Hello from the Common Health Coalition! The 2-4-2 Digest is a weekly snapshot for health leaders - 4 key insights in 2 minutes or with 2 swipes on your phone. 

Weekly Health Insights

Child & Maternal Health: NIH launched a $37 million consortium to study and prevent stillbirths, which number more than 20,000 annually in the U.S. The effort comes as more states, including Wyoming, face growing “maternal care deserts,” where hospital-based obstetric services have disappeared, further straining maternal and newborn care access.

HIV: A global agreement among Gilead, the Medicines Patent Pool, UNAIDS, the Gates Foundation, and generic manufacturers will make lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable for HIV prevention, available for about $40 annually in 120 countries by 2027. The FDA also approved lenacapavir (Yeztugo) for PrEP in the U.S. in June 2025, with CDC recommending it as a new prevention option.

Newborn Syphilis: In recently released provisional data by the CDC, the 3 most common sexually transmitted diseases, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis have had a decrease in cases in the past 3 years. However, newborn syphilis, transmission from mother to child, continues to increase. 

Medicaid: A new JAMA study found that about 3 in 4 U.S. children are enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP, or subsidized coverage at some point by age 18, and 2 in 5 experience a period without insurance. Coverage gaps were more common in states that did not expand Medicaid under the ACA.

ICYMI: The Common Health Coalition Annual Meeting is slated for December 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. Coalition members can register here.

Colleague Corner

In a recent Pew Charitable Trusts interview, Dr. Jeffrey Schiff discussed how states can build better data infrastructure to drive public health and Medicaid improvements. He emphasized that effective, data-driven partnerships can help states use resources more wisely and improve outcomes.

“I wish people better understood that the data doesn’t have to be perfect to be usable. The easiest way to kill an idea is to say, “Well, the data isn’t perfect.”…If we act based on the data we have in the best interests of the people we serve, then we are meeting the moment. We can modify and improve as we learn more.”

– Dr. Jeffrey Schiff, MD, MBA; Senior Scholar, AcademyHealth; former CMO of Minnesota Department of Human Services

Data Watch

In a recent Healthscaping post, Dr. Thomas Farley discussed how fatal falls among U.S. adults 65+ reached a record 43,020 deaths in 2024, up from 41,400 the year before. Mortality rates are nearly four times higher than in 1992 for those 85 and older, with over-prescribing of fall risk–increasing drugs identified as a key driver.

Vax News: Check out the Common Health Coalition’s Vaccine Resources page for additional explainers and toolkits related to immunization policy. 

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