Rush University Medical Center is embarking on a transformative initiative aimed at addressing the prevalent health disparities affecting the Chicago community.With a significant boost from a $7.5 million grant provided by the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, the institution is set to…
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Global Washington published this letter to its membership on January 30, 2025. Dear Global Washington Community We are reaching out at a time of unprecedented uncertainty for the global development…
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This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.In 2024, grantees in Open Philanthropy’s Global Health and Wellbeing (GHW) portfolio made progress toward developing a next-generation malaria vaccine, successfully advocated for U.K.retailers to adopt a new welfare standard that we expect to improve conditions for 350 million chickens, and contributed…
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Black lung disease diagnoses have been on the rise for two decades, affecting thousands of coal mining families across the country. The disease is incurable and progressive, meaning that it gets worse over time. One reason that it has been increasing, particularly in Appalachia where 20% of tenured miners have some form of the disease, is due to increased silica or rock dust within coal seams. Silica dust is more toxic than coal dust. With cases on the rise, it is more important than ever to preserve and improve the black lung benefits system.
Families across the country rely on these disability benefits to replace lost wages when they can no longer work and assure that they have access to health insurance that pays for the cost of care for their disease. Using data from the Department of Labor, we’ve created a map that hints at the scale of the black lung crisis.
What’s the Black Lung Program?
Congress created the Black Lung Program to provide necessary monetary and medical benefits to coal miners who suffer from the disease. These benefits are either paid for by a coal company or the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which steps in when the coal company responsible has gone bankrupt or no longer exists. It’s usually a difficult process to apply for the benefits, and coal companies typically fight tooth and nail in court to deflect responsibility for paying coal miners what they’re owed.
The black lung program pays a monthly disability payment, or stipend, to coal miners that increases depending on the number of dependents in the household. In 2024, the monthly payment was $772.60 for just the miner, but it increases to $1,158.90 if there is one dependent. Unfortunately, the monthly disability payment hasn’t kept up with inflation since it was… -
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.Major Healthcare Shifts Ahead: From DEI to Drug Prices, What’s Changing?
As an organization dedicated to the health and wellness of Black women, we feel it’s crucial to address the recent executive orders that could affect our community’s access to healthcare and overall wellbeing.
What’s Changed?
Several executive orders that supported equity and expanded healthcare access have been rescinded. Of particular importance to our community are the reversals of:
Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities
Executive Order 14009 on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act
Executive Order 14070 on Continuing to Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage
Executive Order 14087 on Lowering Prescription Drug Costs
Executive Order 13995 on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery
When “Everyone’s Responsible” Means No One Is Accountable
The rollback of DEI initiatives reminds us of an important truth: when we make everyone generally responsible for fairness in healthcare, we often end up with no one specifically accountable for it. Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Without dedicated DEI offices, addressing healthcare disparities becomes “everyone’s job,” but no one’s priority
Removing specific equity goals from performance metrics means institutions lose concrete ways to measure progress
Eliminating dedicated positions means no one is specifically tasked with monitoring and addressing systemic barriers
Without formal programs, addressing bias in healthcare settings becomes optional rather than required
What’s Changing
Federal agencies have 60 days to terminate DEI offices and positions
Review and revision of federal employment practices
Changes to federal contractor requirements regarding DEI training
Elimination of equity-related grants and contracts
The connection between DEI programs and healthcare outcomes cannot be overstated. Research consistently shows that diverse healthcare teams lead to better patient outcomes for our community. Cultural competency in healthcare settings has proven crucial for building trust… -
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.Malaria kills more than a thousand children every day. Measures like antimalarial medications and insecticide-treated bed nets, which stop infected mosquitoes from transmitting the disease-causing parasite to people while they sleep, have saved millions of lives at a relatively low cost. Yet despite these interventions, which reduced mortality by about 29 percent, over 430,000 children died from malaria last year. With the recent approval of two new malaria vaccines, RTS,S and R21, we have the opportunity to make another leap in the fight to eradicate malaria.
RELATEDI got malaria on purpose and so can you
Malaria can be deadly for people of all ages, but it’s especially life-threatening for young kids: Over 75 percent of malaria deaths happen in children under 5. For now, malaria-endemic countries — like Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — are focusing vaccination efforts on infants, who are already brought into clinics for routine shots anyway. Over the past year, 10.2 million doses were delivered to children across 17 countries. (So far, neither vaccine is approved for adults.)
The shots are largely paid for by Gavi, an international organization that uses donations from rich governments and philanthropies to subsidize lifesaving vaccine rollouts in countries with a gross national income per capita below $1,810 — about 2 percent that of the United States.
RELATEDThe most crucial part of next year’s federal budget
Last summer, Gavi announced its goal to raise $9 billion to fund immunizations from 2026 to 2030, with over $1.1 billion of those funds earmarked for new malaria vaccines. That’s enough to save around 180,000 children’s lives over the next five years.
But we could theoretically save many more.
A new paper by the Center for Global Development (CGD) estimates that 800,000 more child deaths could be avoided between… -
As of 2023, there were 47.1 million immigrants residing in the U.S., including 22.4 million noncitizen immigrants and 24.7 million naturalized citizens, who each accounted for about 7% of the…
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Calling for change is easy. But actually changing is quite hard. It’s mid-January. That means most people who made a resolution to change something about themselves this year have already “failed” in…
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The Deerfield Foundation, a philanthropic affiliate of New York City-based healthcare investment firm Deerfield Management, today announced the awarding of $1.5 million in support for 14 not-for-profit organizations in seven countries,…
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Breakthroughs in the development and deployment of AI and emerging technologies, often referred to as hallmarks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),are making headlines and stirring both excitement and anxiety…
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Providing women with education, support and encouragement while they’re pregnant, during labor and after child birth, the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative hopes to improve reproductive health equity and maternal mortality…
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When states give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, it affects nondrivers, too — even the littlest ones. Babies born to immigrants from Mexico and Central America are bigger and healthier…