Health
Trump Administration Ends Global Health Research Program
An obscure but influential program that gave detailed public health information to about half of the world’s nations will fold as a result of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid.
With funding from the United States Agency for International Development, the Demographic and Health Surveys were the only sources of information in many countries about maternal and child health and mortality, nutrition, reproductive health and H.I.V. infections, among many other health indicators.
The surveys collected data in 90 low- and middle-income nations, which then used the information to set health benchmarks at the local, national and global levels, including the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by member countries of the United Nations.
On Tuesday, the program’s administrators learned that it was being “terminated for the convenience of the U.S. Government,” effective immediately, according to an email viewed by The New York Times. They were ordered to “stop all work, terminate subcontracts and place no further orders.”
The Trump administration is dismantling U.S.A.I.D.; thousands of layoffs are expected in the coming days. Without future surveys, it will be nearly impossible to measure the impact of those foreign aid cuts on citizens in nations without substantial health infrastructure.
Some global health experts reacted to the program’s demise with dismay.
“It’s really challenging for me to understand how you could implement thoughtful programs in public health and monitor progress toward strategic goals if you don’t have the kind of data that are available from the D.H.S.,” Win Brown, a demographer at the University of Washington, said.
“You can’t keep track of what’s going on, you can’t form strategies, you can’t make adjustments based on how your data are changing,” he added.
It was unclear what might happen to the research that has been collected over past decades, or to the ongoing survey projects in 25 countries. “We need to figure out a way to salvage that data, and I think that’s feasible,” Livia Montana, the program’s technical director, said.
The surveys have been conducted since 1984. The funding totaled about $500 million over five years, about half of which came from U.S.A.I.D. and half from other donors, including the nations themselves.
Some countries, like India, had almost entirely taken over the financing of their own surveys. The research is widely seen as indispensable.
“The impact of these disruptions will reverberate across local, regional, national and global levels,” a group of dozens of experts warned on Feb. 13.
Some United Nations organizations assess child and adolescent health or census data in some countries, while others measure household income or agricultural output.
But the Demographic and Health Surveys, collected every five years, recorded all critical aspects of household health, including mortality data, height and weight and nutrition status of children and adults, education and literacy, as well as access to clean water and mobile phones.
“Malnutrition indicators are among the most important,” because they can reflect a range of societal factors, Dr. Montana said. The surveys also separately evaluated malaria indicators and health facilities.
Estimates of maternal and child mortality are crucially important in countries that do not have good death registration systems. The surveys also measured family size, which can indicate the availability of family planning but also reflect broader societal factors, including access to education for girls.
Dr. Brown has used the surveys, for example, to compare contraceptive use among women in countries like Egypt, Pakistan and India over decades. “In a survey like D.H.S., you’re on the ground talking to real people, on the stoop of their real houses in real communities,” he said.
Like other projects funded with foreign aid, the program was under a stop-work order before the termination. All but 11 of its staff of 80 were placed on leave without pay, and its relationships with contractors ended a few weeks ago.
Informed of the halt, some national governments expressed concern and empathy, and several asked if they could pay to finish the work. Others took it in stride, Dr. Montana said.
“It’s sort of like they have experienced more of this kind of thing where political winds change right away,” she said.
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A common vaccine could help to fight cancer, a new study suggests.
For cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy, researchers found that receiving the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine within about 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy was associated with substantially better survival.
Researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center analyzed data from more than 1,000 cancer patients with Stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma who were treated at MD Anderson from 2019 to 2023.
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All patients were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy drugs that help the immune system recognize and attack tumor cells more effectively.
Some of the patients received an mRNA COVID vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy and some did not, according to a study press release.
A common vaccine could help to fight cancer, a new study suggests. (iStock)
The researchers found that those who received both the vaccine and the immunotherapy lived longer “by a significant amount.”
Those who received the vaccine had nearly twice the average survival — 37.3 months compared to 20.6 months.
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The greatest survival benefit was seen in patients with immunologically “cold” tumors — those that are typically resistant to immunotherapy. Among those patients, the addition of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was linked to a nearly five-fold increase in three-year overall survival.
“At the time the data were collected, some patients were still alive, meaning the vaccine effect could be even stronger,” the release stated.
Researchers found that receiving the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine within about 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy was associated with substantially better survival. (iStock)
The researchers then replicated this outcome in mouse models — when the mice received a combination of immunotherapy drugs and an mRNA vaccine targeting the COVID-19 spike protein, their tumors became more responsive to treatment.
“This is the type of treatment benefit that we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions.”
Non-mRNA vaccines for flu and pneumonia did not have those same effects, the study found.
The findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2025 Congress in Berlin on Oct. 19 and were published in the journal Nature.
“The implications are extraordinary — this could revolutionize the entire field of oncologic care,” said senior researcher Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist and the Stop Children’s Cancer/Bonnie R. Freeman Professor for Pediatric Oncology Research.
As this was an observational study, the researchers noted that a prospective and randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm the findings.
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“Although not yet proven to be causal, this is the type of treatment benefit that we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions — but rarely do,” said Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
“I think the urgency and importance of doing the confirmatory work can’t be overstated.”
All patients were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy drugs that help the immune system recognize and attack tumor cells more effectively. (iStock)
The researchers are now planning to launch a large clinical trial through the UF-led OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network, a consortium of hospitals, health centers and clinics in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, California and Minnesota, the release stated.
The researchers suggested that a “universal, off-the-shelf” vaccine could be developed to boost cancer patients’ immune response and survival.
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“If this can double what we’re achieving currently, or even incrementally — 5%, 10% — that means a lot to those patients, especially if this can be leveraged across different cancers for different patients,” Sayour added.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
The study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Brain Tumor Association and the Radiological Society of North America, among others.
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