Morphometrics of the Rare Earwigfly Merope tuber

Merope tuber Newman (Mecoptera: Meropeidae) is a rare North American species of earwigfly, which is closely related to common scorpionflies. “Earwigfly” refers to three different species: the Western Australian Austromerope poulton, the South American Austromerope brasiliensis, and finally, the Eastern North American Merope tuber. This last species was the focus of our study. Johnson’s 1995 study was based on 160 earwigflies, where he measured the female abdomen length, male and female forewing length, and male basistylus and dististylus length. In their 2014 study, based on 82 earwigflies, Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling measured head width, pronotum width, forewing length, abdomen length, basistylus length, and dististylus length. In our study of 504 earwigflies, we are measuring head width, pronotum length, pronotum width, pterothorax length, abdomen length, forewing length, basistylus length, and diststylus length. This project was started in February, at this point we have measured about 2/5 of the specimens. This collection of 504 earwigflies is most likely the largest collection of any earwigflies in the world, and provided an excellent dataset for a comprehensive morphometric analysis. We plan to incorporate morphometrics to our measurements and seek to corroborate our results with previous findings.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1007/thumbnail.jp

Making the World Safer and Fairer in Pandemics

Global health has long been characterized by injustice, with certain populations marginalized and made vulnerable by social, economic, and health disparities within and among countries. The pandemic only amplified inequalities. In response to it, the World Health Organization and the United Nations have embarked on transformative normative and financial reforms that could reimagine pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR). These reforms include a new strategy to sustainably finance the WHO, a UN political declaration on PPPR, a fundamental revision to the International Health Regulations, and negotiation of a new, legally binding pandemic agreement (popularly called the “Pandemic Treaty”). We revisit the cavernous shortcomings of the global Covid-19 response, explain potentially transformative legal reforms and the ethical values that underpin them, and propose actionable solutions to advance both health and justice

The Global Health Architecture: Governance and International Institutions to Advance Population Health Worldwide

The world’s failed response to COVID-19—characterized by weak health systems, a distrust in science, and vastly inequitable access to global public health goods—provides a historic opportunity to reform the global health architecture, including its legal norms, processes, and institutions. We argue that these reforms should be based on the principles of good governance for health: the right to health, equity, inclusive participation, global solidarity, transparency, and accountability. This Perspective examines the global health architecture—its history, current state, and future. It begins by describing the principles of good governance for health, and then how current global health actors and instruments embody them or fall short. Finally, it examines reforms which are underway, particularly for health emergency preparedness and response (HEPR), and what others are needed to bring the global health architecture more in line with principles of good governance for health. Global health institutions and instruments, including new global health instruments currently being negotiated through the World Health Organization, should be reformed to fully incorporate the principles of good governance for health. Equity should be embedded into the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from catastrophic health threats, within and across nations and sectors. Finally, robust and sustainable funding of key institutions, national health systems, and civil society would ensure more effective and just responses to health emergencies, including the daily toll of avoidable death and disease disproportionately experienced by poorer and more marginalized populations. Embracing this reform agenda, guided by principles of good governance for health, could ensure that our institutions and systems can protect and promote the health of all populations everywhere

Financing Reforms to Meet a Pivotal Moment in Global Health

2024 will be the most important moment for global health since the World Health Organization’s founding in 1948, but only if states give major reforms their full political and financial backing. Bold new commitments in disease surveillance, capacity building, and more equitable access to health products cannot be achieved without ample and sustainable funding. In this essay, we discuss major reforms found in the emerging pandemic agreement and reformed International Health Regulations and then explore the significant challenges and opportunities for financing them