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public health: Quick Facts

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News •

How Many Measles Cases Are in the U.S.? A 35-Year High Puts Elimination Status at Risk • Nov. 12, 2026, 2:20 PM ET (U.S. News & World Report)
Countries failing air quality targets could save 9 million lives • Nov. 10, 2026, 1:16 AM ET (Euronews)
A 'canary in the coal mine': Measles resurgence exposes weaknesses in U.S. public health, experts say • Oct. 27, 2026, 7:00 AM ET (CNBC)
City smallpox facility cared for neediest patients • Oct. 24, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (San Antonio Express-News)
Kennedy Pledged to Advance Anti-Vaccine Group’s Agenda. Here’s What He Is Doing. • Oct. 16, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (New York Times)

Photos

Polio vaccine
Kabul: Ministry of Public Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hippocrates
Medieval illustration of Brotherhood of the Cross flagellants in robes and pointed hats walking in procession, some carrying a crucifix and banners, during the Black Death.
Painting by Albert Edelfelt showing Louis Pasteur in his laboratory, holding a glass flask and examining it intently, surrounded by scientific equipment on a workbench.
Poster with headline reading Save the Babies, promoting pasteurized milk and listing prices, in both English and German, from Chicago Commons, Chicago, 1902.
Ebola virus disease; hand washing
Infographic comparing the maximum basic reproduction numbers (R0) of various contagious diseases, using diagrams of a red contagious person spreading infection to multiple blue figures, with R0 values increasing from 2 for Ebola and influenza up to 18 for measles.
Poster in Italian with the headline Latte Puro pei Bambini, providing information about obtaining pasteurized milk for children, with addresses for Chicago settlement houses listed below.
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Key People

Fidel Castro stands at a row of microphones, wearing a military jacket and looking at the camera during his 1959 visit to Washington, DC.
Fidel Castro
political leader of Cuba
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli
prime minister of United Kingdom
Abdul El-Sayed stands at a podium with a sign reading Fight Oligarchy, smiling and clapping while speaking at an event. An American flag is visible in the background.
Abdul El-Sayed
American epidemiologist and politician
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Peter Piot
Belgian microbiologist
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Paul Farmer
American anthropologist and epidemiologist
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James Miranda Barry
Irish doctor
Margaret Chan, 2016
Margaret Chan
Chinese civil servant
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Cecil G. Sheps
Canadian-born physician, researcher, and educator
Sara Josephine Baker.
Sara Josephine Baker
American physician
David Satcher
David Satcher
American physician
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wearing a suit and glasses, speaks into a microphone while gesturing with his hand at an event.
Tedros Adhanom
Ethiopian biologist and public health official
Jim Yong Kim
Jim Yong Kim
American physician and anthropologist
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Sheela Basrur
Canadian physician and government official
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Nawal El Saadawi
Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, and author
Joycelyn Elders
Joycelyn Elders
American physician and government official
Florence Sabin, c. 1915.
Florence Rena Sabin
American anatomist
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Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara
military ruler, Niger
John Howard
John Howard
British philanthropist and social reformer
Portrait of Colonel John Shaw Billings, M.D.
John Shaw Billings
American surgeon and librarian
1st Viscount Cross, detail of a portrait by Sir Hubert Von Herkomer, 1882; in the National Portrait Gallery, London
Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross
British statesman