Participants in the 2024 G. Barrie Landry Child Protection Professional Training program during case study presentations, June 2024.

The following represents solely my own views and does not necessarily represent the views of the institution.

Dear Colleagues,

For those who, like me, have spent many years in educational institutions, each academic year comes with a sense of new beginnings. The leaves have now fallen, the temperature dips as winter settles in, and students are preparing to finish another semester.

This year, many anxieties accompanied the changing seasons. A presidential election. Escalating conflicts around the world inflict unbearable costs in civilian casualties and suffering including Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Iran, and Afghanistan, to name a few. Terrible weather events affecting virtually every continent. Distressed migration continues as people - many of them children, alone or with their families - take unthinkable risks to seek safer lives that may simply mean access to safe food, drinking water, housing, and healthcare. We are witness to crimes against humanity.

Our freedoms - speech, press, and the right to assemble - guaranteed by the First Amendment are under pressure as extreme ideologies challenge democratic norms domestically and abroad. Vision of Humanity reports on a Global Peace Index (GPI), launched in 2008, and concludes, “There are currently 56 conflicts, the most since World War II. They have become more international with 92 countries involved in conflicts outside their borders, the most since the GPI’s inception.”

These global challenges are daunting. Still, we must continue to push forward and strengthen our communities, as those before us have done. Through our research, teaching, and creation of inclusive spaces for dialogue and solution-building, we can drive positive change - even as the right to assemble comes under scrutiny worldwide.

Our work this year, shared in this newsletter, exemplifies this commitment. Please take a moment to peruse this exciting work. For example, research scientist Brittney Francis launched a new podcast exploring structural factors that drive health disparities in marginalized communities. The Roma Program published a new report, Confronting Major and Everyday Discrimination: Romani Experiences in Canada’s Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area. The Palestine Program published on the proximity of 2000-pound bomb detonations to Gaza’s hospital facilities in late 2023.

We are also proud to celebrate one of our former fellows, Jake Ryann C. Sumibcay, who is now a tenure track Assistant Professor in Health Policy and Management at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health. Please join me in congratulating him. Among the work he completed here was an analysis of the excess COVID mortality risk among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

This work requires resilience, humility, and purpose. I look forward to our continued contributions to our vision of a world that fulfills the human rights of all people, with a special attention to children, and protects them from injustices imposed by discrimination, poverty, conflict, and disaster.

Mary T. Bassett, MD, MPH 

Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights 

December 10th marks World Human Rights Day, an occasion to reassert that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This year's theme, "Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now," is a call to acknowledge the importance and relevance of human rights in our everyday lives and to remember that human rights can empower individuals and communities to forge a better tomorrow. Right on time, the December Health and Human Rights Journal issue is out and includes a timely section on distress migration and the right to health guest edited by FXB Visiting Scientist Stefano Angeleri, PhD, and FXB Director of Research Jacqueline Bhabha, JD, MSc.

Photo of migrants crossing a bridge. Photo credit: Eric Lee / Shutterstock

The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University ran an intensive three-week graduate summer course on migration and refugee studies in Greece in July 2024, in collaboration with the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies and the Refugee and Migration Studies Hub of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. As part of the final assignment, participating students were invited to write a short op-ed on a migration-related theme. Several submissions were selected to be published as part of an ongoing student opinions series throughout the fall and winter. 

Kamala Harris Must Rethink The Way She Approaches Immigration Policy

by David Friedman

Immigration policy has been top of mind for Americans this election year. Immigration isn’t a crisis, but our approach to it needs urgent change to introduce new framing – one that rightfully sees immigration as a complex web of humanitarian, labor, familial, and historical phenomena that deserve complementary legal pathways. Read here.

Photo: David Peinado Romero / Shutterstock

The glory and disgrace of the Olympic Games: Why refugees and migrants suffer the most

by Kristin Phaneuf

When the Olympic Games were born, they were a symbol of solidarity and peace. Nowadays they often come at the expense of marginalized populations, including refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. Read here.

Photo: Obatala Photography / Shutterstock

Flavors Without Borders: The Gastronomic Gift of Migration

by Sara Bin Mahfooz

Food is a universal language that brings people together across cultures, playing a crucial role in the integration of migrants into new communities. Read here.

Photo courtesy of Tastes of Damascus, Athens, Greece

We Must Address the Humanitarian Crisis of Inadequate Mental Health Care. The Power of Storytelling: The EU Refugee Crisis

by Jessica Aldrich Strassman

Mental health is a fundamental human right, and nowhere is this more urgent than in survivors of forced migration and displacement who experience trauma pre-migration, during migration, and at resettlement. Read here.

Photo: Ajdin Kamber / Shutterstock

The François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the Canadian Romani Alliance published a groundbreaking study measuring both major and everyday discrimination experienced by Romani individuals in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton area (GTHA) in Canada.

This study examined previously uncounted experiences of everyday discrimination - daily experiences of ethno-racial insults, jokes, stereotype-based questioning, passive or active distancing, and incidents where Romani people are misunderstood, underestimated, overlooked, or ignored.

The research team also examined major discrimination, including the denial of resources, differential treatment, and ethno-racial profiling in institutional and social settings.

The research team interviewed 87 Canadians (64 Romani adults and 23 non-Romani adults), with the majority of Roma being emigrants or refugees from Central and Eastern Europe.  

The study reveals systemic gaps in understanding and addressing the experiences of Romani people. It stresses the necessity of moving beyond diversity statements and investing in

substantive culturally sensitive approaches and Roma-led initiatives to combat major and everyday discrimination and achieve equity and justice. The findings highlight the urgency of investing in anti-racism education, policies, and tools to protect and ensure Romani Canadians’ rights, equal opportunities, and a life of quality and dignity.

Dr. Margareta Matache, Roma Program Director, receives Mentoring Award!

Each year, awards are presented to graduating students, faculty, and staff at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health during the annual graduation and end-of-year celebrations for the School community.

The FXB Climate Advocates program continues to expand in response to the growing demand for climate education among youth worldwide. Some 1,500 alumni from nearly 100 countries now impact many thousands more with the advocacy, knowledge, and climate action projects developed while attending the program.

In the Summer of 2024, 160 youth from 44 countries completed the program and implemented 100 impactful climate action projects. Participants from Iraq, Djibouti, Mauritius, Algeria, Suriname, Peru, and Vietnam joined for the first time.

The Fall 2024 FXB Climate Advocates cohort received 1,500 applications from 75 countries, including Sri Lanka, Malawi, and Guyana—about the same number as all previous programs combined since 2019. This cohort also introduced a new francophone program, initiated by a former FXB Climate Advocates alumnus, with support from eight other francophone African alumni.

From these applications, 300 participants from 60 countries were accepted into the English program, and 125 youth from 17 francophone countries were accepted into the French program.

In August, Karina Weinstein, FXB USA’s Program Strategy & Innovation Director, led the Climate Leaders Initiative in Cameroon, training youth to lead climate awareness initiatives in schools, equipping them with knowledge of climate policies, and empowering them with a global perspective. Similar initiatives are planned for Azerbaijan and Rwanda over the next year.

Applications for the Spring 2025 FXB Climate Advocates program can be found below. Apply by December 30, 2024: https://www.fxbclimateadvocates.org/apply

Learn more about the FXB Climate Advocates here: https://www.fxbclimateadvocates.org/

Politicians, power, and the people's health: US elections and state health outcomes, 2012–2024

Health Affairs Scholar, Volume 2, Issue 12, December 2024 Nancy Krieger, Soroush Moallef, Ruchita Balasubramanian, Tori L. Cowger, Alecia J. McGregor, Mary T. Bassett (Co-Authors)

Elections are crucial to democratic governance, with results shaping political priorities, policies, programs, resources, and—often underappreciated—population health. At issue is who is elected, with what political agendas, both individually and as tied to political party affiliations and governing coalitions. Such statements might seem to be truisms, but US population health research engaged with issues of governance and health has primarily focused on policies proposed or enacted—and also more recently, voter political lean (as spurred by the impact of political polarization on responses to and the harms of the COVID-19 pandemic)—and not on who enacts the policies and their power to do so. Consequently, limited US empirical evidence documents links between political ideologies, political power, and population patterns of health and health inequities. Read the study here.

Recent FXB Center Writing in Peer-Reviewed Publications

December 2024

• US health in historical context, The Lancet, December 7, Mary T. Bassett (Author)
• Adapting and deploying a digital program for training non-specialist providers on a brief psychological intervention for depression in rural Gujarat, India, PLOS Global Public Health, December 5, Satchit Balsari (Co-Author)
• Obstetric Care Access at Rural and Urban Hospitals in the United States, JAMA, December 4, Alecia McGregor (Co-Author)
• Complex Multimorbidity and Trajectories of Functional Disabilities in the Last Three Years of Life: A Prospective Cohort Study of Older Adults in Japan, Journal of Applied Gerontology, December 4, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Long-Term Trajectories of Cognitive Disability Among Older Adults Following a Major Disaster, JAMA Network Open, December 2, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Racial discrimination and cognitive function: An instrumental variable analysis, Social Science & Medicine, December 2024, Jourdyn A. Lawrence, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Authors)
• Hidden in plain sight: Women and gendered dementia dynamics in the Australian Aged Care Royal Commission, Journal of Aging Studies, December 2024, Linda Steele (Co-Author)



November 2024

• Reparations for African Enslavement in the U.S. and Black Survival Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, American Journal of Epidemiology, November 29, Jourdyn A. Lawrence, Jaquelyn L. Jahn, Justin M. Feldman, Natalia Linos, Mary T. Bassett (Co-Authors)
• ‘The Compensation Is Changing the Future’: A Reparative Approach to Redressing Human Rights Violations Experienced by People Living with Dementia in Long Term Care, University of Oxford Human Rights Hub J.1, 2024, Linda Steele (Co-Author)
• Dental Coverage and Care When Transitioning From Medicaid to Medicare, JAMA Health Forum, November 22, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Neonatal Mortality Rates With and Without a Minimum Threshold, JAMA Network Open, November 22, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Frontline clinic perspectives on climate change, human health, and resilience: a national cross-sectional survey, BMC Primary Care, November 22, Tess Wiskel, Caleb Dresser (Co-Authors)
• UNRWA’s work is at risk again, The Lancet, November 20, Yara M. Asi (Co-Author)
• Taiso practice and risk of functional disability and dementia among older adults in Japan: the JAGES cohort study, SSM – Population Health, November 19, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Nature’s New Frontier: Adapting Wilderness Medicine to a Changing Climate, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, November 19, Caleb Dresser (Co-Author)
• Section 1557 Rule Mandates Identification And Mitigation Of Discriminatory Clinical Algorithms, Health Affairs, November 14, Rohan Khazanchi (Co-Author)
• Associations between community social capital and posttraumatic growth among older survivors 11 years after a natural disaster, American Journal of Epidemiology, November 12, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Carceral Systems and Mental Health Crises—Health Care, Not Handcuffs, JAMA Network Open, November 11, Rohan Khazanchi (Co-Author)
• Resilience factors affecting long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami among older adults, The Journals of Gerontology, November 9, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Associations of objective and subjective relative deprivation with health, happiness, and life satisfaction, SSM – Population Health, November 9, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Access to maternity care: challenges and solutions for improving equity across US communities, Obstetrics and Gynecology, November 5, Alecia McGregor (Co-Author)
• Pre-disaster income inequality and post-disaster mental health: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, Health & Place Vol. 90, November 2024, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)

October 2024

• Talking About Incarceration History: Engaging Patients and Healthcare Providers in Communication, Journal of General Internal Medicine, October 31, Monik C. Botero (Co-Author)
• “Communicating for well-being: Overlapping principles in peace and health communication.” Connaughton, S.L., & Pukallus, S. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Conflict and Peace Communication (1st ed.). Routledge, October 28, 2024, Yara M. Asi (Chapter Author)
• Child Health Policy With Science: The JAMA Pediatrics Health and the 2024 US Election Theme, JAMA Pediatrics, October 21, Rohan Khazanchi (Reference Article Co-Author)
• Impact of Participation Bias on Disease Prevalence Estimation in the All of Us Research Program: A Case Study of Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke, medRxiv, October 19, Monik C. Botero (Co-Author)
• “Dorothy Roberts.” In Jipguep-Akhtar, M.-C., & Khan, N.M. (Eds.)., Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought (1st ed.). Routledge. Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought. Routledge, October 14, 2024, Marie V. Plaisime (Chapter Author)
• Are hospitals collateral damage? Assessing geospatial proximity of 2000 lb bomb detonations to hospital facilities in the Gaza Strip from October 7 to November 17, 2023, PLOS Global Public Health, October 10, Dennis Kunichoff, David Mills ,Yara Asi, Sawsan Abdulrahim, Bram Wispelwey, Osama Tanous, Weeam Hammoudeh, Nadine Bahour, Mary T. Basset (Co-Authors)
• Analyzing structural racism and its health impacts: it’s about time, American Journal of Epidemiology, October 4, Nancy Krieger (Author)
• Public Health Monitoring: An Active Phrase for Vigilance, Warning, Guidance, and Accountability, American Journal of Epidemiology, October 2, Nancy Krieger (Author)
• Punitive state policies targeting alcohol use during pregnancy and alcohol consumption among pregnant women, Scientific Reports, October 1, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Addressing the Health Impacts of Racism on Children and Youth: Equity Until Equality, Academic Pediatrics, September-October 2024, Marie V. Plaisime (Co-Author)

September 2024

• Climate Change and Human Health, PLOS Climate and PLOS Global Public collection, September 30, Gaurab Basu, Rita Issa (Reference Article Co-Authors)
• Racial Residential Segregation, Redlining, and Health, JAMA Internal Medicine, September 30, Mary T. Bassett (Author)
• A triple trust penalty? The majority-minority gap in subjective wellbeing, Social Science & Medicine, September 29, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• “Work stress and health.” In N. Schneiderman, T. W. Smith, N. B. Anderson, M. H. Antoni, F. J. Penedo, T. A. Revenson, & A. F. Abraído-Lanza (Eds.), APA handbook of health psychology, Vol. 1. Foundations and context of health psychology (pp. 611–637). American Psychological Association, 2025, Ichiro Kawachi (Chapter Co-Author)
• Building decolonial nursing curricula to address disparities in Indigenous women’s maternal health, Nursing Outlook, November-December 2024, Bram Wispelwey (Co-Author)
• The humanitarian system: politics can not be avoided, The Lancet, September 2024, Yara M. Asi (Co-Author)
• Management of Amphetamine and Methamphetamine Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, September 20, Soroush Moallef (Co-Author)
• Social Medicine Education towards Structural Transformation in Palestine, Social Science & Medicine, September 18, David Mills, Bram Wispelwey, Yara M. Asi, Osama Tanous, Weeam Hammoudeh (Co-Authors)
• Prolonged Boarding and Racial Discrimination and Dissatisfaction Among Emergency Department Patients, JAMA Network Open, September 16, Marie Plaisime, Bram Wispelwey (Co-Authors)
• Adaptation and psychometric assessment of a sexual and reproductive empowerment scale in Arabic among refugee and non-refugee adolescent girls, BMC Medical Research Methodology, September 12, Sawsan Abdulrahim (Co-Author)
• Visualizing Neighborhood COVID-19 Levels, Trends, and Inequities in Wastewater: An Equity-Centered Approach and Comparison to CDC Methods, Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, September 10, Tori L. Cowger, Soroush Moallef, Nancy Krieger, Mary T. Bassett (Co-Authors)
• Racial inequities in cesarean use among high- and low-risk deliveries: An analysis of childbirth hospitalizations in New Jersey from 2000 to 2015, Health Services Research, September 7, Alecia J. McGregor (Co-Author)
• Job strain and adverse pregnancy outcomes: A scoping review and meta-analysis, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, September 5, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)

August 2024

• Unbearable suffering: mental health consequences of the October 2023 Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip, BMJ Global Health, August 2024, Weeam Hammoudeh (Co-Author)
• Associations of Major Lifetime and Everyday Discrimination with Cognitive Function among Middle-Aged and Older Adults, Ethnicity and Disease, August 2024, David R. Williams (Co-Author)
• Methodological Approaches to Structural Change: Epidemiology and the Case for Reparations, American Journal of Epidemiology, August 31, Jourdyn A. Lawrence, Jaquelyn L. Jahn, Justin M. Feldman, Mary T. Bassett (Co-Authors)
• Pathways to Flourishing: The Roles of Self- and Divine Forgiveness in Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Stress and Substance Use among Adults in Trinidad and Tobago, Religions, August 30, David R. Williams (Co-Author)
• Gerrymandering and the Packing and Cracking of Medical Uninsurance Rates in the United States, Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, August 22, Nancy Krieger (Co-Author)
• Theorizing epidemiology, the stories bodies tell, and embodied truths: a status update on contending 21st c CE epidemiological theories of disease distribution, International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services, August 16, Nancy Krieger (Author)
• Navigating the Labyrinth of Pregnancy-Related Coverage for Undocumented Immigrants: An Assessment of Current State and Federal Policies, American Journal of Public Health, August 15, Margaret M. Sullivan (Co-Author)
• Implementation of Neighborhood-Level Wastewater-Based Epidemiology to Measure and Mitigate Inequities in SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Boston, Massachusetts, American Journal of Public Health, August 8, Tori L. Cowger (Co-Author)
• Rethinking and advancing the movement of resistance, activism, and advocacy in health in four central arenas of the Middle East Region, World Medical & Health Policy, 2024, Yara M. Asi (Co-Author)
• The Continued Significance of Obstetric Violence: A Response to Chervenak, McLeod-Sordjan, Pollet et al, Health Equity, August 7, Evelynn Hammonds (Co-Author)
• Child Migrants in Family Detention in the US: Addressing Fragmented Care, Children, August 5, Vasileia Digidiki, Dennis Kunichoff (Co-Authors)
• Assessing the Universality of Universal Health Coverage: Israel and the Occupation of Palestine, Palestine/Israel Review, August 2, Yara M. Asi (Co-Author)
• Pet Attachment and Anxiety and Depression in Middle-Aged and Older Women, JAMA Network Open, August 1, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)

July 2024

• Epigenetic Aging and Racialized, Economic, and Environmental Injustice: NIMHD Social Epigenomics Program, JAMA Network Open, July 29, Nancy Krieger (Co-Author)
• Public health and gun violence, The Lancet, July 27, Mary T. Bassett (Author)
• Trends in resource allocation for primary health care in rural China: Concentration curve and decomposition analysis, The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, July 25, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Spatial Accessibility and Uptake of Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccinations by Social Vulnerability, American Academy of Pediatrics, July 19, Rohan Khazanchi (Co-Author)
• Multiple chronic diseases and psychological distress among adults in the United States: the intersectionality of chronic diseases, race/ethnicity, immigration, sex, and insurance coverage, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, July 17, David R. Williams (Co-Author)
• Race as a Risk Marker, Not a Risk Factor: Revising Race-Based Algorithms to Protect Racially Oppressed Patients, Journal of General Internal Medicine, July 9, Marie V. Plaisime (Co-Author)
• Assessing the Quality of Cause-of-Death Reporting Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic, American Journal of Epidemiology, July 4, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• The role of positive emotion in harmful health behavior: Implications for theory and public health campaigns, PNAS, July 1, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)

June 2024

• Psychological and Social Suffering of Another Generation of Palestinian Children Living under Occupation: An Urgent Call to Advocate, Health and Human Rights Journal, June 2024, Sawsan Abdulrahim (Co-Author)
• Racism, Medicine, and NEJM since 1812 — The Historical Roots of Injustice in Medicine, Symposium, The New England Journal of Medicine, June 26, Evelynn Hammonds (Co-Author)
• Chronic loneliness and the risk of incident stroke in middle and late adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study of U.S. older adults, eClinicalMedicine, June 24, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Racism as a Threat to Palestinian Health Equity, Health Equity, Accepted April 10, Yara M. Asi, Bram Wispelwey, A. Kayum Ahmed (Co-Authors)
• Relations of optimism and purpose in life to immune markers in aging, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, June 22, David R. Williams (Co-Author)
• Health related quality of life amongst refugees: a meta analysis of studies using the SF-36, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 21 June, Rita Issa (Co-Author)
• Left ventricular ejection fraction: time to revise the metric?, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2024, June 20, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Heightened vigilance and its associations with suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among 285 Korean transgender and nonbinary adults: Effect modification by connectedness to the LGBTQ+ community, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, June 18, David R. Williams (Co-Author)
• The Locations of Palestine and the U.S. in the Global Map of Homelessness: Part 1, International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services, June 14, Osama Tanous (Co-Author)
• The Locations of Palestine and the U.S. in the Global Map of Homelessness: Part 2, International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services, June 11, Osama Tanous (Co-Author)
• Performance of ChatGPT and Google Translate for Pediatric Discharge Instruction Translation, Pediatrics, June 11, Rohan Khazanchi (Co-Author)
• Simplifying Oral health evaluation: a novel approach through single-item surveys, BMC Oral Health, June 7, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)
• Experience of Discrimination and Oral Health Self-Perception: A Cross-Sectional Study among Brazilian Adults, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, June 6, Ichiro Kawachi (Co-Author)

Watch FXB Director

Mary T. Bassett on RWJF's Unscripted series

In October 2024 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

hosted Unscripted: a series of candid conversations about the future of research. Six visionary thinkers, including FXB Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett, took the mic, paired up, and talked to each other one-on-one. Unscripted is for health equity leaders, researchers, students, activists, and anyone interested in challenging the research status quo to advance health equity. Catch up on conversations between leaders in open science, Indigenous data sovereignty, gender and science, human rights, environmental justice, and community power.

Podcast Launched by Dr. Brittney Francis: Higher Education with Dr. B Fran

Unlocking health equity is not just a goal—it's a necessity. In this insightful and powerful podcast, FXB Research Scientist Dr. Brittney Francis, PhD, MPH, dives deep into the complex web of structural determinants that fuel health disparities for marginalized communities. Join Dr. B Fran with leading experts, innovators, and change-makers as they explore the root causes of these inequities and share actionable strategies to break down barriers, empowering us all to create a more just and equitable health landscape. Whether you're a health professional, advocate, or simply passionate about making a difference, this pod class offers the knowledge and inspiration you need to help shape a healthier future for everyone. Listen and subscribe here.

New Initiative: Partnerships for Community Mental Health and

Immigrant Well-being

FXB Health and Human Rights Fellow Margaret (Maggie) Sullivan, FNP-BC, DrPH, FAAN, and Faculty Affiliate Jocelyn Chu, MPH, ScD, have joined forces to embark on a project that aims to examine the mental health care landscape in Massachusetts and learn from immigrant-led, culturally rooted, community-based approaches to mental health and holistic well-being. Read more about the launch of this initiative here.

Photo of Maggie Sullivan and Jocelyn Chu: Kent Dayton / Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

November 2024

• Resilience in Action: Empowering India’s Informal Workers Through Crisis and Adaptation (Satchit Balsari interviewed, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Social Impact Review, November 26, 2024)
• Fostering resilience in the face of adversity (David Williams, Brittney Francis quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, November 14, 2024)
• Conservative policies could harm Americans’ health (Nancy Krieger quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024, November 14, 2024)
• Why the Trump administration will be bad for Americans’ health (Nancy Krieger quoted, The Guardian, November 12, 2024)
• Oppose war in honor of service members (FXB Center mentioned, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 9, 2024)

October 2024

• Addressing the U.S. maternal mortality crisis (Alecia McGregor quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, October 31, 2024)
• Amid Hurricane Milton’s devastation, a sliver of good news (Satchit Balsari quoted, The Harvard Gazette, October 29, 2024)
• Pentagon launches audit of ‘Israel’s’ management of US weaponry (FXB Center mentioned, Al Mayadeen English, October 25, 2024)
• Local government actions can curb air pollution in India and Pakistan (Satchit Balsari co-authored, Nature, October 23, 2024)
• DEI backlash affecting research focused on racism and health (David Williams quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024, October 23, 2024)
• Strikes near Gaza hospitals using MK-84 bomb indicate war crime: Study (FXB Center mentioned, Al Mayadeen English, October 23, 2024)
• Measuring anti-Romani discrimination in Canada (Roma Program report overview, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024, October 23, 2024)
• US-made MK-84 bombs in Gaza may prove humanitarian law violations: Harvard study (Dennis Kunichoff quoted, Anadolu Agency, October 23, 2024)
• Two years after its launch, Harvard, Americares release updated climate toolkit (Caleb Dresser quoted, Healthcare Brew, October 21, 2024)
• Podcast explores what drives health disparities (Brittney Francis quoted, Tori Cowger mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024, October 16, 2024)
• Joseph Amon, Epidemiologist and Human Rights Activist, Named Director of Bloomberg School’s Center for Public Health and Human Rights (Joseph Amon, FXB Center mentioned, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health News, October 15, 2024)
• El ejército israelí no respetó la protección especial de los hospitales al bombardear Gaza (FXB Center mentioned, ethic, October 15, 2024)
• Hurricane Milton’s floodwaters are hiding a dirty secret (Catharina Giudice quoted, San Bernardino Sun, October 14, 2024)
• El ejercito israelí no respetó la protección especial de los hospitales al bombardear Gaza (FXB Center mentioned, infoLibre, October 14, 2024)
• El ejercito israelí no respetó la protección especial de los hospitales al bombardear Gaza (FXB Center mentioned, Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas – SINC, October 14, 2024)
• El ejercito israelí no respetó la protección especial de los hospitales al bombardear Gaza (FXB Center mentioned, La Sexta, October 14, 2024)
• Hurricane Milton’s Floodwaters Are Hiding a Dirty Secret (Catharina Giudice quoted, BNN Bloomberg, October 12, 2024)
• Racism was called a health threat. Then came the DEI backlash. (David Williams quoted, The Washington Post, October 11, 2024)
• Inside the Partnership Between Harvard Researchers and a Palestinian University (Yara Asi, Bram Wispelwey quoted, The Harvard Crimson, October 11, 2024)
• Republicans Are Hazardous to Your Health (Nancy Krieger quoted, The Nation, October 10, 2024)
• A study analyzes the proximity of bombs detonated by the Israeli army to hospitals in the Gaza Strip (FXB Center mentioned, Science Media Centre Spain, October 10, 2024)
• Satellite Reveals Bombs Near Gaza Hospitals in 2023 (FXB Center mentioned, Mirage News, October 10, 2024)
• Israeli military dropped 2,000-pound bombs in “dangerous proximities” to nearly all hospitals in Gaza, study finds (Dennis Kunichoff quoted, CNN World, October 9, 2024)
• Satellite data shows massive bombs dropped in dangerous proximity to Gaza Strip hospitals in 2023 (FXB Center mentioned, EurekAlert!, October 9, 2024)
• Satellite data show massive bombs dropped in dangerous proximity to Gaza Strip hospitals in 2023 (FXB Center mentioned, Phys.org, October 9, 2024)
• Study Reveals Israeli Military Dropped 2,000-Pound Bombs Near Gaza Hospitals (FXB Center mentioned, inkl, October 9, 2024)
• Climate resilience focus at Alumni Weekend 2024 (Caleb Dresser, Gaurab Basu mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, October 9, 2024)
• School mask mandate study highlights challenges of using observational data to study effects of public health interventions (Tori Cowger quoted, ScienceNews Net, October 7, 2024)
• Polio in Gaza: Experts explain the outbreak and the public health response (Mary T. Bassett quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, October 3, 2024)
• Dangerous rescue: Helene nearly turned a hospital into a death trap (Caleb Dresser quoted, E&E News by POLITICO, October 2, 2024)
• Neighborhood Violence Is Linked to Using More Acute Care and Unmet Preventive and Mental Health Care Needs (Rohan Khazanchi quoted, UPenn Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Health Care Access & Coverage Blog Post, October 2, 2024)
• Carney should reopen as a full-service hospital, (Alecia McGregor authored, Commonwealth Beacon, October 2, 2024)

September 2024

• Announcing the Founding Faculty Affiliates of the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program (Jacqueline Bhabha, Evelynn Hammonds mentioned, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Research, September 28, 2024)
• Improving COVID-19 wastewater surveillance to ensure equity (Tori Cowger, Ruchita Balasubramanian, Soroush Moallef, Mary T. Bassett, Nancy Krieger mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024, September 20, 2024)
• Extreme temperatures may contribute to thousands of additional deaths in the US (Gaurab Basu quoted, ABC News, September 20, 2024)
• N.Y. can ease child poverty: Two former health commissioners lay out a plan (Mary T. Bassett co-authored, New York Daily News, September 15, 2024)
• Loneliness is hurting our health, but these policies could help (Ichiro Kawachi quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, September 12, 2024)
• Harvard Public Health School Launches New Climate Change and Planetary Health Concentration (Gaurab Basu quoted, The Harvard Crimson, September 12, 2024)
• Children in Gaza will be protected from polio but not Israel’s airstrikes (Yara M. Asi authored, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), September 6, 2024)
• Climate change and planetary health concentration launches (Gaurab Basu quoted, Caleb Dresser mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, September 4, 2024)
• After a summer like this, are Calgarians ready for fall? (Tess Wiskel quoted, CBC News, September 2, 2024)

August 2024

• Heat-related deaths spiked 117% in the US since 1999 (Catharina Giudice quoted,Yahoo!News, August 26, 2024)
• U.S. sees a significant surge of 117% in heat-related fatalities since 1999 (Catharina Giudice quoted, Aussiedlerboten, August 26, 2024)
• Heat-related deaths spiked 117% in the US since 1999 (Catharina Giudice quoted, KETV, August 26, 2024)
• Racial, economic injustice may accelerate epigenetic aging (Nancy Krieger interviewed, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, August 26, 2024)
• Medical Schools Are Updating Their Curricula as Climate Change Becomes Impossible to Ignore (Gaurab Basu quoted, JAMA Medical News & Perspectives, August 16, 2024)
• Beyond the Battlefield, War Is a Public Health Crisis (Yara M. Asi authored, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), August 14, 2024)
• Want to cool down? 14 ideas to try (Tess Wiskel quoted, Harvard Health, August 9, 2024)
• As eviction deadline looms, housing advocates urge Healey to reverse five-day shelter policy (Lara Jirmanus quoted, GBH News, August 8, 2024)

July 2024

• If it feels too hot to run, maybe it is (Catharina Giudice quoted, The Harvard Gazette, July 30, 2024)
• At climate summit, students from around the world focus on action (Caleb Dresser, Gaurab Basu mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, July 29, 2024)
• Health and Human Rights Journal commemorates 30 years (FXB Center mentioned, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Featured News Stories 2024, July 26, 2024)
• NYC Neighborhood Health Action Centers support Black maternal health (Mary T. Bassett quoted, Amsterdam News, July 25, 2024)
• Understanding the Real Toll of Israel’s Assault on Gaza (Yara M. Asi authored, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), July 24, 2024)
• Our policies punish pregnant people for getting treatment for addiction. It doesn’t have to be this way (Rohan Khazanchi co-authored, WBUR Cognoscenti, July 23, 2024)
• Lower COVID vaccine uptake tied to unequal access to vaccination sites (Rohan Khazanchi’is study quoted, CIDRAP, July 19, 2024)
• Water War Crimes: How Israel has weaponised water in its military campaign in Gaza (Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights Conflict and Health article “Nowhere and no one is safe” cited, Oxfam Briefing Paper, July 18)
• Tackling the climate crisis: Local solutions for a global problem (Satchit Balsari mentioned, The Harvard Gazette, July 16, 2024)
• Webinar: The destruction of healthcare in Gaza and the scientific assessment of settler colonial violence (Bram Wispelwey, Dennis Kunichoff, Sawsan Abdulrahim, A. Kayum Ahmed mentioned, Mondoweiss, July 14, 2024)

June 2024

• 3 Policy Approaches To Tackle Extreme Heat (Caleb Dresser quoted, Forbes, June 29, 2024)
• Displacement Is the Point: Contextualizing Israel’s Decades of Violence and Destruction in Gaza and the West Bank (Yara M. Asi authored, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Peace, June 27, 2024)
• We asked, you answered: The first presidential debate of 2024 (Lara Jirmanus quoted, WBUR, June 27, 2024)
• The 42 best books and podcasts on health and science to check out this summer (Gaurab Basu quoted, STAT News, June 25, 2024)
• First, understand that this is no ordinary heatwave (Satchit Balsari co-authored, The Indian Express, June 23, 2024)
• Melting? Fossil Fuels Have Made Extreme Heat 35 Times More Likely in North America (Catharina Giudice quoted, Mother Jones, June 22, 2024)
• Thunderstorms drench Boston as heat wave kicks summer into gear (Caleb Dresser quoted, 7 News WHDH, June 20, 2024)
• How to tell if you are dehydrated in the extreme heat (Gaurab Basu quoted, The Boston Globe, June 19, 2024)
• Extreme heat and the danger to your health (Gaurab Basu quoted, ABC News, June 18, 2024)
• Preparations underway as New England braces for possible heat wave (Caleb Dresser quoted, 7 News WHDH, June 17, 2024)
• As high temps loom in Massachusetts, schools close, cities set up cooling centers (Caleb Dresser quoted, CBS News, June 17, 2024)
• Saint Levant’s Memories of Gaza (FXB Center referenced, Paper, June 13, 2024)
• Everyone you know will eventually be highly vulnerable to extreme heat (Catharina Giudice quoted, The Japan Times, June 7, 2024)
• Commentary: Maternal, infant health must be prioritized amid climate change (Caleb Dresser quoted, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In the News 2024 , June 6, 2024)

The François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB Center) at Harvard is the world’s first University-based center dedicated to the inextricable link between health and human rights. François-Xavier, son of the Center’s founder Albina du Boisrouvray, tragically lost his life while on a helicopter rescue mission in 1986. Endowing the Center in 1993 with the support of the FXB Foundation, Albina sought to perpetuate the values, generosity, and compassion that motivated François-Xavier, who strove especially to protect children. The FXB Center, which is University-wide, employs interdisciplinary approaches to such complex problems as poverty, forced migration, climate disruption, oppression, racism, bigotry, discrimination, and inequity.