Global Public HealthInside Healthbeat

New from Healthbeat: Global Health Checkup will bring context to news from around the world

By 
Charlene Pacenti
 | September 25, 2025, 8:00pm UTC
A group of flags fly outside the United Nations.
Healthbeat's new Global Health Checkup will keep tabs on what’s happening on the ground abroad, informed by reporting from other local outlets, a perspective that is often missing from the conversation. (Getty Images)

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s Global Health Checkup in your inbox a day early.

Hello, Healthbeat readers.

Today, we are expanding our reporting, zooming out a bit more intentionally to provide more context to the story of global public health at this time of great upheaval.

A portrait of William Herkewitz in front of a bookshelf.
William Herkewitz, a journalist and former communications director at USAID, is Healthbeat's global health writer. (Laura Mulkerne Photography)

The Trump administration’s decimation of American aid to foreign countries is a developing story that will have vast consequences. Our new Global Health Checkup will keep tabs on what’s happening on the ground abroad, informed by reporting from other local outlets, a perspective that is often missing from the conversation.

The weekly report will also bring context to a broader scope of news around global public health, to show how it’s all connected - and what it means for Americans.

Related
Healthbeat’s 1st year: Explaining public health in chaotic times

We’re thrilled to have William Herkewitz to anchor this reporting. William has over 10 years of experience in science, health, and policy journalism. From 2016 to 2025, he also served as the head of communications at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s country offices in Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Kenya. He is based in Nairobi.

William’s experience gives him a keen grasp of the global public health landscape and how to tell that story in a way that Americans will hear it. That’s what Healthbeat is all about, and we’re excited to add this layer of context for our readers.

We’re launching the Global Health Checkup this week here at Healthbeat.org. It will soon become a newsletter, too. If you’d like to get it in your inbox a day early, sign up here.

Thanks for reading.

Charlene Pacenti

Editor in Chief

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