Maternal mortality remains a challenge in global health, with well-known disparities across countries. However, less is known about disparities in maternal health by subgroups within countries. The aim of this study is to estimate maternal health indicators for subgroups of women within each country.

Electric school buses have been proposed as an alternative to reduce the health and climate impacts of the current U.S. school bus fleet, of which a substantial share are highly polluting old diesel vehicles. However, the climate and health benefits of electric school buses are not well known. As they are substantially more costly than diesel buses, assessing their benefits is needed to inform policy decisions. We assess the health benefits of electric school buses in the United States from reduced adult mortality and childhood asthma onset risks due to exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM). We also evaluate climate benefits from reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. We find that replacing the average diesel bus in the U.S. fleet in 2017 with an electric bus yields $84,200 in total benefits. Climate benefits amount to $40,400/bus, whereas health benefits amount to $43,800/bus due to 4.42*10 fewer PM-attributable deaths ($40,000 of total) and 7.42*10 fewer PM-attributable new childhood asthma cases ($3,700 of total). However, health benefits of electric buses vary substantially by driving location and model year (MY) of the diesel buses they replace. Replacing old, MY 2005 diesel buses in large cities yields $207,200/bus in health benefits and is likely cost-beneficial, although other policies that accelerate fleet turnover in these areas deserve consideration. Electric school buses driven in rural areas achieve small health benefits from reduced exposure to ambient PM. Further research assessing benefits of reduced exposure to in-cabin air pollution among children riding buses would be valuable to inform policy decisions.

Tuberculosis (TB) causes over 1 million deaths annually. Providing effective treatment is a key strategy for reducing TB deaths. In this study, we identified factors associated with unsuccessful treatment outcomes among individuals treated for TB in Brazil.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes an estimated 5.2 million outpatient visits for pharyngitis annually in the United States (U.S.) with incidence peaking in winter, but the annual spatiotemporal pattern of GAS pharyngitis across the U.S. is poorly characterized.