70% of children in Ukraine don’t have access to basic goods, services: UNICEF
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(Ukraine) — About 70% of children in Ukraine — roughly 3.5 million — do not have access to basic goods and services, such as adequate food or shelter, more than three years into the country’s ongoing war with Russia, according to new data published Thursday from UNICEF.
This is a four-fold increase from the 18% who were experiencing the same level of “material deprivation” in 2021, before Russia invaded Ukraine.
UNICEF said “continued and relentless attacks” from Russia on Ukrainian infrastructure as well as on homes, schools and health care facilities have led to a rise in material deprivation.
“Seven out of 10 children are experiencing a severe deprivation in one of these areas that we have looked at whether that’s nutritious food, warm clothing, eating, spaces to play all of the things that any person would want for that child,” Joe English, a communications specialist with UNICEF, told ABC News. “And this is the result when you have more than three years of grinding war with little end in sight.”
English added, “It’s 70% who have this material deprivation, but there is not a child in Ukraine who has not been affected by this war today.”
UNICEF also found that one-third of children in Ukraine live in homes without a functioning water supply and sewage, and nearly half of children in the country do not have access to an area to play at home or outside.
English said it’s likely that these shares of children will only increase unless a ceasefire occurs.
Children in Ukraine have been among the casualties of the war. More than 2,700 children have been killed or maimed since February 2022, according to UNICEF.
Due to the destruction of health care infrastructure, English said many children have not been able to get the care they need for injuries and cannot be medically evacuated either.
English said when he was in Ukraine, he met a 15-year-old boy named Andre whose leg was badly injured when a car he was traveling in hit a landmine. Andre was eventually medically evacuated for treatment.
“No parent, no child wants to leave their homeland if they have any kind of choice,” English said. “When I spoke to Andre, he was adamant he would have preferred to stay in Ukraine, been able to have the support there. And so, investing in health facilities, health structures so that families can continue their lives is critical.”
He added that building infrastructure for psychosocial support is also critical due to children who currently need mental health support and will need it years from now.
“Providing that psychosocial support, that starts with a safe space and then professional, dedicated support to help children process the experiences they’ve been through,” he said. “It’s critical because … it really can help children recover.”
The UNICEF report comes as Russia hit Kyiv with another massive air attack overnight, sending missiles and drones over the span of almost 10 hours, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At least two were killed and 22 others were injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the July 10 strikes targeted “military-industrial complex facilities” and an airfield.
The first 10 days of July have already seen Russia launch 2,464 drones and 58 missiles into Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data.
(NEW YORK) — Wyoming is reporting its first measles case in 15 years as the infectious disease continues to spread across the United States.
The state’s Department of Health said on Tuesday that it had confirmed a case in an unvaccinated child in Natrona County, which is located in the central part of the state and includes the town of Casper.
The pediatric case is the first reported in Wyoming since 2010, according to the WDH.
It’s unclear how the child became sick, and no other identifying details were provided including name, age or sex.
A release from the WDH said the child was infectious while in the emergency department waiting room at Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper on Thursday, June 24, from 11 a.m. MT to 1 p.m. MT and on Friday, June 25, from 12:55 p.m. MT to 2:55 p.m. MT.
The WDH said it is working with Banner Wyoming Medical Center to notify individuals who may have been exposed to measles during those times.
“We are asking individuals who were potentially exposed to self-monitor for measles symptoms for 21 days past the exposure date and consider avoiding crowded public places or high-risk settings such as daycare centers,” Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer with the WDH, said in the release.
Wyoming is the 37th state to confirm a case of measles this year as infections near a 30-year high in the U.S.
As of Wednesday morning, a total of 1,227 cases have been confirmed, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The U.S. is currently on track to surpass the 1,274 cases seen in 2019 and is expected to see the highest number of cases since 1992.
There have been three confirmed deaths so far this year, two among unvaccinated children in Texas and one among an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.
Among the nationally confirmed cases, the CDC says 95% are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Meanwhile, 2% of cases are among those who have received one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and 3% of cases are among those who received the recommended two doses, according to the CDC.
“Measles is one of the most contagious diseases we know, but it is preventable,” Harrist said in the release. “The MMR vaccine is safe and highly effective, providing long-lasting protection. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective in preventing measles, and we recommend that all Wyoming residents ensure they and their children are up to date on MMR vaccinations.”
As of 2023, the latest year for which data is available, at least 93% of kindergartners in Wyoming had received at least one MMR dose, including 96% of kindergartners in Natrona County, where the new case was confirmed, according to the WDH.
(NEW YORK) — Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of “medical freedom,” the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion.
It’s an idea supported under Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices.
On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn’t prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents.
“I’m a freedom-of-choice person,” Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. “We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don’t want it, the government shouldn’t force them to do it.”
Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy’s talk about “freedom of choice.”
Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups.
Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride.
The public health experts said Kennedy’s actions are setting up a dichotomy on public health.
“I think that RFK Jr. has done a really good job of identifying some of the problems [in public health], but it’s the solutions that are problematic,” Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. “What you’re seeing with RFK Jr. and his approach to health is an individualization of public health. It’s this idea that you can make decisions for your health, and that’s always been true.”
He went on, “We need to be able to follow their guidance, not just have them tell us, ‘Follow your own science.’ As the focus shifts from community to individuals, we’re losing a lot of that underpinning, which has led to a lot of the gains in public health.”
Limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines
Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he is not anti-vaccine and that he supports vaccination.
Shortly after Trump’s election, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News that “if vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information.”
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supported the childhood vaccination schedule and that he would not do anything as head of HHS that “makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines.”
Separately, in an opinion piece Kennedy wrote for Fox News in March on the nationwide measles outbreak, he said the measles vaccine helps protect individuals and provides “community immunity” but also called the decision to vaccinate a “personal one.”
However, last week, Kennedy announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC’s immunization schedule for “healthy children and healthy pregnant women.”
The CDC’s immunization schedule is not just a guide for doctors but also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. Following Kennedy’s announcement, the schedule was updated noting all children would be eligible for COVID vaccines, but now under a shared-clinical decision-making model — allowing parents to choose whether their children are vaccinated alongside advice from a doctor.
“Regarding the vaccines, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News in a statement. “We are encouraging those groups to consult with their health care provider to help them make an informed decision. This is freedom of choice.”
“If you restrict access, you necessarily restrict choice,” Dr. Matthew Ferrari, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News. “Those two things are antithetical. You can’t do both. You can’t say you’re allowing choice if you’re restricting access.”
Ferrari said the idea of “medical freedom” is catchy, but public health recommendations are made based on how to protect the most vulnerable individuals.
“If you look at the outcomes, if you look at the consequences of that movement, it has been to disproportionately restrict access to — and restrict support and infrastructure to allow people to access — preventive medicine,” he said. “It’s sort of easy to say, ‘Well, take the vaccine away. But [vaccines] prevent a future outcome of illness for yourself and for others in the community.”
Traditionally, the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices decides if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say. The committee was set to meet in late June to vote on potential changes to COVID vaccine recommendations.
Spencer said Kennedy’s bypassing of traditional avenues when it comes to changing vaccine recommendations is also taking away choice from people.
“This did not go through the normal process that it should have, and he basically just made a decision for people while at the same time saying that he’s going to let people make a decision,” Spencer said.
Restricting foods under SNAP
Kennedy has also campaigned to prevent Americans from using food stamps — provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — to buy candy and soda.
“It’s nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans,” Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last September.
At a MAHA event in late May, Kennedy said the governors of 10 states have submitted waivers to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to ban SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy candy and soft drinks.
“The U.S. government spends over $4 trillion a year on health care,” Nixon said in a statement. “That’s not freedom — it’s failure. Secretary Kennedy is unapologetically taking action to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, not subsidize it with taxpayer dollars. Warning Americans about the dangers of ultra-processed food isn’t an attack on choice — it’s the first step in restoring it.”
Nutrition experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are unhealthy. Frequent consumption of SSBs is linked to health issues such as weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease and kidney diseases, according to the CDC.
Kristina Petersen, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News there is a crisis of diet-related diseases in the U.S., which increase the risk of disability and reduces lifespan.
However, she said there needs to be strong evidence of the benefits of restrictive policies if they are to be put in place.
“In terms of limiting people’s choices, it is important to consider all the different roles that food plays in someone’s life, and so obviously we want people eating nutritious foods, but also we need to acknowledge that food is a source of enjoyment,” Petersen said. “A lot of social situations revolve around food. So, when we’re thinking about reducing people’s access to given foods, we need to think about the consequences of that.”
One unintended consequence could be an eligible family not signing up for SNAP benefits because of the restrictions, she said.
Even if a ban on buying candy and soda with SNAP benefits does occur, Petersen said she is not aware of any evidence that shows banning certain foods leads to healthier diets.
She added that the nation’s dietary guidelines are written to emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetable rather than telling people to avoid or restrict less healthy foods.
“All foods can be consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern. It’s really just the amount and the frequency that determines whether that pattern is helpful overall or less helpful,” Petersen said. “People can have small indulgences, but really, we’re interested in what is their pattern over a period of time.”
Providing incentives for purchasing healthier foods may be more effective and still allow people to have choice, Petersen said.
A 2018 study used a model simulation to study the effects of food incentives, disincentives or restrictions in SNAP.
One of the simulations involving incentives for foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and plant-based oils found to have the most substantial health benefits and be the most cost-effective.
“Things like fruits and vegetables, they do tend to be more expensive, so if you incentivize them by providing more benefits … that’s making the dollar go further, and it’s kind of making the economic piece of this a bit stronger,” Petersen said. “A lot of this is framed around personal choice. Rather than restricting access to, how can we give people more access to healthy foods? I think that’s going to have the greatest benefit here.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. has confirmed the first case of a flesh-eating parasite in a human, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Monday.
New World screwworm (NWS) is a species of parasitic flies that feed on live tissue. The name refers to the way in which maggots screw themselves into the tissue of animals with their sharp mouth hooks, causing extensive damage and often leading to death.
The patient returned from travel to El Salvador, an HHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. The risk to the public in the U.S. is very low, they added.
Countries in Central America and Mexico have been dealing with an outbreak of the parasite among livestock.
Panama saw infections among livestock rise from an average of 25 cases annually to over 6,500 in 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says. Since then, the parasite has been detected in seven other Central American countries, breaking a previously established barrier that contained the pest to South America for decades.
Screwworm has not been detected in animals within the U.S., the USDA noted. It was largely eradicated for decades in the U.S. through a technique in which male screwworm flies are sterilized and then released into the environment to mate with females until the population dies out.
But given the spread in neighboring countries, “[NWS] is not only a threat to our ranching community — but it is a threat to our food supply and our national security,” the USDA said in a press release where they outlined initiatives to prevent the parasite from crossing into the U.S.
Those initiatives include building a sterile fly production facility in Texas and hiring mounted patrol officers to track wildlife crossing as well as detector dogs to track imports along ports of entry. In May, the USDA banned imports of live cattle, horse and bison from Mexico and has since slowly re-opened trade.
Earlier this month, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for animal drugs to treat or prevent infestations caused by screwworm.
People who travel to outbreak areas, spend time among livestock animals, sleep outdoors, and have an open wound are at greater risk of becoming infested with screwworm, the CDC noted.
