whom open surgical repair was contraindicated–critics said that many patients would be denied life-saving treatment and that the guidelines were unworkable.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30759-5/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect?
Gerardo Chowell, Kenji Mizumoto | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
As of March 19, 2020, 191‚Äà127 cases of, including 7807 deaths attributed to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported worldwide.1 The incidence of reported cases in China has dramatically reduced to tens per day as a result of strict social distancing measures; however, the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now generating sustained transmission in many countries including the USA. In The Lancet, Isaac Ghinai, Tristan D McPherson, and colleagues2 report details of the first known human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, which was…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30743-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Biswal S, Borja-Tabora C, Martinez Vargas L, et al. Efficacy of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy children aged 4–16 years: a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; published online March 17. dox.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30414-1–The appendix of this Article has been corrected as of April 2, 2020.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30682-6/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Obsolete medical law in Japan harms doctors' health
Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Japan has achieved one of the most successful health-care systems in the world.1 Under the nation's insurance scheme, Japanese citizens have taken for granted that anyone can choose any health-care facility and receive the most advanced medical care across the nation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that such a health system is supported by dedicated and self-sacrificing medical professionals. Such overloaded expectation is especially high in rural areas where the number of doctors remains low.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30176-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Authoritarianism and the threat of infectious diseases
Juan M Pericà s | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Punitive social policy, encompassing the dismantling of the welfare state with the expansion of the penal state and its associated institutions, as nicely stated by Elias Nosrati and Michael Marmot in their Perspective,1 might indeed be considered an upstream social determinant of health. Nosrati and Marmot's analysis relates to the findings described by Navarro and colleagues,2 linking political ideology with policies aimed at reducing social inequalities such as welfare state and labour market policies.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32595-4/fulltext?rss=yes

[Editorial] Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
What does it mean to be vulnerable? Vulnerable groups of people are those that are disproportionally exposed to risk, but who is included in these groups can change dynamically. A person not considered vulnerable at the outset of a pandemic can become vulnerable depending on the policy response. The risks of sudden loss of income or access to social support have consequences that are difficult to estimate and constitute a challenge in identifying all those who might become vulnerable. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups are not only elderly people, those with ill health and comorbidities, or…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30757-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Correspondence] Chagas disease: still a neglected emergency?
Renato D Lopes, Claudio Gimpelewicz, John J V McMurray | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
10 years after highlighting the health consequences for millions of people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, a 2019 report from the Pan American Health Organization concluded that there has been little progress in the prevention and treatment of Chagas disease, a problem that now extends beyond Latin America.1…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30171-9/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] 2020 Canada Gairdner Award winners announced
Talha Burki | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
On March 31, the Gairdner Foundation announced the winners of its annual prizes in biomedical science and global health. Talha Burki spoke with the laureates.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30789-3/fulltext?rss=yes

[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mease PJ, Rahman P, Gottlieb AB, et al. Guselkumab in biologic-naive patients with active psoriatic arthritis (DISCOVER-2): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; 395: 1126–36–In this Article, the following sentence from the Participants section has been corrected as follows: "Patients were permitted, but not required, to continue stable use of selected standard treatments, including NSAIDs or other analgesics up to the regional marketed dose approved; oral corticosteroids (‚â§10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent dose); or non-biologic DMARDs (limi…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30741-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Face transplants as surgical acts and psychosocial processes
Fay Bound Alberti | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
In 2017 the face of Katie Stubblefield made headlines. Not the face she was born with or the face that emerged after 22 reconstructive surgeries. This was another face altogether: a transplant that Stubblefield would receive from Adrea Schneider. There have been 46 recorded face transplants in history. Katie's was the 40th–only the third to have taken place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which also undertook the first face transplant in the USA, on Connie Culp, in 2008. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it took 11 surgeons and staff from 15 specialties more than 31 hours to transplant Stubblefield's new…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30684-X/fulltext?rss=yes

Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel's False Democracy
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Tunisia is the Middle East's greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world's most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/tunisia-leads-the-way-new-report-exposes-israels-false-democracy/

Gaza's New Conflict: COVID-19
Omar Shaban | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
At a time when everyone was celebrating the arrival of a new decade, a rare once-in-a-100-year event took the world by surprise: a major global pandemic named COVID-19. Governments around the world struggled to fight the virus, taking extreme measures to contain it with nearly one billion people now living in confinement. At first, Palestinians…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/gazas-new-conflict-covid-19/

Israel demolishes 40 structures since virus outbreak
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-03
Israel has demolished or seized 40 Palestinian structures in Area C of the occupied West Bank since March 5, according to a report published on Friday by the UN."Since the declaration of the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Palestine on 5 March, the Israeli authorities demolished, forced people to self-demolish or seized 40 structures," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) report.It added that the demolition led to the displacement of 26 Palestinians and otherwise affected over 260 others.On Thursday, Israel informed the UN that it would temporarily halt demolitions of inhabited…
yenisafak.com/en/world/israel-demolishes-40-structures-since-virus-outbreak-3515869

High Population Density Challenge for Gazans to Fight COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-02
Challenges and deep concerns are growing in the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip to fight COVID-19 and prevent it from spreading in the densely populated coastal enclave that Hamas movement has been ruling since 2007. | RELATED: | First COVID-19 Death in West Bank, Gaza Prepares for the Worst | Experts warned that the narrow alleys and the overcrowded rickety homes that stick to each other in the eight densely populated refugee camps in the Gaza Strip may make it difficult t…
telesurenglish.net/news/High-Population-Density-Challenge-for-Gazans-to-Fight-COVID-19–20200402-0017.html

UN Official Calls for Assisting the Palestinian Government in Fight against Coronavirus
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
United Nations' Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, called on Thursday for helping the Palestinian Authority fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19). In a new statement, reported by local media outlets, Mladenov urged key international donor countries to promptly aid the Palestinian Authority, voicing concerns amidst the rapid spread …
imemc.org/article/un-official-calls-for-assisting-the-palestinian-government-in-fight-against-coronavirus/

New Reports Place Israel Among World's 25 "Declining Democracies"
Ramzy Baroud | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-02
Both Freedom House and V-DEM's Annual Democracy Report shows Israel is experiencing a precipitous decline in democracy. Thought that would hardly be surprising to the 2 million Arab citizens that live there.
mintpressnews.com/new-report-show-decline-democracy-israel/266307/

Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel's False Democracy
Ramzy Baroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-02
Tunisia is the Middle East's greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world's most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/04/tunisia-leads-the-way-new-report-exposes-israels-false-democracy/

Israel Puts Forth a Condition for Aiding Gaza Over Coronavirus
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
Palestinian media reports, citing Israeli sources, reported on Thursday that the Israeli government put forth a condition for shipping medical aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, for fighting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Sources said that Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, was quoted during a press briefing in Tel-Aviv, as saying …
imemc.org/article/israel-puts-forth-a-condition-for-aiding-gaza-over-coronavirus/

How the Joint List Got it All Wrong for ever Believing Benny Gantz
Jonathan Cook | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-02
Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, abandoned the central plank of his platform at the weekend

Archbishop Hanna Calls For Releasing All Detainees As Coronavirus Detected In Prison
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
Archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of occupied Jerusalem, Attallah Hanna, issued a statement calling on Israel to release the Palestinian political prisoners in its jails, especially after a recently released detainee was found to be infected with the Coronavirus. The Archbishop said that Israel must release all …
imemc.org/article/archbishop-hanna-calls-for-releasing-all-detainees-as-coronavirus-detected-in-prison/

Israeli Troops Abduct 3 Palestinians, Seize 100 Sheep
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
Israeli forces, overnight Wednesday, invaded Palestinian homes and abducted three residents in East Jerusalem, southern occupied West Bank, local sources reported. Sources told media outlets that Israeli troops stormed the Silwan neighborhood on Thursday at dawn, broke into several homes and abducted two Palestinian civilians, identified as Bahaa Abu Tayeh …
imemc.org/article/israeli-troops-abduct-3-palestinians-seize-100-sheep/

Several Agricultural Roads Closed by Israeli Forces near Tulkarem
Ali Salam | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
Palestinian farmers said on Tuesday, that Israeli forces stormed the greenhouses they were working in, and forced them to leave, while a bulldozer started to close nearby agricultural roads with dirt mounds. The roads, utilized by local Palestinian farmers, were connecting the Palestinian villages of Kafa and Shufa with a …
imemc.org/article/several-agricultural-roads-closed-by-israeli-forces-near-tulkarem/

Israeli Army Demolishes 3 Palestinian Homes under Construction near Jenin
Ali Salam | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
The Israeli army demolished, on Wednesday morning, three under construction buildings in the northern West Bank village of Rummaneh, west of the city of Jenin, reported WAFA correspondent. The source said that a large Israeli force invaded the village and proceeded to destroy the three buildings that were being built …
imemc.org/article/israeli-army-demolishes-3-palestinian-homes-under-construction-near-jenin/

PPS Calls for Immediate Release of over 1,000 Palestinian Prisoners
Ali Salam | imemc.org | 2020-04-02
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS), on Tuesday, released a statement regarding fears for the fate of 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails, after the declaration of jailers and investigators being infected with the coronavirus, COVID-19. The Prisoners's Society added that they have experienced great difficulty in obtaining prisoner health …
imemc.org/article/pps-calls-for-immediate-release-of-over-1000-palestinian-prisoners/

'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2020-04-02
'People Should Not Be Forced to Put Their Lives on the Line to Vote'…
thenation.com/article/politics/wisconsin-democratic-primary/

Israeli Troops Seize a Palestinian-owned Caravan in Jordan Valley
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-01
Israeli troops reportedly seized on Wednesday, a Palestinian-owned caravan, located in the Israel-occupied area of Al-Aghwar, in the eastern occupied West Bank. Witnesses told media outlets, earlier today, that the confiscated caravan is owned by a local Palestinian resident in the Jordan Valley. Local legal activist, Aref Daraghma, told local …
imemc.org/article/israeli-troops-seize-a-palestinian-owned-caravan-in-jordan-valley/

Palestinian Prisoner Contracts Coronavirus in Israeli Jail
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-01
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Committee for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners confirmed on Wednesday, that a newly released Palestinian prisoner tested positive for the coronavirus. The announcement came after the prisoner, Noureddin Sarsour, a resident of Betunia town, west of Ramallah city, who was incarcerated for 2 weeks at Ofer Israeli prison, upon …
imemc.org/article/palestinian-prisoner-in-israeli-jail-contracts-coronavirus/

Young Palestinian Man Dies of Wounds Inflicted by Israeli Forces Last Month
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-04-01
Palestinian medical sources in the West Bank city of Nablus, pronounced dead, a young Palestinian man, after he had sustained wounds caused by Israeli troops, last month. The sources identified the young man as Islam Dwaikat, 22, and said he was wounded by Israeli troops that opened fire at Palestinian …
imemc.org/article/palestinian-young-man-dies-of-wounds-inflicted-by-israeli-forces-last-month/

A rosy phantasmagorical (and probably counterfactual) report from Israel's future
Ron Skolnik | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-01
As Israel celebrated its centennial Independence Day in May 2048, its media reflected back on the many red-letter dates that had marked the tumultuous life of the nation: The UN vote of 1947, the various wars, of course, and the diplomatic agreements reached, first with Egypt and Jordan, and decades later with the rest of …
peoplesworld.org/article/a-rosy-phantasmagorical-and-probably-counterfactual-report-from-israels-future/

Remembering Theresa Halasa: Revered Veteran of the Palestinian Resistance
Miko Peled | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-31
Amman, Jordan

Palestinians face two enemies: Occupation and pandemic
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-03-31
Healthcare Tamara NassarIssue 1259 Palestine COVID-19 PalestineMarch 31, 2020Despite the global pandemic, it is business as usual for the Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. | The number…
greenleft.org.au/content/palestinians-face-two-enemies-occupation-and-pandemic