Author: Philip Broadbent, Wellcome Multimorbidity PhD Fellow & Public Health Registrar, University of Glasgow

Eugen Thome/shutterstock Poorer people, on average, live shorter lives. This pattern can be seen even in wealthy countries with extensive welfare systems. In Norway, for example, 40-year-old men in the richest 1% could expect to live almost 14 years longer than those in the poorest 1%. In the US, the equivalent gap is nearly 15 […]

Habanero Pixel/Shutterstock New York has just declared a state of emergency as measles cases continue to rise. So far this year, the US has recorded 3,887 cases of measles, the highest annual total since 1991. That is about 70% more cases than were recorded during the whole of 2025. In November, the Pan American Health […]

Jon C 303/Shutterstock.com From the start of October, people sleeping rough or staying in homeless hostels and night shelters in England can get a free flu vaccine for the first time. But will the jab reach those who need it? The case for eligibility is not in doubt. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and […]

It is tempting to tell a tidy story in which people in Britain take too many pills because they exercise too little and eat too poorly, while Danes stay slim by cycling everywhere. The assumption is that Britain relies on medication to fix lifestyle failures, whereas Denmark relies on prevention. But are Britons actually more […]

shutterstock Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock What happens when the NHS is hit by an emergency it cannot predict? A heatwave can send thousands more people to hospital. A power cut can put patients who depend on electricity at risk. A cyber-attack can suddenly knock out systems that hospitals rely on to function. Government officials told reporters at the […]

People in a hospital waiting room. toodtuphoto/Shutterstock.com Amid political upheaval and the subsequent resignation of the health secretary, the king’s speech unveiled the NHS modernisation bill – the most significant overhaul of the health service in more than a decade. By legally abolishing NHS England and bringing operational management directly into Whitehall, ministers say they […]

By twelve votes, the Scottish parliament rejected the assisted dying for terminally ill adults bill on March 17. The debate that preceded it was emotionally charged and, at moments, genuinely moving. MSPs spoke of parents, partners, faith and fear. Much of it turned on the contents of the bill – safeguards, eligibility criteria and conscience […]

Two young people are dead and 20 are receiving treatment after a meningitis outbreak at the University of Kent. The students caught up in it belong to a generation that has never been routinely vaccinated against the strain responsible. That is not because a vaccine doesn’t exist. It does. Bexsero, which protects against meningococcal group […]