US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN Head of UN’s humanitarian agency frustrated that $2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets

Not said enough! 🙏

US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

The “$2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets…”

Our team’s latest piece on extreme weather and resource insecurities and UTI risks in Kenya can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A... @unuinweh.bsky.social @uoft-fifsw.bsky.social @sdgsatuoft.bsky.social

Safe water and sanitation are not only environmental and development issues. They are also closely tied to sexual health, dignity, and rights.

Read Prof. @carmenlogie.bsky.social latest blog for SDGs@UofT: sdg.utoronto.ca/why-water-ma...

@uoft-fifsw.bsky.social @utoronto.ca

New Mexico jury says Meta harms children's mental health and safety, violating state law The jury agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children. Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million.

The jury agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children. Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million. n.pr/4lRJ2lV

Wrote this blog on water & sexual health @sdgsatuoft.bsky.social @unuinweh.bsky.social @uoft-fifsw.bsky.social sdg.utoronto.ca/why-water-ma... #worldwaterday

Across the globe, women bear the brunt of water challenges & climate impacts.

But they are also driving change—protecting rivers, wetlands & freshwater ecosystems that sustain their communities.

This #WorldWaterDay, meet four women leading efforts to conserve freshwater: https://ow.ly/1Oh150YwHmZ

World Water Day 2026: The gender gap in global water access This year’s World Water Day focuses on how water access affects women and girls and why it matters for equality in 2026.

World Water Day 2026: The gender gap in global water access #EarthDotCom #EarthSnap #Earth

Women and girls bearing brunt of water shortages globally, UN warns Unesco calls for action as lack of access and sanitation hits health, education and food security of women

Women and girls bear the brunt of our failure to provide universal access to safe #water and sanitation.
And #climatechanges is making it worse.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Temperatures Are Soaring in the Western United States. Climate Change is to Blame, Says a New Report. - Eos A new rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution suggests that, based on a combination of observations and modeling, climate change has made the extreme temperatures forecasted for 18-22 March about ...

These findings leave no room for doubt. “Climate change is pushing weather into extremes that would have been unthinkable in a pre-industrial world,” says @frediotto.bsky.social of @wwattribution.bsky.social

eos.org/research-and...

Understanding where people with tuberculosis seek care to serve them better In an ideal scenario, someone with chronic cough, fever, and weight loss would promptly seek care at a public tuberculosis clinic, be tested immediately for tuberculosis with a rapid molecular test an...

Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day, our @thelancet.com piece is about

Understanding where people with tuberculosis seek care to serve them better

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Migratory species are wild animals that need to travel regularly, often
seasonally, as part of their natural life cycles.

Next week at #CMSCOP15, parties to Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) will meet to strengthen action to protect them.

Learn more: https://www.cms.int/cop15

Ahead of World Water Day, progress in Kigoma, Tanzania shows how scaling access to safe water and sustainable WASH solutions can transform lives.

Learn more:
www.unicef.org/tanzania/sto...

#WorldWaterDay

U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access

Give us your minerals and we will give you HIV medicines

This is the new transactional version of global health by the US administration!

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h... by @stephanienolen.bsky.social

𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 | 18 March 2026, 10:00–11:00 (EST)

Joyce Chitja will discuss the links between water security, smallholder farming & food across the wider African continent.

🔗unu.edu/inweh/event/science-talk...

U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access

"The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with H.I.V. in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to the country’s critical minerals."

😭

#CAHR2026: Ancillary Events. s9o8o.mjt.lu/nl3/Ehi1RjI3...

The Summer of Starvation: Amid Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts, a Mother Struggles to Keep Her Sons Alive After the Trump administration cut off food from the third-largest refugee camp in the world, thousands of families faced impossible choices as their children starved.

The State Dept. painted humanitarian aid cuts as a necessary “disruption.”

For the World Food Program, that disruption meant telling 300,000 refugees half of them would receive a meager portion of rice, lentils and oil.

The rest would get nothing.

(Published Dec. 2025)

📆 March 11th, 2026

Join UNU-IIGH's webinar “Conversation with Sara Hossain on Rights, Justice, and Action,” where we will explore how gender justice is challenged, defended, and re-imagined in contexts of shrinking civic space and rising authoritarianism.

🔗Register here: go.unu.edu/SLmFS

Societal Costs of Total Abortion Bans in 14 US States After Dobbs | AJPH | Vol. Issue Objectives. To estimate societal costs, comprising personal and external costs, of total abortion bans in the first year of enactment for 14 states after Dobbs overturned the constitutional right to a...

So, so many reasons bad. Add economics to list. 👇

Costs of Total Abortion Bans ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/...

"Abortion bans are economically burdensome. Our findings provide compelling evidence that restoring and protecting abortion access would improve economic outcomes."

BBC Audio | The Interview | Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to UN: Closing USAID was soft power suicide Caitriona Perry speaks to the former US ambassador Samantha Power who led USAID

“The destruction of USAID is not only one of the cruellest acts that I've seen in my career, but of course also one of the dumbest.”

bbc.com/audio/play/w...

Esengo (“Joy”): Methods for Developing a Song and Animated Music Video for Reducing Stigma With Sex Professionals in Pointe-Noire, Congo - Carmen H. Logie, Sarah Van Borek, David Puvaneyshwaran, Frann... Song-making is a powerful tool with the potential to harness cultural knowledge to reduce stigma and support community-led advocacy. HIV prevalence (8.1%) among...

excited to share new article on developing song and music video approaches to reduce stigma with sex professionals in Congo Republic @uoft-fifsw.bsky.social @sdgsatuoft.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....

Sudan: People with Disabilities Targeted in North Darfur The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of Sudan’s two main warring parties, targeted, abused, and killed people with disabilities during and after their October 26, 2025, takeover of El Fasher, North Dar...

The Rapid Support Forces, one of Sudan’s two main warring parties, targeted, abused, and killed people with disabilities during and after their October 26, 2025, takeover of El Fasher, North Darfur’s capital.

New research from HRW:

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

😳

Opinion | The Aftermath of Feeding America’s Credibility Into the Woodchipper

“The brutality of USAIDs closure and the disregard for the human toll betrayed a vision of a crueler, meaner, more insular world — one in which America aspires not to any pretense of moral leadership but simply to naked power, dominance and extractive self-interest”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Medical care in the crosshairs: Record level of attacks on medical care in armed conflict - Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF)/Doctors Without Borders Attacks on healthcare in conflict zones have reached unprecedented levels, with 1,348 incidents reported in 2025, resulting in 1,981 deaths.

Medical care in the crosshairs: Record level of attacks on medical care in armed conflict

@doctorswithoutborders.org

msfsouthasia.org/medical-care...