Category: Health

If you or someone you love finds it difficult to stand up from the toilet without using your hands, it might seem like a small issue. But in health and ageing, this movement – known as the “sit-to-stand” – can be a red flag. It’s one of the strongest indicators of frailty, a condition that […]

“We are living through the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He cautioned that abrupt withdrawals of funding are jeopardising hard-won medical progress, including efforts to combat tropical diseases, which are now re-emerging in some regions. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he told […]

The NHS in England has launched a new injectable form of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo), capable of treating 15 different types of cancer, including skin, bladder, and oesophageal cancers. This “super-jab” significantly reduces treatment time from up to an hour of intravenous therapy to just three to five minutes via an under-the-skin injection. Approximately […]

A groundbreaking study has revealed that the immunotherapy drug dostarlimab can effectively treat certain cancers, potentially eliminating the need for surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. Conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the trial focused on patients with mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) cancers, including rectal, endometrial, and gastric cancers. Study Overview The Phase II study involved 103 […]

Youth mental health has become a pressing global issue, with approximately 20% of adolescents in Europe affected by mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Alarmingly, the majority of these young individuals do not seek or receive the necessary care due to overwhelmed services and limited access to support. Economic Impact of Mental […]

Reactive abuse is a psychological dynamic in which a victim of prolonged emotional, verbal, or physical abuse lashes out—verbally or physically—in response to their abuser’s relentless provocations. Though these reactions may appear aggressive or volatile, experts stress that they are fundamentally different from actual abuse: they are defensive responses triggered by sustained trauma or manipulation. […]

And with nearly seven million people forcibly displaced by violence since advances by M23 rebels earlier this year, the DRC is facing one of the world’s most complex displacement crises, according to the UN migration agency (IOM). Living in overcrowded and under-resourced camps, displaced populations are increasingly vulnerable to both disease and attack. Since January […]

Thein Zaw Win, Communications and Advocacy Analyst in the Yangon Office of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) saw the devastating consequences of the quake during a week-long visit to the Mandalay region, one of the regions most severely affected by the disaster. Thein Zaw Win, Communications and Advocacy Analy​st at UNFPA’s Yangon […]

One displaced woman told UN News’s correspondent in Gaza: “In all camps, we suffer from biting insects, especially fleas,” adding that “our children suffer from severe pain due to itching and stinging. “We tried to treat it in simple ways, but the right medicines are not available at the medical centre.” While biting insects found in […]

While the health sector worldwide plays a key role in stopping the abusive practice of FGM and supporting survivors, in several regions, evidence suggests otherwise. As of 2020, an estimated 52 million girls and women were subjected to FGM at the hands of health workers – that’s around one in four cases. “Health workers must […]