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- Did Haiti Achieve the World's Best COVID Outcome?
Did Haiti Achieve the World's Best COVID Outcome?
How One of the 'Weakest' Health Systems in the Western Hemisphere Beat COVID
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A Message from Dr. McMillan
Credentials alone are not enough. The pandemic taught us that real expertise is proven through outcomes - not titles, funding, or institutional prestige.
Haiti is a powerful example. With minimal resources and only 2.7% of the population vaccinated, the country achieved one of the lowest recorded COVID-19 death rates globally. This was not an accident, but rather it was the result of on-the-ground medical leadership, early action, and effective public health strategies.
Those who truly saved lives during the pandemic deserve more than praise. They deserve recognition, respect, and greater responsibility in shaping the future of global health.
This is outcome-based medicine, and it’s time we take it seriously.
Dr. Philip McMillan
In this week's May 30, 2025 update:
COVID-19: Haiti: the world's best COVID outcome?
Vejon: This week’s featured Vejon video
Health: US excess deaths continue to rise
Infographic: Why Haiti?
News: Medical news in brief
Education: McMillan - Masterclass Live
Read time: 6 minutes
FEATURE ARTICLE
COVID-19
Early response and real-time surveillance helped Haiti act decisively before COVID-19 reached its borders.
Young population and outdoor lifestyle reduced vulnerability to severe COVID compared to aging, indoor populations in wealthier nations.
Chronic exposure to diverse pathogens may have built broad immune resilience, possibly through cross-reactive T cell memory.
Low trust in foreign interventions led to minimal vaccination, yet outcomes were better than in highly vaccinated countries: just 7 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 300 per 100,000 in the USA.
Why this is important: Haiti’s COVID outcome challenges global assumptions about what drives pandemic success, revealing that local context, immunity patterns, and decentralized preparedness can outperform conventional strategies. Humility in global health policy and a shift toward studying overlooked successes instead of enforcing one-size-fits-all interventions may lead to better pandemic outcomes.
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RESEARCH
1.5 million U.S. deaths in 2022–2023 could have been avoided with peer-country mortality rates.
Since 1980, America has recorded 14.7 million excess deaths compared to other wealthy nations.
Nearly half of U.S. deaths under age 65 were preventable based on international age-specific death rates.
Root causes include policy failure on overdoses, gun violence, traffic deaths, and chronic disease management.
Why this is important: Millions of American deaths were not inevitable; they were policy-driven and preventable. This crisis reveals a persistent national failure to match global health standards, especially for younger adults. Recognizing excess mortality as systemic, not incidental, reframes public health as a political choice with life-or-death consequences and demands urgent structural reform.
INFOGRAPHIC
EDUCATION
Masterclass Live
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Masterclass Live is for you!
Join the live Masterclass sessions twice each month with priority Q&A access. Led by Dr McMillan, these cover a broad range of health and wellness topics. Also get unlimited access to the full library of recorded Masterclass sessions.
MEDICAL NEWS IN BRIEF
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
🚥 Could a Common Parasite Be Undermining Male Fertility Worldwide? Male infertility is rising worldwide, and this research introduces a plausible biological contributor: Toxoplasma gondii, which directly harms sperm. Its stealth, persistence, and global prevalence make it an urgent but overlooked reproductive health concern, especially given its silent lifelong residency in up to half the population.
🚥 Targeting the Epipharynx: A New Approach to Treating Long COVID at Its Inflammatory Source: Long COVID may be driven by persistent viral RNA hidden in the epipharynx, actively triggering immune responses. Targeting this overlooked site with localized therapy not only reduces inflammation but offers a promising pathway toward lasting recovery - shifting focus from symptom management to addressing a root cause of the condition. [SOURCE]
🚥 The Anatomy of a Smile: How Our Eyes Reveal True Emotion:
Smiles reveal more than mood; they expose intent. Our brains instinctively read eye-muscle cues to detect sincerity, shaping trust, social bonds, and even workplace well-being. Understanding the anatomy behind authentic versus artificial smiles sheds light on emotional labor, deception detection, and the limits of mimicked expression in humans and machines alike.
🚥The DIY Guide to Checking How Well You’re Ageing: Redefining aging as a complex mosaic of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social factors shows no single home test suffices; embracing varied self-checks yields a truer health picture, guiding individuals and clinicians to timely, targeted interventions that preserve quality of life and prolong functional independence.
🚥 Ear Nerve Stimulation Shows Promise for Easing Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: Knee osteoarthritis pain may not just be a joint problem - it could be a nervous system imbalance. Stimulating the vagus nerve through the ear offers a promising, non-invasive way to ease chronic pain by targeting the brain's pain-processing pathways, potentially reshaping future treatment beyond drugs or surgery. [SOURCE]
🚥 West Nile Virus Detected in UK Mosquitoes for the First Time: Traces of West Nile virus in UK mosquitoes mark a climate-linked warning: rising temperatures could soon make Britain hospitable to mosquito-borne diseases once confined to warmer regions. Continued surveillance and preparedness will be crucial as these ecological shifts redraw public health boundaries.
BOOK NOOK
"Disease X: Are You Prepared?" is your comprehensive guide to navigating the uncertain future of global health. Drawing from experience and the latest scientific insights, this book offers:
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