Stephanie Nolen

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating TB. Isolating tuberculosis patients is an outdated and potentially harmful practice, but poor countries lack the resources to move away from it, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h... via @nytimes.com

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

And somehow that seems not be an unlocked link so here we go, one last time – accessible to anyone who wants to read about TB! www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

This model of TB care was abandoned in much of the rest of the world 60 yrs ago. Science says it's a bad idea. But it takes both resources and political will to change health systems, and TB, unfortunately, gets too little of either. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

Reporting in northern Cameroon, I noticed a few people sitting at the back of a hospital compound. They had drug-resistant TB. They weren't there to get meds or see a doctor: they LIVE there. For months. In isolation. That's government policy. Sanitarium throwback. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

"Because TB is a disease of the poorest people in the poorest places, the systems to diagnose and care for them remain antiquated"

@stephanienolen.bsky.social reports on the ground realities from Cameroon

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa. Parasites and infections that cause blindness and other disabilities were nearly eliminated in some countries, but U.S. cuts to aid programs have stifled progress, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social . www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/h... via @nytimes.com

Reporting this story in Cameroon, I met people who were blind because larval worms died in their eyeballs: NTDs cause immense suffering and disability.
But they're preventable! And treatable! And eliminatable!

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear

U.S. tax dollars backed the effort to wipe out neglected tropical diseases for 20 yrs. Many countries eliminated 1 disease, and were tantalizingly close on others. Then the U.S. walked away – jeopardizing all that investment, with diseases poised to come roaring back www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/h...

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89

If you're feeling like you would like to be reminded of the good things humans are capable of – read this edge-of-your-seat obituary for the legendary Dr Bill Foege + his effort to wipe out smallpox and see every child immunized against infectious diseases www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

Kennedy Plan to Test a Vaccine in West African Babies Is Blocked

NEWS: An outcry from ethicists has prompted the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau to block RFK Jr's plan for a study that would have withheld Hep B vaccines from infants. Critics called it a modern Tuskegee. @stephanienolen.bsky.social @by-cjewett.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/h...

I was telling one of my kids that it was physically impossible for an ad to play between songs on any of the records I own, and they asked "and you only have to pay for it once?" and you could see how strange that seemed. You cannot overstate how many basic rules of media consumption have changed.

U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments

The United States is signing new bilateral agreements for health funding (replacing USAID) with developing country governments. They come with conditions -- and controversy. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/h...

U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments

U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties it to Funding Pledges by African Governments by the inimitable @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/h...

Aldrich Ames, C.I.A. Turncoat Who Helped the Soviets, Dies at 84

A great obituary is such a pleasure. This one, by @tim-weiner.bsky.social, is a brisk retelling of a shocking life, full of great writing www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

“When the Trump administration slashed foreign aid, it gutted a program that had reduced malaria deaths world wide.

In northern Cameroon, health workers tried to protect children in one last rainy season.”

Claire Brosseau Wants to Die. Will Canada Let Her?

Required reading for anyone curious about Canada's wrestling match over the right to help in dying. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/h... via @stephanienolen.bsky.social

Claire Brosseau Wants to Die. Will Canada Let Her?

An extraordinary story of one woman's quest to die, told with such care by @stephanienolen.bsky.social. Vivid, compassionate, precise.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/h...

ah, thanks Liz

How Cameroon Fought to Save Its Malaria Program After the U.S. Cut Critical Funding

How Cameroon Fought to Save Its Malaria Program After the U.S. Cut Critical Fund

By @stephanienolen.bsky.social Photographs by Arlette Bashizi

Gift link!

How Cameroon Fought to Save Its Malaria Program After the U.S. Cut Critical Funding

Eight years ago, the US govt's malaria program took over the fight against the disease in northern Cameroon, one of the worst-affected places in the world, and went at it with all guns blazing. In March, it shut down overnight. I traveled there to see what came next. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...

After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death “Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.

Grim reporting from @propublica.org about starvation in one of the world's largest refugee camps and how newly-appointed U.S. officials discussed it uninterestedly over fancy dinner in Nairobi after cutting off aid. www.propublica.org/article/keny...

Who Should Be Allowed a Medically Assisted Death? More and more countries are legalizing medically assisted death. But even as the concept gains acceptance, there are difficult, unresolved questions about who should be eligible.

Who should be able to get help dying? www.nytimes.com/interactive/... via @stephanienolen.bsky.social

Who Should Be Allowed a Medically Assisted Death? More and more countries are legalizing medically assisted death. But even as the concept gains acceptance, there are difficult, unresolved questions about who should be eligible.

Should You Be Able to Ask a Doctor to Help You Die? More and more countries are legalizing medically assisted death. But, as the concept gains acceptance, there are difficult questions about who should be eligible, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/... @nytimes.com #MAiD

We Bought a 450-Pound Mystery Pallet Packed With Returned Goods From Amazon and Beyond. Here’s What We Found Inside. Pallets of overstock, returned, and undelivered-mail packages are an indicator of just how much stuff there is in the retail ecosystem.

Every wonder what happened to the leggings or candle or lemon squeezer you returned to Amazon or wherever? (You probably didn't wonder, actually). The good folks at Wirecutter did the deep dive on finding out www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...

Strain of bird flu virus never before reported in people is behind first human case in US in nine months | CNN A Washington resident has been hospitalized with bird flu, according to the Washington State Health Department, and they’re infected with a strain of the virus that hasn’t been seen in humans before.

www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/h...

Ethiopia confirms first Marburg outbreak as WHO lauds country's fast action Ethiopia has confirmed its first Marburg outbreak after nine cases were identified in the southern region of the country that borders South Sudan.

The suspected outbreak of a hemorrhagic vial illness in Ethiopia has now been confirmed to Marburg Virus Disease. So far 9 cases have been identified in a part of the country that shares a border with Sudan.
apnews.com/article/ethi...

Ethiopia reports suspected viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak Health authorities in Ethiopia are carrying out further investigations and ramping up response after suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever were reported in the country’s South Ethiopia Region.

"Ethiopia reports suspected viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak"
www.afro.who.int/news/ethiopi...

... got myself a measles booster recently because I'm often surrounded by babies with measles eg. on my recent reporting trip to Somalia. But apparently also need to be worried about storytime at my local library back home ...

Why Drugs Like Ozempic Can Make People Drink Less Alcohol A small study helps explain why some people taking Wegovy and similar weight-loss drugs cut back on alcohol, offering insight into potential new addiction therapies

A small study helps explain why some people taking Wegovy and similar weight-loss drugs cut back on alcohol, offering insight into potential new addiction therapies