Benjamin Mason Meier
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benjaminmasonmeier.bsky.social
Benjamin Mason Meier
@benjaminmasonmeier.bsky.social

Professor of Global Health Policy at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | Working at the intersection of #GlobalHealth & #HumanRights benjaminmasonmeier.com

Political science 31%
Sociology 23%
Proving that the Texas measles outbreak that began last January is the source of the current outbreaks in Utah and Arizona or South Carolina is turning out to be more complicated than officials had expected.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/w...
One Year After Texas Measles Outbreak Began, Experts Consider Another Grim Milestone
www.nytimes.com
Half the battle with this guy is just reiterating government can and already does good things that are so ubiquitous they’ve become invisible. He’s able to remind you in a way that you understand that good government can exist outside of a 24/7 vengeance operation, and in NYC already does.
Stay warm, stay safe New York.
Governments are seldom this brazen when obscuring the true costs of air pollution.

On January 12, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will stop assigning economic value to lives saved and illnesses avoided when considering air pollution controls.

www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...
US Will Stop Considering Pollution’s Cost to Health
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 12 that it will no longer ascribe an economic value to saving lives and improving public health when considering whether to...
www.hrw.org
US cuts to #HIV programs in sub-Saharan Africa pose global risk, experts say

Reduced funding will erode decades of progress and impede future advancements, but there is hope for the future with alternative resources.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/h...

Photo: World Bank / Flickr cc

Sanitation is a Human Right.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Saturday announced an initiative to install more public bathrooms across the city.
This seems to strongly suggest that the incoming president of UVA doctored his CV to the edge of outright dishonesty, and that the most recent changes came months before Jim Ryan was forced, as if they were made in anticipation in Ryan’s removal. augustafreepress.com/news/vanishi...
How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley's appointment as the University of Virginia's president.
augustafreepress.com
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Saturday announced an initiative to install more public bathrooms across the city.
“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”
Uruguay’s Renewable Charge: A Small Nation, A Big Lesson For The World
Uruguay built a power grid that runs 99% on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. Here’s how its bold energy overhaul became a global model.
www.forbes.com
Rarely do you read news this positive these days. Other US cities should seriously consider implementing congestion pricing.
Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed. (Gift Article)
How life has changed in the New York area, according to data on traffic, transit and the responses of 600 readers.
www.nytimes.com
“This is a seismic, long-awaited correction of the scientific record,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan… “It pulls the veil off decades of industry efforts to create a false narrative that glyphosate is safe…People have developed cancers, and people have died because of this scientific fraud.”
A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup
www.nytimes.com
WHO @who.int · 20d
In 2026 and beyond, WHO remains committed to saving lives and providing people everywhere with the best possible chance for good health and well-being.

Together, with science, solutions, and solidarity, we can build a healthier, safer, and more hopeful future for everyone.🧪🩷🫰
On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
Taking away access to vaccines is a violation of the rights of children
Vaccination rates are plummeting across the country, as part of a larger, troubling trend of growing vaccine hesitancy that is fueling a resurgence of preventable diseases, an NBC News and Stanford University investigation found.
Whooping cough cases soar as vaccination rates drop
In an NBC News data investigation of 31 states, about 70% of counties and jurisdictions fell below the target vaccination rate needed for community protection.
nbcnews.to
Finally visited the site of the Nuremberg trial today. Lots of thoughts and feelings but mostly a potent and poignant reminder of the international order the US and allies tried to create after the horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War and that is increasingly being abandoned by the US.
The Sandy Hook shooting was 13 years ago today. Yesterday, there was a shooting at Brown University. There have been at least 75 school shootings this year. The US has a gun problem, and it seems we're never going to do anything about it. www.cnn.com/us/school-sh...
‘I heard 40, 50 shots’: Witnesses fled Bondi Beach as gunmen targeted Jewish event
‘I heard 40, 50 shots’: Witnesses fled Bondi Beach as gunmen targeted Jewish event
Gunshots ripped through a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, killing at least 12 people
www.irishtimes.com
📢 New paper out in Health Policy & Planning!

In today’s fragmented world, global health needs more than piecemeal reform.

This study examines how diplomacy & governance can build a more coherent global health architecture – through the lens of aligning GHS & UHC.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czaf086
gift link for people who need one: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...
Walter Dowdle, Public Health Leader in Times of Crises, Dies at 94
www.nytimes.com
“Miasma theory” stages a comeback in the United States

Deep sigh 😮‍💨

www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
RFK Jr.’s Miasma Theory of Health Is Spreading
The NIH is picking up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s argument that a healthy immune system can keep even pandemic germs at bay.
www.theatlantic.com
“More than a decade after the first HPV vaccination programmes rolled out, data from multiple countries reveals a dramatic fall in cervical cancers and precancers, confirming that HPV vaccines are highly effective and extremely safe”

www.gavi.org/vaccineswork...
The HPV vaccine is erasing cancer – here's the proof
More than a decade after the first HPV vaccination programmes rolled out, data from multiple countries reveals a dramatic fall in cervical cancers and precancers, confirming that HPV vaccines are high...
www.gavi.org
SCOOP: CDC officials on Monday linked for the first time the measles outbreak that began in Texas with another in Utah and Arizona, a finding that could end America’s status as a nation that has eliminated measles.
(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/h...
C.D.C. Links Measles Outbreaks in Multiple States for the First Time
www.nytimes.com

It was inspiring to join the "Complicating the Narrative" podcast, speaking with Salma Abdalla about the central importance of Human Rights to Global Health.
Please follow our discussion on the evolution of efforts to make the Right to Health real throughout the world
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqqf...
Health as a human right with Benjamin Mason Meier
YouTube video by Complicating The Narrative
www.youtube.com
WHO @who.int · Nov 16
#ClimateChange is jeopardising our health and wellbeing.

Health workers share the devastating impacts of the climate crisis on the health of their patients.

Learn more: bit.ly/HealthCOP30 #COP30
Access to vaccines is not a privilege — it is a human right.

In @statnews.com today, Stefan Peterson and I write about using a human rights-based approach to deal with vaccine denialism and the return of measles, whooping cough and diphtheria

www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/c...
Kids have a right to vaccinations. Let's bring in the lawyers
Children suffering from diseases that should have been consigned to history is a moral failure. Access to vaccines is a human right.
www.statnews.com
Politico: Pandemic response, the Trump way - Is the U.S. about to torpedo the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement from afar?
pro.politico.eu/news/pandemic-response-the-trump-way @who.int
POLITICO Pro
pro.politico.eu
WHO @who.int · Nov 10
Every climate decision is a health decision.

From local communities to global leaders, #ClimateAction is needed now to:
💚 Protect lives
💪 Strengthen health systems
🛡️ Secure a safe, healthy future for all

Learn more: bit.ly/HealthCOP30 #COP30
WHO @who.int · Nov 9
Healthcare workers are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, protecting lives as our planet heats up.

This is their call to action:
🗣️It’s time to put health at the centre of #ClimateAction

Learn more: bit.ly/HealthCOP30 #COP30