Prabhat Jha
U of Toronto. Epidemiologist, author, father, husband and mediocre skier. Professionally obsessed with death.
www.cghr.org
- @aircanada.bsky.social Your new user interface on tbe app is dreadful. Shows for trips the booking ref and nothing else. Please correct immediately. SE member. Prabhat
- Time for Canada to offer to move the UN from the USA to Canada (preferably one Eastern and one Western city)? Win-win-win for the UN independence, for urban economic growth and for Canada politically. @mark-carney.bsky.social @anitaoakvilleeast.bsky.social
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaA powerful session at #PrevConf25 on why health inequalities must be front and centre in cancer risk and primary prevention—co-chaired by Profs Davis & Bhatla, with key insights from Prof Chambwe, Prof Chibwesha, Dr McCullough & @countthedead.bsky.social.
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha"They took her in a car, in essence kidnapping her ... I met another young woman whose husband has quite literally disappeared" -- Newsom shares harrowing details of specific cases of ICE terrorizing immigrants in California
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha#episky #mortality 📣 #Sweden #HMD series updated through 2024 🔓 Data is freely available at mortality.org In 2024, the gap between #lifeexpectancy for men at birth and women at birth continues to narrow in Sweden.
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha#TobRegSky #PedSky #MedSky #EpiSky #addictionsci #policysky #polisky 🧪🛟 🫁 HHS reverses hundreds of CDC firings, including of staff of the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice. But not the Office of Smoking and Health (OSH). www.statnews.com/2025/06/11/h...
- pewrsr.ch/3MNDkkW 11 Million Illegal immigrants in the US- and understanding where/why is essential to any non-hate based solution.
- Years ago... we came up with a simple spreadsheet to calculate live saved from higher cig tax... Still be used... eg Bangladesh... Effective Tobacco Taxation Reduces Deaths and Increases Revenue thenewse.com/effective-to... @tcrgbath.bsky.social
- External regulation!!! www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/o...
- Really cool universal antivenom for snakebites?~100K snakebite deaths a year, including ~50K in India elifesciences.org/articles/54076 Universal Antivenom from Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/h... @picardonhealth.bsky.social @isaacbogoch.bsky.social @dndi.org @who.int
- To 258 million American friends, I am so pleased Donald Trump single handedly stopped you from overdosing on Fentynl. Phew! That was close.
- The Next Generation of American Scientists Is Losing Faith www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
- Please join me on May 21st for a stimulating discussion on global health featuring Sir Richard Peto, Prof Dean Jamison, and many others. Online and free. Register at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/2025-pgme-... @picardonhealth.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @dlsphjournalism.bsky.social
- Siddhartha Mukherjee's troubling diagnosis of Public Health erosion in the US. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/o... @stephanienolen.bsky.social @picardonhealth.bsky.social @helenbranswell.bsky.social
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaI don’t blame the lobsters
- Dear Friends in the US. You will understand why I am cancelling all trips, vacations in the US and purchases of American products. Canada and our brothers/sisters in Mexico will not be bullied by one man.
- Shreya Jha writes thoughtfully about death, arts, and medical care. www.cmaj.ca/content/197/... @uoft.bsky.social @picardonhealth.bsky.social
- Trump/Musk actions will kill people. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h... @stephanienolen.bsky.social @gavinyamey.bsky.social @who.int
- BigTobacco + (sloppy) economists = Nonsense economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-c... ITC smuggles own cigs to scare finance Min then complains! Low cig excises in India means GoI loses Rs to BigTobacco See correct policy: www.epw.in/journal/2011... @mohfw.bsky.social @gavinyamey.bsky.social
- Worth watching. USAID update, with Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Jeremy Faust. open.substack.com/pub/insideme... @agawande.bsky.social @gavinyamey.bsky.social
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha"However, is there a bridge too far, a point where it is no longer appropriate for medicine and public health to accede? Under what conditions must the profession stand its ground and vocally oppose problematic policies or disinformation?"
- "How do we know where to draw the line, and when it is time to resist?" This Viewpoint discusses scientific, medical, and public health actions taken so far during the first week of the administration. ja.ma/4gmik0x #MedSky
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaSometimes we get a piece into @plosglobalpublichealth.org that is so, so urgent. From my personal vantage point in North Texas, this Opinion by the incomparable Peter Hotez is one of them. Please do check it out and share widely.
- Just published on PLOS Global Public Health: It won’t end with COVID: Countering the next phase of American antivaccine activism 2025–29 by Peter Hotez journals.plos.org/globalpublic...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaIt’s fascinating—& painful—to look back at Michelle Obama’s impressive record in improving America’s diet, especially for kids The GOP did all it could to torpedo it—that party has a long record of opposing progressive public health measures (they cry “nanny state!”) www.vox.com/2016/10/3/12...
- How did COVID hybrid immunity build in Canada, India, China, and Sierra Leone? Lessons for early vax + need to understand African paradoxes. tiny.cc/2ph3001 @isaacbogoch.bsky.social @patrickborgnine.bsky.social @angusreidinstitute.bsky.social @picardonhealth.bsky.social @helenbranswell.bsky.social
- Jimmy Carter’s Quiet but Monumental Work in Global Health www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/h...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaHow Jimmy Carter’s global health efforts elevated ‘the art of the possible’ www.statnews.com/2024/12/29/h... via @statnews.com #episky #medsky #science
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha1. Vertical (mother to child) transmission of HIV in the US is close to being eliminated—one of the greatest public health successes in modern times 2. RFK Jr is an AIDS denialist, & I fear that putting an AIDS denialist in charge of the nation’s health could be a huge setback to progress
- After nearly three decades, a Minnesota summer camp for kids with HIV/AIDS is closing and up for sale... because retroviral drugs are so effective that there aren't enough campers. Science works, y'all. www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...
- It was a privilege to work with Dr. Manmohan Singh on global commissions and to support India's National Health Mission. I showed him MDS data that NHM conservatively averted 1M child deaths, but further action could save even more. My thoughts are with his family. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/w...
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha
There was a Leverage episode about this, over a decade ago. It is not new, and you'd best not look too deeply into health economics if you don't like it, because it gets worse.- I can hardly think of a better example of the moral decay in modern health care than a Goldman analyst noting that biotech cures for diseases like hepatitis are cool and all, until their success diminishes the business opportunity for pharmaceutical manufacturers. www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/g...
- Can we halve deaths before age 70 by 2050 worldwide? Yes, with faster rates of progress on adult mortality... www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
- We are hiring! Exciting post on adult malaria vaccine trial in Sierra Leone. Fasten your brains, this will be fun! tinyurl.com/AMRITrial Please share with networks @isaacbogoch.bsky.social @globalvectorhub.bsky.social @globalhealthnow.bsky.social @ghs.bsky.social @gatesfoundation.bsky.social
- Quitting smoking and reducing initiation have avoided millions of cancer and other deaths. More to be done, especially to address low cessation rates in low education adults. Big federal excise hike best option @picardonhealth.bsky.social
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha#MedSky🧪 #OncoSky #publichealth Could #breastcancer survival rates be improved simply by timing treatment to a specific stage of the menstrual cycle? 🐁 & human data suggest sensitivity to #chemotherapy is affected by fluctuations in ovarian hormones. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaA legend leaves the NYT.
- And it’s official. I’m immensely grateful to the world’s greatest news organization for giving me a platform all these years, and greatly appreciate the moving sendoff 1/ www.nytco.com/press/paul-k...
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha"Immigration policy is long-term care policy," said David Grabowski, who's chronicled how foreign-born workers filled key nursing home roles early in the pandemic. The American Immigration Council estimates a third of home health aids in the U.S. are immigrants. www.axios.com/2024/12/04/t...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaJust Released: The LSHTM Malaria Centre 2022-2024 Report is now available! See the latest insights on our progress & challenges in the fight against #malaria. Read more here: bit.ly/3Oq7ScT #MalariaResearch @lshtm-malaria.bsky.social
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaScientists who have studied #H5N1 #birdflu for years are flummoxed by the lack of severe cases among the 55 human cases the US has confirmed this year. I talked to lots to explore the theories of what's going on. www.statnews.com/2024/12/02/b...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaWalking pneumonia cases surging in Ontario children, with a rate more than three times higher than pre-COVID levels, new data show, by @alannasmith.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com #pediatrics
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha“RFK Jr. has apparently been trying to claim that he is not an anti-vaccine activist. This is a contemptible lie. Until he began his ill-fated presidential campaign, he had spent years being exactly that.” This is how you write about RFK Jr. Speak truth to power. www.science.org/content/blog...
- India did not get "herd" immunity from widespread initial COVID wave in '20 but did get hybrid immunity after killer wave in '21 + successful vax program in later '21. So few '22-23 excess deaths. Claims of herd immunity in late '20, early '21 misled. Sadly ~3-4.5M Indians died, most in '21.
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaIf you've been wondering where I went: my team in Oxford (60 of us!) build beautiful tools for NHS data. We help researchers work on the whole nation's GP records while protecting - provably - everyone's privacy. It's big potatoes! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjR...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaIf only all public health professionals had as much courage and integrity as former FDA commissioner @scottgottliebmd.bsky.social He refuses to normalize or accept the destruction of American public health. I stand with him in solidarity and gratitude.
- Dr Scott Gottlieb on @cnbc.com Squawk box this morning: if RFK follows through on his intentions, it will cost lives. www.cnbc.com/video/2024/1...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaInteresed in the inteaction between global health, modelling and policy? Come join us at @mrc-outbreak.bsky.social as a technical analyst primarily working on malaria! www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaThose who are ambivalent or even hostile about masking will feel different should H5N1 mutate into the next pandemic. The mortality rate is likely less than the 50% often quoted but is probably at least 10-15% or which is serious. www.npr.org/sections/sho...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaMortality Epidemiology, UK 1982-2022 In the past 41 years, there have been substantial reductions in mortality at every age. Modern medicine, which includes vaccination, medications, surgeries, therapies, and approaches, as well as public health initiatives, have saved lives.
- A shout out to my daughter, Shreya, on her second lead-authored paper- in a good neuroscience journal. Bravo Shreya! academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaVery much this, from Dan Drezner. He focuses a lot on universities, but rightly so. U.S. educational, scientific and technological preeminence are closely linked — and all have a lot to do with the past openness of our society 1/ open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaSaloni, Edouard, and Lucas wrote up the history of Our World in Data during the COVID pandemic. It's about the impact we hoped to achieve and how it felt to us during that time. ourworldindata.org/owid-covid-h...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaAccording to Swiss Re Institute's report, “The future of excess mortality after COVID-19, if the ongoing impact of the disease is not curtailed, excess mortality rates may remain up to 3% higher than pre-pandemic levels in the US and 2.5% in the UK by 2033.” shorturl.at/eoFWt #MedSky #CardioSky
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha🪰" #CaymanIslands 🇰🇾 record first imported case of #Oropouche #virus" #arbovirus www.caymancompass.com/2024/11/21/c...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaThis Professor Has Taken on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Opposing Vaccines A Q&A with Dr. Peter Hotez, who has clashed with the new health and human services secretary nominee. Hotez himself helped develop low-cost vaccinations. #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/3Zkgg3Y
- If absolute rates of decline of the last half century persist, global risks of death <age 70 could be halved by 2050. But if the proportional rates of decline continue, such risk falls by only a third. Halving premature death is achievable but needs more progress. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha🚬 Tobacco use (% of male adults): 🇮🇩 Indonesia: 71% 🇲🇲 Myanmar: 69% 🇯🇴 Jordan: 57% 🇬🇪 Georgia: 56% 🇧🇩 Bangladesh: 52% 🇲🇳 Mongolia: 52% 🇱🇻 Latvia: 50% 🇨🇳 China: 49% 🇪🇬 Egypt: 48% 🇨🇾 Cyprus: 47% 🇹🇷 Turkiye: 42% 🇮🇳 India: 41% 🇷🇺 Russia: 41% 🇬🇷 Greece: 37% 🇷🇴 Romania: 36%
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaI updated the data in my article about the history of child mortality. Without any large exceptions, every second child died — in Ancient Rome, in hunter-gatherer societies, in the pre-Columbian Americas, in Medieval Japan, in Imperial China, or the Renaissance. ourworldindata.org/child-mortal...
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaImagine a cancer conference run by or dominated by tobacco industry How is that different from Climate conferences run or dominated by fossil fuel industry?
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha👏🏽👏🏽 No cervical cancer cases detected in vaccinated women following HPV immunisation publichealthscotland.scot/news/2024/ja...
- Epidemiology fact of the day: Sierra Leone maternal mortality is falling- stay tuned for peer reviewed paper
- Reposted by Prabhat JhaThe Sanewashing of RFK Jr. Let’s call a crank a crank, by Benjamin Mazer www.theatlantic.com/health/archi... via @theatlantic.bsky.social @gregggonsalves.bsky.social #infodemic
- Reposted by Prabhat Jha83 children in Samoa paid the ultimate price thanks to this charlatan. Now he gets to do the same to all of America. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
- Hopefully, RFK Jr is being sacrificed by Trump and can't be seriously considered. Absolutely awful candidate despised by his own family. But if its not a ploy, Americans should prepare for excess deaths. Mid-terms may be the only break on lunacy.
