Cuba's health system has enabled remarkable population health achievements despite resource limitations. This analysis explores Cuba's model to discern insights for healthcare reform in developing nations seeking to enhance access and equity. A scoping review was conducted to synthesize existing literature on Cuba's health system post-1959 revolution. Policy documents were analyzed to trace systemic reforms. Quantitative data was examined to assess health indicators over time. Following the revolution, Cuba constitutionally entrenched healthcare as a universal right and implemented extensive reforms to promote equity. Strategic emphasis on prevention-oriented community-based primary care, medical education expansion, and building domestic biomedical capabilities enabled major gains, as evidenced by indicators like infant mortality rate declining from 46 to 4.3/1000 live births between 1960 and 2016. However, contemporary challenges remain around demographic shifts, infrastructure, and financing sustainability. Cuba's model demonstrates that with political commitment to health equity and strategic investments in public systems, remarkable improvements are feasible even with constrained resources. Components like equitable access, robust primary care, localized innovation, and social medicine principles remain relevant for developing countries seeking pro-poor reforms. However, adaptations are required based on specific contexts.

BACKGROUND: As part of COVID-19 mitigation strategies, emergency nutrition program adaptations were implemented, but evidence of the effects is limited. Compared to the standard protocol, the full adapted protocol included adapted admissions criteria, simplified dosing, and reduced visit frequency; partially adapted protocols consisting of only some of these modifications were also implemented. To enable evidence-based nutrition program modifications as the context evolved, this study was conducted to characterize how protocol adaptations in South Sudan affected Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Program outcomes. METHODS: A mixed methods approach consisting of secondary analysis of individual-level nutrition program data and key informant interviews was used. Analyses focused on program implementation and severe acute malnutrition treatment outcomes under the standard, full COVID-19 adapted, and partially adapted treatment protocols from 2019 through 2021. Analyses compared characteristics and outcomes by different admission types under the standard protocol and across four different treatment protocols. Regression models evaluated the odds of recovery and mean length of stay (LoS) under the four protocols. RESULTS: Very few (1.6%; n = 156) children admitted based on low weight-for-height alone under the standard protocol would not have been eligible for admission under the adapted protocol. Compared to the full standard protocol, the partially adapted (admission only) and partially adapted (admission and dosing) protocols had lower LoS of 28.4 days (CI - 30.2, - 26.5) and 5.1 days (CI - 6.2, - 4.0); the full adapted protocol had a decrease of 3.0 (CI - 5.1, - 1.0) days. All adapted protocols had significantly increased adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for recovery compared to the full standard protocol: partially adapted (admission only) AOR = 2.56 (CI 2.18-3.01); partially adapted (admission + dosing) AOR = 1.78 (CI 1.45-2.19); and fully adapted protocol AOR = 2.41 (CI 1.69-3.45). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that few children were excluded when weight-for-height criteria were suspended. LoS was shortest when only MUAC was used for entry/exit but dosing and visit frequency were unchanged. Significantly shorter LoS with simplified dosing and visit frequency vs. under the standard protocol indicate that protocol adaptations may lead to shorter recovery and program enrollment times. Findings also suggest that good recovery is achievable with reduced visit frequency and simplified dosing.

INTRODUCTION: Congenital syphilis cases in the United States increased 755% during 2012-2021. Syphilis during pregnancy can lead to stillbirth, miscarriage, infant death, and maternal and infant morbidity; these outcomes can be prevented through appropriate screening and treatment. METHODS: A cascading framework was used to identify and classify missed opportunities to prevent congenital syphilis among cases reported to CDC in 2022 through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Data on testing and treatment during pregnancy and clinical manifestations present in the newborn were used to identify missed opportunities to prevent congenital syphilis. RESULTS: In 2022, a total of 3,761 cases of congenital syphilis in the United States were reported to CDC, including 231 (6%) stillbirths and 51 (1%) infant deaths. Lack of timely testing and adequate treatment during pregnancy contributed to 88% of cases of congenital syphilis. Testing and treatment gaps were present in the majority of cases across all races, ethnicities, and U.S. Census Bureau regions. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE: Addressing missed opportunities for prevention, primarily timely testing and appropriate treatment of syphilis during pregnancy, is important for reversing congenital syphilis trends in the United States. Implementing tailored strategies addressing missed opportunities at the local and national levels could substantially reduce congenital syphilis.

In 2019, more than half of the United States reported increases of both syphilis among females of reproductive ages and congenital syphilis (CS), with 49 states reporting at least 1 CS case, totaling 1870 cases. From 2013 to 2019, CS cases quadrupled in the United States.1–3 New York State (NYS) syphilis morbidity mirrors a similar trend, with CS cases more than doubling from 2013 to 2019. Although successful prevention of CS requires systemic changes to health and public health infrastructures, one route to identify best practices is to seek areas with a documented high CS aversion rate (the number of pregnancies in which syphilis is diagnosed minus reported CS cases out of the total pregnancies in which syphilis is diagnosed).4 In 2019, the primary and secondary syphilis (PnS) rate in NYS, excluding NY City, was 8.4 per 100,000 residents, an increase of 48.4% from 2013. Monroe County (MC), in western NY, had the highest PnS rate in NYS, excluding NY City in 2019 (28.3 per 100,000 residents).2 Despite the highest PnS rates, MC has documented successive years with a high CS aversion rate. Since 2012, MC has experienced a 1364% increase in PnS diagnoses and reported 1 CS case, averting 94.7% of cases from 2012 to 2019. The CS aversion rate for the rest of the state for the same period was 81.9% (P = 0.15). To better explain and explore successes realized in MC's CS prevention efforts, we summarized activities into 2 practices: (1) increased client-centered syphilis screening among disproportionately impacted communities and (2) enhanced integration of sexual health clinic and public health programming. This article describes activities implemented without evaluating the effectiveness of each policy and practice. To complement the best practices provided hereinafter, we created a visual guide summarizing how community stakeholders can coordinate to implement and use the best practices (Fig. 1).

This evaluation describes an increase in reported drug-related risk behaviors (DRRBs) among females who are diagnosed with early syphilis over a 5-year span in New York State, excluding New York City. Integrating sexually transmitted infection prevention efforts with harm reduction services may help decrease syphilis rates in areas where DRRBs rates are high.

Insect saliva induces significant antibody responses associated with the intensity of exposure to bites and the risk of disease in humans. Several salivary biomarkers have been characterized to determine exposure intensity to Old World Anopheles mosquito species. However, new tools are needed to quantify the intensity of human exposure to Anopheles bites and understand the risk of malaria in low-transmission areas in the Americas. To address this need, we conducted proteomic and bioinformatic analyses of immunogenic candidate proteins present in the saliva of uninfected Anopheles albimanus from two separate colonies-one originating from Central America (STECLA strain) and one originating from South America (Cartagena strain). A ~65 kDa band was identified by IgG antibodies in serum samples from healthy volunteers living in a malaria endemic area in Colombia, and a total of five peptides were designed from the sequences of two immunogenic candidate proteins that were shared by both strains. ELISA-based testing of human IgG antibody levels against the peptides revealed that the transferrin-derived peptides, TRANS-P1, TRANS-P2 and a salivary peroxidase peptide (PEROX-P3) were able to distinguish between malaria-infected and uninfected groups. Interestingly, IgG antibody levels against PEROX-P3 were significantly lower in people that have never experienced malaria, suggesting that it may be a good marker for mosquito bite exposure in naive populations such as travelers and deployed military personnel. In addition, the strength of the differences in the IgG levels against the peptides varied according to location, suggesting that the peptides may able to detect differences in intensities of bite exposure according to the mosquito population density. Thus, the An. albimanus salivary peptides TRANS-P1, TRANS-P2, and PEROX-P3 are promising biomarkers that could be exploited in a quantitative immunoassay for determination of human-vector contact and calculation of disease risk.