Margaret Nielsen, PhD

Researchers estimate long COVID could cost the US more than $8 billion by 2027. At least 44 million Americans have reported symptoms, with lost work productivity driving over 90% of the economic burden. fortune.com/2026/05/24/lon…

The combined confirmed and suspected #Ebola cases in DRC now top 1,000. This outbreak will be a bear to extinguish.

The #Ebola situation in the #DRC is deeply worrisome. So far, 82 cases have been confirmed, with seven confirmed deaths. But we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger. There are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. The situation in #Uganda is currently stable, with two confirmed cases, and one death reported. There have been no new cases or deaths reported. An American national who was working in DRC has also been confirmed positive, and transferred to Germany for care. We are aware of the reports today about another American national who is a high-risk contact who has been transferred to the Czech Republic. These numbers are changing as surveillance efforts and laboratory testing is improving, but violence and insecurity are impeding the response. Additional @WHO personnel have deployed to Ituri, the epicentre of the DRC outbreak, to support affected communities. I am in regular contact with the government officials of the affected countries to coordinate response actions. I have just convened a Member States briefing to update them on the ongoing response.

🗞️ NEW: The Trump administration’s Gaza ceasefire plan is failing six months in, according to a scorecard by Refugees International, in partnership with Oxfam, the Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Save the Children, which finds core provisions unmet. 🔸Overall failure: the plan scores just 5/26, with most benchmarks in outright non-compliance 🔸Aid collapse: humanitarian access scores 0/10, with fewer than 100 UN trucks entering daily—far below the 600 required 🔸Mass displacement: 1.7 million people remain trapped in degrading camps without reliable water, sanitation, or care 🔸Ongoing killings: more than 700 Palestinians killed, including at least 180 children, despite the “ceasefire” 🔸Health system collapse: no fully functioning hospitals, with critical medicines and supplies largely depleted 📊 Scorecard linked in reply. Video presentation by head of @RefugeesIntl @JeremyKonyndyk April 9.

There's no vaccine to protect against #Ebola #Bundibugyo. But there is a tiny bit of animal data suggesting Ervebo, the Ebola Zaire vaccine, might offer some cross protection & debate within scientific circles & at #WHO over whether to try to see if it might help. statnews.com/2026/05/18/ebo…

This is a hard article to read, but I hope you'll do so. I've spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities, and the article is now published. The assault victims were warned not to give speak of what they endured -- they were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews -- but they found the courage to do so. One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison, the third time after he tried to protest. A young woman said the guards would come in at the beginning of each shift and strip her naked and abuse her. Another reported that she was shown photos of herself being raped and warned they would be released unless she cooperated with Israeli intelligence. Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused. Look, whatever our position on the Middle East, we should be able to agree on being anti-rape. Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they're equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day. We should be able to find common ground in opposing rape. Here's a gift link to the article: nytimes.com/2026/05/11/opi…