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Democratic doctors win big in 2026 midterm elections
News briefToday at 4:04 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Topics
Public Health
Among the winners who helped flip the House and Senate yesterday during the midterm elections were six doctors and public health professionals who were supported by 3.14 Action Fund, a political action committee dedicated to bolstering Democratic candidates with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) backgrounds.
“The last time a Democratic doctor sat in the Senate, Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid. Sixty years later, voters are sending medical professionals back to Washington to fight for access to affordable healthcare and stop the bleeding,” said 3.14 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton in a statement.
Among the winners were Amy Acton, MD, MPH, the new governor of Ohio, and Abdul El-Sayed, MD, MPH, the newly elected senator from Michigan. Both Acton and El-Sayed have public health backgrounds. Acton was the director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and El-Sayed was Wayne County’s director of public health and county health officer from March 2023 until April 2025.
Pediatrician Annie Andrews, MD, also defeated Darlene Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat.
Group calls to remove Kennedy from office
With a Democratic House and Senate, the advocacy group Defend Public Health (DPH) are calling for swift action against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.“We face a genuine public health emergency due to Secretary Kennedy’s relentless malfeasance and dishonesty plus the administration’s brutal funding cuts,” said DPH Coordinating Committee member Julie Scofield in a statement.
“The new and re-energized Congress can begin to stop the damage and start rebuilding—by reasserting its Constitutional authority over spending and investigating and fully airing Kennedy’s record of dishonesty and public health malpractice—a process that should lead to impeaching and removing Kennedy from office.”
WHO highlights major progress as 63 nations report eliminating at least 1 neglected tropical disease
News briefToday at 4:00 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Topics
Neglected Tropical Diseases
The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported major progress against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with 63 countries having eliminated at least one NTD by June 2026, up from 42 at the end of 2020. The report is considered a “midterm assessment” of the 2021 to 2030 NTD road map, and, while progress has been made, several diseases will still not meet 2030 targets.
“Elimination of neglected tropical diseases is one of the standout success stories of global health," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, in a press release.
“However, the hard-won gains we have made could easily be lost, so countries and partners must step up, not step back, by increasing domestic financing, sustaining external support and integrating NTD services into primary health care. The goal is not only to eliminate diseases, but to free communities from disability, disfigurement, death and generational poverty.”
NTD funding has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels
Cases of sleeping sickness have dropped by 98% since 1999, while Guinea worm disease fell to a record low of just 10 human cases in 2025, the WHO said. Overall, the number of people requiring interventions against NTDs fell to 1.41 billion in 2024, down 36% since 2010 and 19% since 2020.But other diseases remain a challenge. Dengue cases reached a record 15.1 million in 2024, and all deaths from vector-borne NTDs have risen.
The WHO said funding for NTDs has decreased significantly in recent years, which places many 2030 goals at risk. The WHO said resources available for NTDs remain around 30% below pre–COVID-19 levels.
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