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Matthew Kavanagh

@matthewkavanagh.bsky.social
799 followers 236 following 763 posts

Prof of Global Health and Law, Director, Center for Global Health Policy & Politics Georgetown University ghpp.georgetown.edu/profiles/matthe…

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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Responders should be able to swarm a place when its first few infections appear, tracing contacts, engaging communities before transmission takes off… “Putting out small fires isn’t possible, you end up with massive fires everywhere” @jasongale.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Ebola Spreads ‘Like Wildfire’ as Health Workers Battle Exhaustion
Experts in the Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling to keep up as the virus spreads to new areas, stretching the human and financial resources available to fight it.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
“In the meantime, Mangala relies on the district hospital, where in the early months of the outbreak, Ebola patients were treated in a mud house with no windows, an earthen floor and little ventilation. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/w...
nytimes.com
How Congo’s Ebola Epidemic Got So Bad So Quickly
What happened in Mangala, where residents were left with little outside support, helps explain how this outbreak became the worst seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Neo-royals gona Neo-royal… www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System | International Organization | Cambridge Core
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System - Volume 79 Issue S1
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The thing about both climate change and Infectious diseases is they don’t much care what the White House thinks of them… apple.news/AXxoef5mXRxe...
apple.news
Florida's dengue outbreak is now the largest in the continental US in decades — The Associated Press
Florida is experiencing its largest dengue outbreak in decades, with over 250 locally acquired cases reported this year.
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CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
DRC Ebola cases grow, deaths top 4,000 as officials struggle to ascertain numbers, trends An aid worker was evacuated to Europe after testing positive for the virus. Read more: bit.ly/4hpcz61 📷: UK Department for International Development / Flickr cc
Health workers helping in Ebola response
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
surreal to be working in global health as the US administration pursues bilateral deals, kills milktoast UN pandemic resolutions, and and meanwhile our health minister wants to AI to help spread misinformation about basic public health science. 🤯
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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Fiji is experiencing an alarming HIV outbreak at a time when we have more tools than ever to diagnose, treat and prevent HIV. It is a warning that progress against HIV is not self-sustaining and to end the epidemic we cannot become complacent bktitanji.substack.com/p/hiv-is-not...
bktitanji.substack.com
HIV Is Not Done With Us
Fiji’s rapidly growing epidemic is a warning about what happens when complacency, vulnerability and retreating resources give the virus an opening
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
👇🎯💯
protectdemocracy.org
Over 200 democracy scholars call on Congress to end single-member Congressional districts and adopt proportional representation
More than 200 political scientists, legal scholars, and historians released an open letter calling on Congress to reject the United States’ winner-take-all elections.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Incredibly disingenuous... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Rejects U.N. Declaration on Preparing for Future Pandemics
Most member nations spoke in support of the declaration, but some rich countries had strong objections.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today we convened a meeting of twenty ministers and agency heads with @perryworldhouse.bsky.social, @unaids.org, AUDA-NEPAD, Global Council: African Leadership & Regional Production of Frontier AIDS & other Pandemic Medicines Powerful ideas and some concrete next steps came out. #UNGA
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is so important. Kindof blowing me away as I sit in NY at the UNGA where governments are convening to talk pandemics.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Options? 🅰️South caves under pressure; toothless treaty on equity or 🅱 heads of state step up on hard choices, overrule narrow interests, North breaks ranks, decent PABS. PABS is a non-ideal vehicle for vaccine/meds equity, should have been treaty proper but last best option for treaty to matter
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Fundamentally #Pandemic #PABS impass is not technical, just political: most of the world recognizes w/o sharing technology, next pandemic will play out just like COVID, HIV. Rich country companies oppose➡️their govts block agreement. MOH’s can’t change that. So what will happen? … 1/2
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Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics @ghpp.georgetown.edu · 16/09/2026
1/3 We're pleased to release E2 of Global Order: Can a Divided World Be Ready for the Next Pandemic? with the Rt Hon. Helen Clark. Listen now: open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
"Women and Global South respondents emphasized normative goals: equity, justice, and structural reform.... In contrast, men and Global North respondents often framed success through processes: institutional innovation, efficiency, and procedural legitimacy." academic.oup.com/heapol/advan...
academic.oup.com
What is success in global health diplomacy? A qualitative analysis of gendered and global perspectives on success and failure
Abstract. Global health diplomacy is central to shaping the international response to health challenges, yet what counts as “success” or “failure” remains
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Ideology? The "EU Diplomat" is right, but in reverse. The idea that private monopolies on scientific knowledge drive innovation and voulntary sharing can stop pandemics has proven wrong again and again. That is a stark and dangerous ideology, Europe. healthpolicy-watch.news/as-pandemic-...
healthpolicy-watch.news
As Pandemic Talks Resume, EU Diplomat Sharply Criticises ‘Ideological Polarisation’ - Health Policy Watch
EU negotiator Americo Zampetti warns that ideological polarisation over pathogen access threatens to derail the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
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Rob Yates @robyates123.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
WTF: former Kenyan Health Minister accused of stealing hospital patients, detained for not paying their bills thekenyatimes.com/health/forme...
thekenyatimes.com
Former Governor Accused Of Stealing 19 Patients From Hospital
The County Government has accused former Governor of disrupting operations at the hospital after the governor allegedly entered the facility without following the required administrative procedures
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We trace it from the NHS registering her as a refugee in 1978, through Uganda’s bush war, to why she now says oligarchy rather than inequality. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and click follow for a new conversation every week. ghpp.georgetown.edu/globalorder/
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
What’s stayed with me since we recorded: her claim that the health of a society and the health of its democracy aren’t two questions but one. Democratic erosion and failing health systems, she argues, are the same story told twice... 2/3
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I’m so glad to release our first episode of Global Order, "Democracy in an Age of Crisis". My first guest is Winnie Byanyima — UNAIDS EXD, former head of Oxfam, and Ugandan freedom fighter 1/3 open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics @ghpp.georgetown.edu · 09/09/2026
We’re pleased to release episode one of our podcast, Global Order with @unaids.org executive director Winnie Byanyima on democracy in an age of crisis. Listen: open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Nepal disaster is a wake-up call to take compound climate risks seriously @natureportfolio.nature.com @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
“This outbreak is still evolving.” healthpolicy-watch.news/ebola-outbre...
healthpolicy-watch.news
Ebola Outbreak 'Still Evolving' As Deaths Pass 3,000 - Health Policy Watch
More than 3,000 people have now died in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak out of 6,250 confirmed cases, the Africa Centres for
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 31/08/2026
Kennedy and the CDC aren't yet counting the Pennsylvania deaths from measles -- a "highly unusual” move, @drdebhoury.bsky.social told me. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US health officials exclude measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania from counts
RFK Jr, the health secretary, has suggested the deaths were ‘fabricated’ while the CDC claimed it was reviewing them
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Advice: What's the best piece you've read about the politics of the current Ebola outbreak in DRC?
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m launching a podcast. Global Order is about what happens to health as the old rules of the world break down. Aid frozen, clinics closed, institutions weakened. What comes next is uncertain. Click follow so you don’t miss the 1st episode, out September🔔 open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Georgetown Center for Global Health Policy & Politics @ghpp.georgetown.edu · 28/08/2026
We’re launching a podcast, Global Order, on what happens to health as the rules and institutions the world relied on for 80 years come apart. A moment of danger, but also a chance to build something better. Click follow so you don’t miss it 🔔 open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Click follow on your podcast platform of choice, and you’ll get a notification for 1st episode—and every one after. We're doing one each week in Sept Listen to the trailer👇 Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/g... Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ... YouTube: www.youtube.com/@GlobalOrder...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
First guests: Winnie Byanyima on health & democracy, Helen Clark, former PM of New Zealand, on the next pandemic, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng on Ebola and the right to health, and Bloomberg’s Jason Gale on the long shadow of COVID.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
In each episode I get an hour with people who are both thinking deeply about these questions and actively shaping the answers — to work out what’s happening, why it matters for health, and where the room for action lies. Long conversations, not soundbites.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m launching a podcast. Global Order is about what happens to health as the old rules of the world break down. Aid frozen, clinics closed, institutions weakened. What comes next is uncertain. Click follow so you don’t miss the 1st episode, out September🔔 open.spotify.com/show/3UVX9xJ...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Yep! In COVID Moderna was thinking ahead to now: If they had shared mRNA tech w Africa, Asia, and Latin America, allowing them to produce their own vax, then future, exclusive profits from new uses of mRNA would have been in jeopardy. @gregggonsalves.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
Will Moderna’s Cancer Vaccine Be Good for People, or Profits?
The drug giant restricted access to its Covid vaccine to protect its bottom line. Will history repeat itself now?
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The median household income in the US is $83,730. The average patient in the trial stayed in the drug about 8 months. So new drug costs at least 4x the average US household makes before taxes. Reminder: Monopolies vis patent are NOT the only way to incentivize research.
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Natasha Loder @natashaloder.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The company behind this drug wants almost $40K for a month's supply or $480K a year. Deeply disappointing. H/t @endpts.com
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
All ICE funding should be transferred to MRNA research and development . www.wsj.com/health/pharm...
wsj.com
Novel Cancer Vaccine Prevents Melanoma From Returning in First for mRNA
Result in high-risk patients validates decades of research into mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccines.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Public health seriously needs a political arm dedicated to recognizing active opponents and countering them in the real world. e.g.👇
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
We need to an *Inequality-Informed PPR* The IHRs require all states to build core capacities to reduce systemic pandemic risk. Inequity IS a systemic risk. So we build out a set of achievable inequality-informed measures that could counter inequality instead of having it fuel disease… /fin
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
@josephestiglitz.bsky.social noted today, his econ work shows inequality->less trust, captured policy, insufficient pub goods provision These same factors are disastrous in a pandemic—so even the best surveillance program, health workforce, countermeasure logistics cant be effectively deployed.. 4/5
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
…in our accompanying quantitative analysis finds that economic inequality predicts which countries did better or worse on: ☑️COVID mortality ☑️COVID infection ☑️AIDS deaths ☑️HIV incidence Global Health Security capacity did not. Neither did poverty. Why? 3/5
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Standard concepts of what it takes to be "prepared" hasnt held in pandemics. US, UK=high GHSecurity, WHO JEE, “least vulnerable” score Covid death rates 2x+ global average. HIV incidence high. Mauritius, Uruguay, Ireland, Ethiopia, SKorea all less "prepared" fared better. We show empirically...2/5
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Launched in Rio: We show a major gap in global definitions of pandemic preparedness. Health Security capacity is necessary but, we show, insufficient in real world b/c economic inequality blocks countries' ability to deploy even strong technical capacities 🧵Thread... www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
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Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Failing to tackle inequality puts countries in pandemic danger, new research shows New England Journal of Medicine piece @josephestiglitz.bsky.social @michaelmarmot.bsky.social @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social 📖 www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... Background data 📖 www.inequalitycouncil.org/wp-content/u...
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Andrew Green @theandrewgreen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
And @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social expands on findings: Within countries, inequality creates conditions that viruses spread more easily, pandemics last longer
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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
The first volunteer has been dosed with the world's first BDBV vaccine. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-07...
ox.ac.uk
First volunteer vaccinated in the world's first Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine trial
The University of Oxford’s Oxford Vaccine Group has today successfully vaccinated the first volunteer in the world’s first clinical trial of a vaccine designed to protect against Bundibugyo ebolavirus...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
The new UK PM had a chance to close health equity and address pandemic risk at the same time! @michaelmarmot.bsky.social @jessjallen.bsky.social
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Another massive jump in Ebola cases in DRC (reflecting new cases as well as "data harmonization"). Now 2,905 cases including 1,269 deaths. I find it harder every day to square the size and speed of spread of this outbreak with the lack of attention it is getting. insp.cd/sitrep-n069-...
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
““Self-reliance” is the term of art for a donor withdrawal that recipient countries did not choose and, in many cases, cannot yet absorb.”
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Even after COVID-19, why is the world still so vulnerable to pandemics? That's the question I'm taking on at the Breaking the Inequality Cycle session at #AIDS2026, with our new research on why preparedness keeps falling short. (hint, it's not 'global health security' capacity)
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
"Brazilian democracy has many flaws, and far-right sectors remain very much active. Yet Bolsonaro’s fate — and with it, the fate of democracy — was shaped by...a practical reversal of the U.S. model..." Cristina Buarque de Hollanda for @sunsentinel.bsky.social www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/07/09/l...
sun-sentinel.com
Lessons from the South: How Brazil held onto its democracy | Opinion
After supporters rioted and trashed government buildings in the U.S. and Brazil, Donald Trump returned to power, but Jair Bolsonaro went to jail. The two countries’ institutions explain why.
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Matthew Kavanagh @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Study finds over 1,700 HIV treatment sites closed due to trip cuts, which helps explain the major slow down we are seeing in data from UNAIDS and Clinton Foundation data. Even with cuts, this could have been avoided with planning. Deeply irresponsible www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/h...
nytimes.com
1,700 H.I.V. Treatment Sites Closed After Trump Aid Cuts, a Study Finds
New research also shows that children and high-risk adult populations have been particularly affected.
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