Earlier this week, a new study in Nature found that people’s brains aged faster during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether or not they reported infections. People who were infected showed reduced cognitive skills. Those findings suggest that increased stress could be behind brain aging and add to a growing list of long-COVID symptoms.
Yet chronic conditions stemming from infections are not new. To lead this week’s edition, medical anthropologist Emily Mendenhall and journalist Philip Finkelstein describe the history of postviral illness, recounting events from ancient Greece to the present day. The authors remind readers that “the lessons of the past serve those still living rather than remain buried beneath all the bodies.”
Next, TGH showcases a pair of articles about water disputes in South Asia. Bangladesh’s Senior Assistant Secretary for Global Health Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zakaria Bin Amjad proposes a planetary makeover of the Ganges Water Treaty between his country and India to strengthen regional health security and ensure both nations are on track to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Next, Cleveland State University’s Neda Zawahri and Melissa McCracken from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy illustrate how India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty has the potential to worsen Pakistan’s domestic water shortage, contribute to the spread of waterborne disease, damage Pakistan’s economy, and deteriorate geopolitical relations between the states.
To wrap up, Johns Hopkins University graduate student Nabilah Kusuma Wardhani outlines how Indonesia’s move to the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) can strengthen alliances, namely with Papua New Guinea, to eliminate malaria.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
