PODCAST

Health Check

BBC World Service

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

health & fitness

All Episodes

26:28

A new era for Alzheimer’s drugs?

Health Check ·

2023/07/19

Just months after the ‘momentous’ announcement of the first drug shown to slow the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, the results of a global trial into another have been published. The antibody medicine donanemab helped people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s by slowing the pace of the brain’s decline by about a third. Dr Graham Easton joins Claudia Hammond to look at what another ‘breakthrough’ means in practice.They also look at new evidence from the USA that giving hearing aids to older people at

26:28

Sickle cell disease: Fighting for the future

Health Check ·

2023/07/12

“Sickle cell is not all that we are – Sickle Cell is solvable.” Lea Kilenga Bey from Kenya founded the non-profit Africa Sickle Cell Organisation to campaign on behalf of people like her who live with an inherited blood condition known as sickle cell disease. Now a group of experts from around the world are calling on Governments to provide better care for people with conditions like Lea’s. It comes just weeks after a study published in academic journal The Lancet Haematology showed that the number

26:28

Drumming for a healthy life

Health Check ·

2023/07/05

Since early times, the drum has been part of human society. But have you ever considered how drumming might actually improve our physical and mental health? Researchers from the University of Essex are at this year’s annual Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition in London to talk to the public about their work which shows drumming during a rock concert might give you a similar workout as playing football. Along with the BBC’s health and science correspondent, James Gallagher, Claudia Hammond gets a

27:35

The future of HIV research in Africa

Health Check ·

2023/06/28

African HIV research now makes up almost a third of total research being conducted into the virus. A new study highlights how it has increased from just 5 per cent in 1986. But there’s still a way to go until the quantity of research reflects the burden of HIV infections on the African continent. Claudia Hammond speaks to Professor Thumbi Ndung’u and Dr Omolara Baiyegunhi from the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa about the future of research being conducted in Africa by Africans and

27:55

Healthcare under threat in Myanmar

Health Check ·

2023/06/21

When the Myanmar military staged a coup d’état in February 2021, many healthcare workers became the first government employees to react, announcing a boycott of state-run hospitals. Today, there are doctors, nurses and other health workers providing services across the country, outside of state hospitals and often in secret. Claudia Hammond hears how they are struggling to provide clinics with dwindling resources and equipment and about the impact it’s having on people’s health. We hear from

26:29

A step closer to a Chikungunya vaccine

Health Check ·

2023/06/14

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease which spreads to humans and can cause fever and severe joint pain, sometimes felt long term. It’s most common in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. But just like better known diseases Dengue and Zika, outbreaks look set to become more widespread as the world warms. We hear from Josie Shillito who caught Chikungunya while working on the island of Réunion. And Reader in Virus Evolution at Imperial College London, Dr Nuno R. Faria gives his reaction to news of the

26:29

China's Covid-19 lockdown: What happened next?

Health Check ·

2023/06/07

When China abruptly ended its tough lockdown policy in December 2022, Covid cases in the country rose rapidly. The Government’s official death toll was 121,000, but medical epidemiologist Ray Yip is one of several experts estimating it could have been much higher. Now China is experiencing another wave of Covid-19 fuelled by the Omicron variant, but this time the nation seems determined to continue with normal life. Claudia Hammond speaks to journalist Cindy Sui who has interviewed Chinese people

26:34

Uganda's anti-gay law and healthcare

Health Check ·

2023/05/31

As Uganda approves some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation in the world, we hear from Dr Chloe Orkin, Professor of infection and inequities at Queen Mary University in London about the impact the new laws are already having on HIV health services. Strict abortion laws in some US states are causing women to travel hundreds of miles to terminate their pregnancies across state lines. In the latest in our series on the health impacts of the US Supreme Court ruling on abortion, Claudia Hammond

26:34

What can we do about back pain?

Health Check ·

2023/05/24

As new research is released showing that lower back pain is the leading cause of disability across the world, we ask Professor of musculoskeletal health at Sydney university, Manuela Ferreira what we can do to reduce the risks. We’re talking empathy; the ability to resonate with how others feel. Do healthcare professionals have enough empathy? And can having too much sometimes cause people working in healthcare difficulties with their own mental health? BBC health reporter Smitha Mundasad joins

26:34

Home testing kits for disease screening

Health Check ·

2023/05/17

Home testing kits for screening people for signs of diseases have become more and more common in recent years. Now a study in the US shows that mailing women from low-income backgrounds tests for HPV, almost doubled the uptake of cervical screening. So, is ‘do-it-yourself’ testing the answer for other conditions, in other countries? Claudia discusses with BBC health and science journalist Philippa Roxby.Dr Ike Anya is a consultant in public health and published author. He explains why he hopes his

26:29

Giving small babies a better start

Health Check ·

2023/05/10

One in four babies around the world is born too small. Either preterm, small for gestational age, or with a low birthweight. We hear from maternal health advocate Ashley Muteti from Nairobi in Kenya who has had three small babies, one of whom, Zuri, died after 49 days. Now a group of doctors is calling on health leaders around the world to focus on these ‘small and vulnerable newborns’, suggesting a series of small interventions for pregnant women which they say could save a million babies’ lives

26:34

Keeping hospitals open in Khartoum

Health Check ·

2023/05/03

Medical professionals in Khartoum tell us how they are managing to continue their work to treat people in hospitals despite the ongoing violence in Sudan. Some hospitals are out of service and doctors say they are struggling to secure medical supplies.There is evidence that high blood pressure in young people in England is going undiagnosed, and levels are rising in the USA. Dr Graham Easton looks at the latest. He also discusses new research which may lead to earlier diagnosis of the degenerative

26:34

Why we need more black doctors

Health Check ·

2023/04/26

Addressing racial diversity amongst doctors can improve outcomes for people in their local communities. We speak to Dr Monica Peek, Doctor of Internal Medicine and Professor for Health Justice of Medicine at the University of Chicago, about a new study showing that a 10 per cent increase in black representation amongst clinicians increased life expectancy for black people by more than 30 days.BBC Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher looks at an international decline in childhood vaccine

26:35

Malaria vaccines approved first in West Africa

Health Check ·

2023/04/19

More than a quarter of the world’s malaria cases happen in Nigeria according to the World Health Organisation. This week the country became the second, after Ghana to provisionally approve the use of malaria vaccine R21. Professor Matt Fox explains why scientists have called the vaccine a ‘world changer’. We hear from dementia nurse Kemi Reeves who supports people living with dementia in Los Angeles. Her project has recently been shown to reduce the cost of caring for people with Alzheimers. We also

28:38

New way of giving lifesaving drug in childbirth

Health Check ·

2023/04/12

Researchers in Zambia and Pakistan have shown that a drug which helps to stop bleeding in childbirth is safe to give by injection into a muscle - making it easier to save women’s lives where skilled help isn’t always close by. Tranexamic acid is usually given by a drip into a vein. But a new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine compared that method with giving an injection into the thigh and administering it as a drink in a solution. They found that the injection was just as

27:41

Women aren’t being promoted in healthcare

Health Check ·

2023/04/05

Women do 90% of the work in global healthcare but hold only a quarter of leadership roles. We hear from an American doctor who says patients are missing out on the unique perspective of women because they aren’t involved in strategic decision-making. Margaret in Nairobi has set up a WhatsApp group to help to improve the rights of community healthcare workers and Indian doctor Snigdha explains how equality can only happen if childcare and access to education for women are improved. Pregnancy

28:04

Could armpit sweat help tackle anxiety?

Health Check ·

2023/03/29

Here on Health Check, we’re always sniffing out the best global health research for our listeners – and this week is no different. We’ll hear about a study in Sweden where researchers are testing whether smelling other people’s body odour could be a useful part of therapy for social anxiety. And what is One Health? A new report from the World Health Organization suggests a joint plan of action is needed to tackle animal and human health threats – and even to avert future pandemics. We’ll talk

27:32

How giving babies peanut butter could cut allergy

Health Check ·

2023/03/22

Babies, peanut butter and allergies; Psychologist Professor Elaine Fox on how to navigate change; how changing the clocks twice a year affects our health and why misophonia, the strong reaction to sounds of other people breathing, yawning or chewing, could be more common than we thought.Image Credit: Mohd Hafiez Mohd Razali / EyeEm

27:57

Obesity drug: New hope for weight loss?

Health Check ·

2023/03/15

“Diet and exercise” has been the weight-loss mantra for decades but a drug designed for diabetes patients could now offer hope to people who are obese, at a time when researchers are warning that half of the world’s population are expected to be overweight or obese by 2035. One of the first to have injections of Semaglutide in the UK was Jan, who has battled with her weight since childhood. Once the medication took effect she lost four stone and said her hunger disappeared. Professor Stephen

28:00

How to cope with earthquake trauma

Health Check ·

2023/03/08

A month on from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, we assess what kind of impact the disaster may have had on mental health. We hear from Professor Metin Basoglu, an expert in earthquake trauma and director of the Istanbul Centre for Behavioural Sciences. He explains how it is a unique kind of trauma rooted in fear and compounded by the uncontrollable nature of earthquakes and the thousands of aftershocks that come following the initial disaster. Prof Basoglu tells us about the

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