Health Check

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 condition Parkinson’s disease by testing for a build-up of abnormal proteins. Ian Temple has Parkinson’s disease, but that hasn’t stopped him dancing. He is part of a group run by the English National Ballet for people with Parkinson’s. We hear from a dance class, and Elke Kalbe, Professor of medical psychology at the University of Cologne, explains how physical exercise like this might benefit people with the condition.And have you ever heard someone with a near death experience recount that their life flashed before their eyes? We discuss new neuroscience which might explain the phenomenon.Image credit: Ahmed Satti/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

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 take up during the Covid 19 pandemic. He discusses a new study which links taking a long afternoon nap with obesity and high blood pressure.And have you ever sensed that someone was with you when you were actually completely alone? It happened to polar explorer Luke Robertson in 2016 when he became the first Scottish person to trek solo to the South Pole. In his book ‘Presence: The Strange Science and True Stories of the Unseen Other’, psychologist Ben Alderson-Day tries to make sense of the phenomenon which has been known to affect many people from Polar explorers, to people with sleep disorders or Parkinson’s disease.Image Credit: Morsa ImagesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

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 hear about a new piece of research from the UK showing that hearing aids may protect against a higher risk of dementia. As we learn more about ‘Long Covid’, we explore evidence that links breathlessness with having had disrupted sleep. And have you ever been told you grind your teeth? Author Naomi Alderman was shocked recently when visiting the dentist to be told she had a condition called bruxism and hadn’t even realised. We ask whether experiencing the Covid pandemic may have led to more of us griding and clenching our teeth. Image Credit: Halfpoint ImagesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

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 effective as the drip – which doctors say will save time and lives. We hear from one of the first people in the world to be given blood grown in a laboratory – and the scientist who made it possible. People with conditions like sickle cell anaemia could eventually benefit from this technology with lab blood tailored to their needs. Overweight people with painful arthritic joints might be told it’s due to “wear and tear”. But Dr Graham Easton explains how a new study shows that changes to cells within our joints cause inflammation – and it’s not simply a case of extra weight putting pressure on our knees and hips. Producer: Paula McGrath

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 complications like pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes appear to make newborn babies “biologically younger” than those born to women who have healthy pregnancies. Researchers studied data from 1800 babies from 12 different parts of the United States and found that their so-called epigenetic age was reduced by around a week if their mothers had the conditions. As students across the world ask the popular artificial intelligence programme Chat GPT to write their essays, Professor Graham Easton assesses how much impact it could have on healthcare, from breast cancer screening to medical record keeping. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath Image Credit: Getty Images/ SDI Productions

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 to intensive care doctor Matt Morgan about what we can learn from giraffes to treat brain injury, what a koala’s eating habits can reveal about gut health and how when faced with disease we might have a lot in common with ants… We’ll also have a report from Somalia where five consecutive failed rainy seasons have left five million people with acute food shortages and nearly two million children at risk of malnutrition. With a sixth season projected to fail, medics are warning of severe and long lasting health implications, particularly for children. And we’ll be joined by global health expert Dr Matt Fox to discuss how certain types of gut bacteria in babies could predict the chance of developing type 1 diabetes in later life. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Gerry Holt & Helena Selby

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

“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 O’Rahilly from the University of Cambridge, explains how the drug mimics our body’s natural appetite signalling but its effects disappear once you stop the weekly injections. Family doctor Margaret McCartney says it might help some who are obese but warns that it has also gained a reputation as a “Hollywood skinny drug", reflecting some of society’s ideas about beauty and celebrity culture. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Photo: A jogger running around Clifton Downs, Bristol. Credit: Ben Birchall/PA)

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 psychological treatment he developed based on his research with 10,000 survivors of the 1999 earthquake in Turkey and how an earthquake simulator can be used to tackle trauma symptoms. We hear from researchers in the US and Kenya about a new discovery that has ended 100 years of searching for an airborne chemical that could hold the key to the way tsetse flies mate – and help to tackle the diseases they spread in humans.Our guest in the studio is family doctor Ann Robinson who has the latest research on global health. Could socialising more often be linked to a longer life? And why might half of the world’s population be obese by 2035? We’ll explore all this and more. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Gerry HoltImage: Survivors of the earthquake in the city of Jenderes in the countryside of Aleppo, north-western Syria. Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor

We delve into the science of how some vaccines could have unexpected effects beyond their intended target. They are called “non-specific effects” and we are only just at the beginning of our understanding despite scientists documenting this curious biological phenomenon more than 100 years ago. One of the earliest vaccines to be studied was the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine for Tuberculosis, better known as the BCG. Professor Christine Stabell-Benn gives us a history lesson and brings us up to date with her team’s research at the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau, Western Africa. Also in the programme we hear about a new device for fixing bones being trialled in Gaza and Sri Lanka – and already in use in Ukraine. We hear from surgeons about what kind of patients they are treating and from UK researchers on hopes it will offer a low-cost, easy-to-make alternative in countries where there are shortages of these fixators.Our studio guest this week is BBC News health and science journalist Philippa Roxby who talks us through the latest after an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu. Plus, we look at new studies on long Covid and how much exercise we should be aiming to do each day.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Gerry Holt and Emily Knight