The rising prosperity of Venezuela during the 20th century helped to consolidate gains in health outcomes made over decades. Now, a country rich in natural resources is submerged in a complex humanitarian emergency due to the politico-economic crisis that started in 2008, progressively destroying the health-care system.

“China's health-care reform will be regarded as successful when a tiered health-care delivery system is fully achieved”, said the head of China's National Health Commission, Minister Ma Xiaowei, on March 8, during this year's “two Sessions” (the annual meetings of the national legislature and the top political advisory body).

The theme of this year's World Water Day on March 22—Leaving No One Behind—is a commitment to those who are disproportionately affected by insufficient access to safe water, such as women, children, refugees, and socioeconomically marginalised people. The urgency of this task is cemented in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6—to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water, the provision of adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, and cessation of open defecation by 2030. The staggering number of people for whom safe water trickles in insufficient quantity and quality—2 billion according to the UN—begs the question of how such a target could ever be reached.

The prevalence of stunting in India (38·4%)1 is among the highest in the world,2 and diarrhoea is a major killer of children younger than 5 years.3 Both these conditions closely relate to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene. The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), India's flagship and the world's largest sanitation programme, aims to accelerate universal access to sanitation in rural and urban India.4 Since its launch in 2014, SBM reports building close to 100 million toilets4,5 by way of providing financial incentives to needy families, involving local governments and communities in construction and in monitoring progress, and by conducting mass awareness campaigns.

“Terrible beyond contemplation”, wrote a friend from New Zealand last week after the assaults on two mosques in Christchurch. Most politicians unreservedly condemned the March 15 attacks, examples of white nationalist terrorism that left 50 people dead and many injured. There have been notable exceptions to this worldwide revulsion, with some voices legitimising the hate speech of alleged perpetrator Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian now charged with murder. Australian Queensland Senator Fraser Anning wrote about “the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence”.

A rampant measles outbreak in Madagascar reveals a health-care system under pressure in a country that is weakened by corruption. Munyaradzi Makoni reports.

Twelve years on from the so-called Berlin patient, a second patient in London, UK, appears to be in remission from HIV infection. Tony Kirby reports.

Mali, a country in west Africa with one of the world's worst health indices, aims to become a model for health reforms on the continent. Paul Adepoju reports.

Waiting—it's an odd thing. In theory it is a verb, but the reality is it almost resembles an emotion, a feeling of being neither here nor there. As an emergency medicine doctor, I see a lot of waiting. The wait to be seen, waiting for results, waiting for a specialist, and, if needed, waiting for a bed. With all this waiting it's no wonder my patients and I are often frustrated. Waiting can sometimes feel like a state of limbo, helplessness, or lack of being cared for. But there are also pressures—pressures on the time we can spend with patients, increasing administrative burdens, imperfect electronic health systems, insufficient sleep, to name but a few.

Anthony Fauci has refused the role of Director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) four times under different presidents: “Each time, I convinced the President that I would be most effective staying in my current role as Director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)”, Fauci told The Lancet. Under Fauci's leadership at NIAID many of the key HIV milestones have been achieved, including the development and testing of most licensed antiretrovirals (ARVs) and research for a vaccine.

My medical students first hear from a family physician who describes himself as pro-life. He's Christian, and his faith is “a large part of the reason” he refuses to perform abortions. “Christ says things like do to others what you want them to do to you, or love your neighbour as yourself, and when I'm in the room with a pregnant patient I think I have two neighbours in there”, he tells the second years. Then they hear from an obstetrician who specialises in abortion care. She too is a Christian, and some students look surprised when she says her religious beliefs are one reason she sought fellowship training in abortion.

Medical oncologist and pioneer of immunotherapy. He was born in London, UK, on Feb 18, 1951, and died there after an allergic reaction to a vaccination on Jan 9, 2019, aged 67 years.

In the 1960s, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's leading scientific body, developed and imported mechanical grape harvesters using public funding. Because of government support, Australia skyrocketed from being responsible for less than 1% of global production to becoming the fifth largest global wine producer.

Demands to improve the representation of women in global health are not new, and diverse social movements have been striving to advance the agenda.1,2 Recently, The Lancet has contributed to efforts to raise the visibility and recognition of women in global health.3 These efforts share the common pursuit of equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for all genders, and are advocating that the interests, needs, and priorities of all are considered.

He and colleagues (July 7, 2018, p 7)1 argue that it is best to start with voluntary salt reduction targets for industry while regulation and legislation are enacted on the basis that complex legislative processes can delay action. It is important to clarify that the legislative process should start before any invitation to voluntary reformulation is extended. Although voluntary industry targets have undoubtedly worked well in the UK,2 ensuring that industry-led initiatives do not postpone effective legislation is crucial.

We are very grateful to Luke Allen for his Correspondence on our Comment.1 We fully agree that a legislative approach is more effective than a voluntary one in any diet and lifestyle interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease. However, introducing legislation might not be possible for most countries, and the long and complicated process of implementing legislation could severely delay action. For example, the pace of regulating the tobacco industry clearly illustrates how it could take several decades to get legislation through.

In October, 2018, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights published its concluding observations on Germany,1 raising serious concerns about the implementation of the right to health for non-nationals. In July, 2018, in response to a list of issues raised by the UN body, the German Government stated that “[p]rompt access to high-quality health care and treatment is guaranteed in Germany”, and that the applicable rules also permit appropriate health-care provision for non-nationals.

The Editors (Nov 17, 2018, p 2139)1 identified vaccine hesitancy as an important barrier to achieving the 2020 targets for immunisation. Hesitation and resistance to vaccination is a substantial issue in some districts of Kerala, India. In the Malappuram district of Kerala, which has a substantial Muslim population, we found that factors such as religion have only a minor role in resistance to vaccination (unpublished findings). Many religious leaders openly support vaccination drives and consider that religious texts and beliefs do not oppose disease prevention.

We welcome Richard Horton's Offline (Nov 3, 2018, p 1612),1 in which he deemed the health of Palestinians a global responsibility. Our work with Palestinian colleagues at the Foundation for Family Medicine in Palestine is an example of how clinical academics from the UK support the development of health care in the West Bank and Gaza. We have colleagues in Israel who want to contribute to this work but are prevented from doing so by an Israeli military ban on citizens travelling to the Palestinian Authority A Zones where Palestinian medical schools are based.

Azzopardi PS, Hearps SJC, Francis KL, et al. Progress in adolescent health and wellbeing: tracking 12 headline indicators for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016. Lancet 2019; 393: 1101–18—In figure 3 of this Article, under the Social determinants heading, the text should have read “Adolescent livebirths* per 1000 population”. This correction has been made to the online version as of March 21, 2019.