Global Scans · Birth · Weekly Summary

• [New] In 2030 male and female global HLE at birth will be 65.3 years and be 67.5 years in 2030, respectively, compared with 62.7 years and 65.1 years in 2020. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] The California Medical Association urged ACIP to maintain the universal birth-dose recommendation, warning that weakening it could increase the risk of missed vaccinations, delayed protection and preventable hepatitis B transmission. cmadocs
• [New] People who have underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease or who are pregnant, as well as children, are at an increased risk and should be extra cautious. Scientific American
• [New] NASA's Psyche spacecraft to race past Mars in hunt for clues about how Earth was formed The crucial manoeuver scheduled for Friday will use the gravity of Mars to shift Psyche onto the right path, a faster and cheaper method NASA scientists say could help unlock clues about the birth of Earth. EU Agenda
• [New] After the British expelled the Italians during the second world war, most Eritreans hoped for the birth of a sovereign state. The Conversation
• The birth collapse will matter to Poland's security as well: by the low variant scenario, Poland 2050 would have fewer than 600,000 young men of military age - less than a third as many as in 1999, when it joined NATO. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• The future of the Polish nation will depend on its birth path, or to put it another way, its fertility trajectory. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• There is a 94.5% probability that HLE at birth for Singapore women and 93.4% for Singapore men will be higher than 75.2 years in 2030, the same as the highest life expectancy in the world in 2019. PubMed Central (PMC)
• Looking ahead to 2030, the projections of male HLE at birth ranged from 40.4 years in Lesotho to 77.4 years in Singapore. PubMed Central (PMC)
• Men in Singapore are projected to have the highest HLE at birth in 2030, with a 93.4% probability of higher than 75.2 years. PubMed Central (PMC)
• Given the apparently large role of social ties in shaping fertility behaviours, the idea that the digital revolution might be reducing American and global birth rates by reducing the extent to which Americans are exposed to family life is entirely plausible. Institute for Family Studies
• For the first time, millions of American children will begin their financial lives already holding equity, not just a birth certificate. The Fintech Times
• In January, a major review published in The Lancet, looking at dozens of studies and using sibling comparisons to control for genetics, found no good evidence that acetaminophen in pregnancy raises the risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability. The Autism Dad
• Japan's youngest residents are at risk, though, as resistant bacteria can sometimes pass from mothers to newborns at birth and can cause serious complications, like sepsis. Live Science
• Exposure to wildfire smoke for even a few days during the third trimester of pregnancy raises the risk of autism diagnoses in children by up to 23%. Access Information News
• The growing risk to mothers of suffering serious and potentially fatal bleeding following childbirth is terrifying. The Guardian
• In a win for workers rights, employees in the US state of Virginia will soon be entitled to up to 12 weeks paid leave if they give birth, need long-term healthcare, or are caring for poorly family members. Positive News
• The birth-cohort effect for CRC is most evident in incidence trends by anatomic subsite because increased risk is dominated by tumours in the distal colon, especially the sigmoid colon, and rectum. PubMed Central (PMC)
• Reducing anaemia in pregnancy, addressing the unmet need for contraception, avoiding medically unnecessary caesarean sections, and ensuring all women receive effective uterotonic medicines after birth could substantially lower the global burden of postpartum haemorrhage. Oxford University

Last updated: 16 August 2026