Category: Health

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. It places a huge burden on families, health systems and societies. Increasingly, strokes are not just occurring in older adults. They are affecting younger people in the most productive years of their lives, interrupting work, family life and long-term wellbeing. In the US, around 55,000 […]

Every year, people around the world take an astonishing 3.8 trillion doses of medicine. Most of these medicines are swallowed rather than injected or inhaled, because the oral route is the easiest, safest and most familiar way to take a drug at home. But even something as routine as swallowing a pill can sometimes cause […]

Flu season has got off to an early start this year in the UK – with cases spiking weeks earlier than in previous years. This has led to concerns that the UK may be on track for one of its worst flu seasons ever. In the UK and other northern hemisphere countries, flu season tends […]

Transgender people can encounter significant obstacles and barriers within healthcare systems that may hinder access to care or affect the quality of treatment they receive. These challenges vary widely, but together they can create environments that feel less supportive than they should be. A 2025 report found that, in the UK, 52% of transgender people […]

Cancer research is evolving, not just in the lab, but in who is leading it. Increasingly, patients, carers and members of the public are stepping into the research process itself, shaping what questions get asked and how answers are found. This approach, known as patient and public involvement (PPI), brings people with personal experience of […]

In clinical trials around the world, a surprising treatment is showing promise for people with terminal illnesses: psychedelic therapy. For many, the hardest part of dying isn’t physical pain but the fear, anxiety and sense of meaninglessness that often accompany it. While palliative care in the UK is rightly praised for easing pain and managing […]

This Friday, for World Diabetes Day, the UN is highlighting how the disease affects pregnancy, in line with this year’s global theme of managing diabetes “across life stages”. The organization has also launched its first-ever global guidelines on how to manage diabetes before, during and after pregnancy. “These guidelines are grounded in the realities of women’s […]

Professor Davey Smith is known internationally for revolutionising the use of genetic data to understand causal relationships in population health through the development and application of Mendelian randomisation. His technique uses genetic variation to test the causal effects of modifiable risk factors on disease. This method has transformed the field of epidemiology and underpins modern […]

Summary: Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has signed new regulations enabling pharmacists to prescribe medicines for eight common conditions for the first time. The initiative, part of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024, aims to expand access to care and reduce pressure on GP services. Ireland’s healthcare system is set for a major shift […]

The increasing number of injectable cosmetic treatments and fillers carried out around the world is driven by a seemingly universal need to look younger than we are. Most are administered to women, but a growing number of men are having them too. This beauty-is-youth belief has a geological cost. Over 14 million stainless steel hypodermic […]