Category: Health

Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza’s health services had been “shattered” after two years of conflict and “on the brink of total collapse.” “When the fighting stops, a new struggle will begin – to rebuild Gaza’s health system and rescue an entire population from the edge of famine and despair,” […]

Dublin, 8 October 2025 — Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler TD has unveiled a landmark investment in mental health services under Budget 2026, with a record allocation of €1.6 billion and the recruitment of an unprecedented 300 additional staff. The package places a strong emphasis on crisis supports and suicide prevention, with over €15 […]

Dublin, 8 October 2025 – The Government has unveiled a record €27.4 billion health budget for 2026, marking a 6.2% increase (€1.5bn) on the previous year. Ministers say the investment will drive faster, fairer access to healthcare while embedding long-term reforms in the Irish health service. The funding was announced today by Minister for Health […]

Hormonal changes during menopause can drive suicidal thoughts – a crisis that healthcare services have failed to recognise or adequately address. The devastating link is laid bare in research my colleagues and I conducted recently. The study, which involved interviews with 42 women who experienced suicidal thoughts and behaviour during perimenopause or menopause, exposes a […]

Over 200 people from Birmingham will be invited to participate in a research project to consider the benefits and harms of vaping for long term respiratory health. Studies before it considered effects on lung health at a single timepoint, but this study will examine the effect of long-term vaping on the respiratory system over the […]

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine celebrates a discovery that answers one of medicine’s most profound questions: how does the immune system know when to attack, and when to stand down? Most of the time, our defences target dangerous infections and even cancers while leaving the body’s own tissues unharmed. But when that […]

That’s according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest report on tobacco use published on Monday which analyses smoking trends from 2010 to 2024 and concludes the epidemic is far from over. Tobacco use has fallen from 26.2 per cent in 2010 to 19.5 per cent last year – and the UN health agency predicts that […]

When the daytime air feels like an oven and night brings no relief, people in Karachi, Pakistan, say the heat “goes straight to the head”. They mean more than dizziness or sweat. It’s the creeping panic of a body that cannot cool down: restless nights, frayed tempers, a household on edge. Here, a heatwave is […]

Last July, in the remote locality of Butête, in southern Haiti, nine-year-old Jonas* lost his life to rabies. When a stray dog bit the boy on the leg, the wound seemed minor. Like many families living far from any health facilities, his mother was unaware that immediate care was critical. Within a week, the child […]

Numbers are all around us. In the morning, we wake up to an alarm that tells us it’s time to get out of bed. When deciding what to wear, we often check the temperature outside. We count out the vitamins or prescription pills we need to take while eating our breakfast, we estimate how long […]