Anna Maria Barry-Jester
I report on global public health and the agencies that govern it, including the NIH, IHS, USAID and CDC.
Need to Get in Touch?
I welcome tips from people with knowledge of public health at the local, state, federal and international level, including scientists, government officials and advocates, and anyone who knows about issues that affect the public’s health.
What I Cover
I report on global and public health and the agencies that govern them, including the NIH, IHS, USAID and CDC. I’m interested in how the Trump administration will approach public health in the U.S. and shape the nation’s role in global health. I welcome tips from people with knowledge of these issues, including scientists, government officials, experts and advocates.
My Background
I have reported extensively on public health and environmental issues, including infectious disease outbreaks, the Flint water crisis and American gun deaths. I documented and co-reported the first international news stories on an epidemic of chronic kidney disease affecting agricultural workers in Central America and Southeast Asia for the Center for Public Integrity and other outlets. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I reported on the troubled public health response as well as the impact on state and local health departments for the Associated Press, “This American Life,” the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations.
My work has been honored with a Gerald Loeb Award, an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award, the Investigative Data Journalism prize from the Online News Association and a communications award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, among others.
Facing Unchecked Syphilis Outbreak, Great Plains Tribes Sought Federal Help. Months Later, No One Has Responded.
The syphilis rate among Indigenous people in the Great Plains is higher than at any point in 80 years of records. More than 3% of Native American babies born in South Dakota last year had the preventable and curable — but potentially fatal — disease.
How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits
A vaccine against tuberculosis has never been closer to reality. But its development slowed after its corporate owner focused on more profitable vaccines.
The Second Trump White House Could Drastically Reshape Infectious Disease Research. Here’s What’s at Stake.
Donald Trump’s pick to lead the federal health agency has vowed to replace hundreds of staffers and shift research away from infectious diseases and vaccines. Such an overhaul could imperil the development of life-saving treatments, experts warn.
Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning.
Diplomats in Vietnam warned Washington that halting USAID’s efforts to clean up the massive deposit of postwar pesticides would be a catastrophe for public health and relations with a key strategic partner in Asia.
Internal Memos: Senior USAID Leaders Warned Trump Appointees of Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths From Closing Agency
One million children will go untreated for severe malnutrition, up to 166,000 people will die from malaria and 200,000 more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade, the memos estimated. The programs were cut anyway.
The Trump Administration Said These Aid Programs Saved Lives. It Canceled Them Anyway.
The axing of some 10,000 programs has consigned untold numbers of children and refugees to death, officials say. Documents and interviews reveal that the State Department appears to have made the cuts without the careful review it described in court.
Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy
Now one of the most powerful people in the U.S. government, Peter Marocco’s turbulent tenure during the first Trump administration sheds light on his current efforts to dismantle the American foreign aid system from the inside out.
In Breaking USAID, the Trump Administration May Have Broken the Law
ProPublica’s reporting provides new details about what legal risk officials were prepared to take and what laws they may have violated on their way to creating a “constitutional crisis.”
“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True.
Organizations that provide vital care for desperate and vulnerable people around the world have been forced to halt operations, turn away patients and lay off staff. “I’ve never seen anything that scares me as much as this,” one doctor said.
Are Abortion Bans Across America Causing Deaths? The States That Passed Them Are Doing Little to Find Out.
The same political leaders who enacted abortion bans oversee the state committees that review maternal deaths. These committees haven’t tracked the laws’ impacts, and most haven’t finished examining cases from the year the bans went into effect.
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths
In a letter, the state’s public health commissioner said the action was taken because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals.”
Swept Away
From birth certificates to loved ones’ ashes, these are just some of the belongings cities take when they clear homeless encampments.
Syphilis Is Killing Babies. The U.S. Government Is Failing to Stop the Disease From Spreading.
The only drug that treats syphilis during pregnancy is in short supply. Untreated, the disease can pass to newborns, killing them or leaving them with disabilities. As cases rise sharply, the government isn’t doing much to prevent shortages.