Benjamin Mason Meier

It is exciting to be back in North Carolina — to vote in the U.S. Elections. These elections will shape the future of public health, human rights & global governance, and it is inspiring to see our UNC students rising to meet this moment — offering hope for American leadership in the years to come.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins fourth term, according to electoral court.

It was inspiring to come back to my hometown this weekend to visit my parents — I love you, Baltimore! — but tomorrow, I return home to Chapel Hill to vote for the future of public health, human rights, and global governance. This one's for North Carolina — come on and raise up!

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1986 International Conference on Health Promotion in Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦, it was inspiring to speak with @evdle.bsky.social about the long road to the #OttawaCharter and the continuing revolution of #HealthPromotion. www.ottawahealthlaw.ca/conferences/...

The 1986 International Conference on Health Promotion in Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦 launched a public health movement to build "healthy public policy" Join us this week as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the #OttawaCharter and examine efforts to promote health. www.ottawahealthlaw.ca/conferences/...

Students from North Carolina A&T can be seen marching back to their HBCU after voting on the first day of early voting in the state. The Guilford County Board of Elections voted to remove the school’s on-campus polling site. (video via Todd Simmons) greensboro.com/news/local/g...

Please read our newest Global Health Law column, “America First Bilateral Health Agreements Threaten to Undermine the Multilateral Global Health Order.” www.cambridge.org/core/journal... Sharifah Sekalala & colleagues analyze American MOUs and the risks from American bilateralism in global health.

The U.S. elections will shape the future of global health, and it will be crucial that we discuss the #GlobalHealth implications with our students — with @cughnews.bsky.social developing resources to support U.S. faculty in discussing the upcoming elections. www.dropbox.com/home/CUGH%20...

Helen Branswell, whose reporting on infectious diseases and public health drew acclaim, dies at 69 of complications from cancer. Veteran Canadian journalist’s coverage was marked by clarity and nuance at times of crisis. www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h... via @statnews.com #journalism

The University of Ottawa next week will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of the #OttawaCharter for Health Promotion. www.ottawahealthlaw.ca/conferences/... Please join us in Canada 🇨🇦 next week for our health policy discussions to examine the past, present, and future of #HealthPromotion policy.

Devastating impact of aid cuts by the United States “Services used successfully to tackle the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa fell by between a half and two thirds. The services and community trust that took decades to build were dismantled overnight” www.lse.ac.uk/new-study-pr...

NEW: The United States has sent more than 500 people whom it cannot deport to their own countries, often because of the danger they would face, to various countries in Africa where they have no connections. www.hrw.org/news/2026/10...

The world comes to New York: What’s at stake at UN General Assembly high-level week news.un.org/en/story/202...

Facing the challenge of COVID-19, Xavier Becerra appeared before @who.int in 2021 to reassert U.S. leadership as a foundation to realize the #RightToHealth. Much has changed in the past five years, but I am inspired to see Becerra continuing this fight for health and human rights in California.

With support from Markwayne Mullin and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the kratom industry is pursuing a potentially lucrative policy. Mr. Mullin owns equity in a company that could benefit. Kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths TAT: [Corruption | Attacking science]

Morning It's GREAT to see organized resistance to MAHA & MAGA! Thx to @standupforscience.net & @defendpublichealth.bsky.social for leading the way The AMA was, until now, collaborationist, but the AMA president-elect, Dr Fryhofer, is an anti-RFK Jr activist 1/2 www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

GOOD MORNING NEW YORK CITY.

NEW IN @hhrjournal.bsky.social: We trace the long evolution of US conservative opposition to the #RightToHealth — challenging who is entitled to rights and what rights should be upheld by government — with this past opposition culminating in the current administration.

Former top US officials - Anthony Fauci, @spsaki.bsky.social, @nschwalbe.bsky.social - recently highlighted what we need to do to prepare for the next pandemic. I've seen their words echo through outbreak response already. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Culminating the WashU School of Public Health convening on "Building for a New Era of Global Health" www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mLo..., it was an honor to join the "Complicating the Narrative" podcast, discussing rapid, ongoing shifts in global health governance. youtu.be/Ci8BGLOalIc?....

Nicotine pouches, flavoured and appealing, are designed to hook young people. And these products evolve rapidly. WHO is calling on governments to regulate them now. Read WHO’s Global Nicotine Pouch Report 👉 bit.ly/4nymmbk #TobaccoExposed

Save the Date- The future of the WHO EML and access to novel medical technologies Date: Thursday, 21 May 2026 Time: 13:00 - 14:30 CEST Venue: Red Cross Museum, Salle Henry Dunant (in-person only) Please register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #WHA79 @keiwashdc.bsky.social

When UN Partners With the Harm It Is Meant to Prevent healthpolicy-watch.news/when-the-un-... @unnicycles.bsky.social Credibility of UN system depends on clear separation of its public mandate from commercial interests its work often contests. Once blurred, it becomes very difficult to draw again.

Member States of WHO progressed work on the Pathogen Access & Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, a key part of the WHO #PandemicAgreement, & today agreed additional time was needed to finalize the framework for ensuring a better, more equitable, response to future pandemics. www.who.int/news/item/01...

"Kennedy says the children are getting obsolete shots with dangerous ingredients that the U.S. has long since phased out. He is holding up $600 million Congress appropriated for the vaccines to pressure the international humanitarian group, Gavi, that distributes them."

Pushing back against a common criticism of socioeconomic rights: "How can they be rights if they depend on money!?"

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance Sobering piece by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

Saturday @ @cughnews.bsky.social Conference: How to Respond to a Shifting Global Health Landscape Int'l Ballroom East 5:00-6:30 PM Global health is undergoing rapid, disruptive change. This panel explores how universities, governments & organizations are adapting to this new global health landscape.

“Public health needs to be a higher priority," said @drpanmd.bsky.social. “I know people get really nervous that this will politicize public health. But it’s not been a priority. And it’s already been politicized.” my latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Gosh, perhaps there are fewer campus protests because schools, as The Atlantic urged them to do, aggressively went after protestors. Columbia suspended, expelled, and retroactively revoked degrees in proceedings that were so arbitrary and capricious they were overturned by a NY state judge.

🌍 Tensions are rising at final pandemic accord talks. African nations have rejected the draft, warning it fails on equity and access. ✍️ @kerrycullinan.bsky.social @who.int @euatun.bsky.social #GlobalHealth #PandemicPreparedness #HealthEquity #GlobalHealthPolicy 📖⬇️ and 🔁🙏

🧪Everyone needs to know that the Bethesda Declaration is and why it is important. www.the-scientist.com/nih-scientis... www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

Inspired to work with @judithmesquita.bsky.social & Sharifah Sekalala in developing our AJIL Unbound essay — examining human rights limitations in @who.int law reforms & analyzing the imperative to strengthen human rights obligations to ensure global health equity. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

🌍 New AJIL Unbound Symposium Global Health at a Crossroads – Part II is now live from the American Journal of International Law. Read Part II 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

WHO Pandemic Agreement is only the beginning: strengthening implementation to protect global health. Here is a mind-map of the pathways forward for the Pandemic Agreement outlined (Box 2). Full article: www.bmj.com/content/392/... @benjaminmasonmeier.bsky.social @jocalynclark.bsky.social @bmj.com

A privilege to work with Joe Stiglitz, Monica Geingos and Michael Marmot on the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS & Pandemics. Please read & amplify their call to action in Project Syndicate, to get world leaders to tackle inequality to keep us all safe. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/i...

🚨The US EPA says climate pollution is no longer a public health issue — and moves to stop regulating greenhouse gases. ☠️A major legal and policy shift with global health consequences. @cleanairfund.bsky.social @thelancet.com @wmo-global.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social 📖⬇️ & 🔁🙏

Once more: Columbia could have fought; it chose not.

#CDC has had a full-time director for less than a month in Trump 2.0. People watching the situation think it's unlikely there will be another Senate-confirmed CDC director in this term. With Jim O'Neill's firing, it doesn't have an acting director either. www.statnews.com/2026/02/15/c...

🚨 New from @hrw.org: #UN member states should select a champion of #HumanRights as the next UN Secretary-General as the UN faces a crisis amid a global retreat on rights & democracy. - by Widad Franco

Too often when discussing trans rights, we’re forced to be on the defensive, as Republicans wage attacks. Today, we take the opportunity to look forward by introducing my Trans Bill of Rights, a comprehensive vision to provide protections for all trans and nonbinary people.

BREAKING: Four states led by Democrats sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, aiming to halt deep cuts in federal public health funds that had already been allocated. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/h...