Could AI improve healthcare in low-income communities?

Health Check discusses the role of AI in healthcare after the announcement that the Gates Foundation will put hundreds of millions of US dollars towards AI access in low-income communities, with an emphasis on integration in healthcare. Claudia Hammond is joined by Graham Easton, Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University of London, to ask how AI is already changing the ways in which doctors work.

Health Check reporter Georgia Christie investigates whether the increasing usage of weight loss drugs is changing the products restaurants and food companies are offering to a wider population.

Also, Jessica Ringshaw, clinical neuropsychologist at King’s College London, talks to us about how anaemia in pregnancy is linked to differences in babies' brain development. Babies born to mothers who were anaemic during pregnancy have smaller brain volumes than babies born to mothers who were not according to Jessica’s new study.

And when did you last read a book? Fewer people are reading for pleasure, but getting lost in a good book has repeatedly been linked to substantial cognitive benefits. Claudia and Graham discuss the power of reading and how storytelling can help develop empathy during medical training.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell