A higher percentage of children worldwide are living beyond their fifth birthdays as childhood mortality rates hit a record low in 2022, according to a joint report published by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

 The FDA has requested $7.2 billion from the president's proposed budget for next year — funding the agency says will bolster the nation's supply chain, support infrastructure upgrades and expand the public health workforce. 

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Health confirmed that a man has died following hospitalization with the bubonic plague.

Pediatricians in California are noticing a concerning trend of more vaccine-hesitant parents delaying their child's routine immunizations, The Los Angeles Times reported March 11. 

The physician and academic who reshaped public health research toward accountability, Howard Hiatt, MD, died March 9 at 98 years old, The New York Times reported. 

Key metrics for COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus continue to fall, though flu activity is still elevated, CDC data for the week ending March 2 shows. 

Measles activity continues to rise in the U.S., with Illinois becoming the latest state to confirm infections this year, CDC data shows.

Emergency department visits among young children related to unsupervised melatonin ingestion rose more than 400% from 2009 to 2020, according to a new CDC report. 

Avian flu's spread among mammals is elevating concerns about the risk the disease may pose to humans.

An independent testing laboratory has filed a petition with the FDA after finding common acne products contain elevated levels of benzene, a carcinogen that's previously been detected in other consumer products such as sunscreens and dry shampoos, according to a March 6 Bloomberg report. 

A 62-year-old man who, for private reasons, elected to hypervaccinate, rolling up his sleeves for 217 COVID-19 shots, did not experience any adverse reactions, nor did it boost his immune system more than normal doses of the shot, according to research published March 4 in The Lancet. 

Another updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available this fall, around the same time flu shots are rolled out, CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, told Bloomberg in an interview March 4. 

Measles activity is rising nationwide, with nearly half of states reporting new cases in 2024, CDC data shows.

Once eliminated from the U.S., measles appears to be making a comeback, with 41 cases reported so far in 2024. That amount is already more than half of the total number of cases reported in 2023, according to CDC data.

As respiratory virus season's effect on the nation's healthcare system wanes, 26 states are still seeing high levels of activity, according to the CDC's latest update, which reflects data through the week of Feb. 24. 

The U.S. is seeing fewer hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 with the addition of more tools to manage it, like vaccines and medication. In updated respiratory virus guidance published March 1, the CDC stated "it is no longer the emergency that it once was," prompting the agency to drop previous isolation guidance and simplify other recommendations.

There are now more than 1 billion people are now classified as 'obese' worldwide, according to a March 1 update from the World Health Organization. But the rise of anti-obesity medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro should not be considered a solution, experts say.

Preliminary estimates show the flu vaccine is offering moderate protection against severe illness and hospitalizations this season, according to a new CDC report.

Consuming more ultra-processed foods has been directly linked to more than 32 adverse health conditions including several cardiometabolic conditions, mental disorders, and mortality outcomes, new research published Feb. 28 in the British Medical Journal found.

CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, has approved a recommendation from the agency's advisory committee for adults over 65 to receive an updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine dose this spring.