On the ballot: global health policy

On the ballot: global health policy WORLD VIEW Abortion politics could roil PEPFAR reauthorization next year. | Rodney Muhumuza/AP Photo The election’s stakes are high for U.S. policy positions on global health, from pandemic preparedness to abortion rights to public health funding. Of 104 supply-chain reports that involved drugs: — 49 percent were associated with shortages in the U.S., compared with 34 percent in Canada, a finding that held true both before and after the Covid-19 pandemic snarled global supply chains — 1 in 12 drugs purchased in the two countries had at least one supply-chain issue reported during the study period Split-screen: Canada’s better shortage stats might be thanks to cooperation between its regulatory agencies and provincial public payers, the researchers write, noting that those payers make up 42 percent of outpatient drug spending and fund all hospitals. Health Canada’s national stockpile maintains supplies of commonly used drugs likely to be affected by pandemic-related supply-chain problems; the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile is meant for acute threats, like mass casualties or terrorism. The funding to improve emergency departments’ capacity to care for children should ideally come from the federal level to avoid “the uneven patchwork of health care services that already exists across states,” the study authors wrote.