Health Check

Ayoka from Atlanta, Georgia in the US is desperate to have a baby and her family is helping to pay for her IVF treatment. But Ayoka knows that she carries a serious genetic condition, Fragile X, which she does not want to pass on to her children. She tells Claudia Hammond what it means to know that she would be prevented from having an abortion, even if pre-natal testing revealed her unborn baby had the inherited condition. That is because the state of Georgia, up until yesterday when the ban was successfully challenged in court, has restricted termination after six weeks of pregnancy. This restriction is too early for genetic testing to have taken place. So what will she do if the ban is reinstated?Lebanon has experienced profound economic, financial and civil shocks in recent years as well as absorbing almost a million and a half refugees, a third of its total population. The strains on its infrastructure are acute and for the first time in almost thirty years, there have been outbreaks of cholera, claiming lives of young and old alike, just as there is a global shortage of cholera vaccines. Lebanon’s Minister of Public Health, Dr Firass Abiad, tells Claudia about the steps that are being taken to treat, vaccinate and restore vital infrastructure to stop the disease spreading.And the BBC’s Science and Health correspondent, James Gallagher, brings the latest medical findings, including how armadillos showed that the leprosy bacterium can regenerate organs, how children’s different births cause different microbiomes and different reactions to vaccinations and which smells give you a better night’s sleep.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Fiona Hill(Photo: A pregnant woman lying down. Credit: Brooke Fasani Auchincloss/Getty Images)

South Africa's anti-retroviral programme to treat HIV infection is the largest in the world with 5.5 million people in treatment. It’s transformed this disease from an automatic death sentence, to something that can be managed as a chronic illness and the government is determined to expand the programme and get more people with HIV in treatment. It’s an ambitious plan and Claudia Hammond hears how psychological tools called "nudges", drawn from behavioural economics, are being used and tested as low-cost interventions to persuade more people into treatment. Dr Sophie Pascoe, Co-Director of South Africa’s first HIV nudge unit, Indlela, describes how the new techniques are being used.And the plight of the Covid-19 shielders. Shannon is so vulnerable to catching the virus that she has lived apart from her husband and teenage daughter for almost two years. What’s it like having your life on hold and not being able to hug or kiss your loved ones? And Matt Fox, Professor of Global Health Epidemiology and Boston University joins Claudia to discuss the increase in cholera outbreaks and the shortage of vaccines and the new UK trial to manufacture blood in a laboratory.Image: Beaded HIV/AIDS ribbon brooch among beaded South African flag keyrings, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Credit: Neil Overy/Getty Images)Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Fiona Hill

Claudia Hammond discovers that some livers have the potential for extraordinary longevity and after a long life in a transplant donor, can survive for many more years in a transplant recipient. Livers over one hundred years old, called centurian livers by researchers, have been identified and many are still going strong. The new study has important implications for the future of liver transplants because donated organs from some older-age people were also found to last longer than those from young-age donors, a finding that Dr Christine Hwang, from the University of Texas in the USA and study co-author, tells Claudia upturns conventional thinking about the healthiest livers to transplant.The accuracy of forehead thermometers as well as pulse oximeters on darker skin is an issue that's received widespread attention, but what about the medical need to accurately measure skin pigmentation for psoriasis, eczema, skin cancers and other health conditions? Dr Ophelia Dadzie from the British Association of Dermatologists and the Hillingdon Hospital in London has been developing a scientific way to measure skin colour. Her method uses eumelanin, a skin pigment, and she's created a new scale to objectively assess peoples’ skin colour.And BBC correspondent, Dr Smitha Mundasad, joins Claudia and reports on the growing Ebola outbreak in Uganda, the risks of herbal supplements on our livers and brings the latest evidence on the health benefits of the weighted blanket.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Fiona Hill(Picture: A doctor Transporting a Human Organ for Transplant. Photo credit: Photographereddie/Getty Images.)

Health-threatening fungal infections are on the rise and the World Health Organisation identifies the pathogens which pose the greatest risk to human health. Dr Graham Easton, family doctor and Professor of Medical Education at Queen Mary, University of London, tells Claudia how growing resistance to anti-fungal medication resistance, just like antibiotic resistance, is making the problem even worse. Graham also highlights growing health concerns about the recreational use of the drug Nitrous Oxide or laughing gas around the world.One hundred and fifty million people are thought to have Long Covid, debilitating symptoms which persist long after Covid-19 infection, yet the condition is still little understood. To spell out what we do, and don’t, know about Long Covid, a patient and a professor have got together to write The Long Covid Handbook. Patient advocate and film maker Gez Medinger and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College, London, Danny Altman, describe the gaps in medical knowledge and the impact on sufferers of the slow progress on diagnostics and treatment.A recent survey in Chile revealed mental health to be the top health concern in the country. Jane Chambers reports on a Santiago charity called the Itaca Foundation, finding great success by pairing up vulnerable younger people with older people for mutual support. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Fiona Hill(Picture: A woman resting after running with a protective face mask in the city. Photo credit: Drazen Zigic/Getty Images.)

After decades of progress – how can we stop the pandemic, climate change and conflict around the world from turning back the clock when it comes to women and children’s health? We hear from UNICEF’s Dr Jennifer Requejo about a new report which examines the impact of natural disasters, war and the pandemic and offers some ideas of how to catch up on targets for improvements. The BBC’s medical and science correspondent James Gallagher thinks he hasn’t had Covid-19 – and takes a blood test to see whether there are any tell-tale signs that he might have been infected unknowingly. And there’s news of how Covid affected life expectancy and whether spending time in the countryside or by the beach might make a difference to how long we live. And a study which suggests that 5 hours is the minimum number of hours sleep we need to stay healthy. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Picture: Close up of a mother carrying a baby boy in a fabric sling. Photo credit: PixelCatchers/Getty Images.)

If you’re trying to work out what’s healthy to eat and what to avoid – there’s a new five star rating system. Researchers in the US have looked at previous studies which examined how much certain foods increased the risk of developing a particular disease – or if they could even protect you. Dr Chris Murray from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington says he hopes the star ratings will help people to make informed decisions about their health. We hear from Dr Tammy Tong, a nutritional epidemiologist at Oxford University about the strengths and limitations of this approach. Millions of people around the world use open-pit toilets – a hole in the ground where they can see and smell other people’s waste. The walls are often made of bits of metal and cloth and they are often shared between many families, provoking feelings of shame and disgust. Dr Ian Ross from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has been measuring the difference a nicer toilet can have on people’s quality of life in Mozambique – with help from Zaida Adriano Cumbe who talked to families involved in the study in Maputo.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Picture: Tacos with grilled steak and vegetables, avocado, tomato, cilantro and lime. Photo credit: Istetiana/Getty Images.)

There’s encouraging news about a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease following years of disappointing drug trials. The drug lecanemab is a monoclonal antibody which is designed to remove clumps of amyloid proteins which damage the brain. Professor Bart de Strooper who’s director of the UK Dementia Research Institute explains how patients who had regular infusions of the drug had their rate of cognitive decline reduced by 27% when compared to those given a placebo. Sewage testing has been used around the world during the Covid pandemic – and at the moment children in London are being vaccinated against polio after the virus was found in waste water. The BBC’s Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher takes us on a tour of a sewer in southern England. Claudia Hammond’s guest this week Professor Graham Easton from Queen Mary University of London looks at whether folic acid could reduce suicide and self harm – and whether it’s ok to take anti-depressants during pregnancy. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Picture: Pharmaceutical research into brain disorders. Photo credit: Westend61/Getty Images.)

Waterborne diseases are on the rise in Sindh province in Pakistan where water levels are still high after record floods. BBC Urdu’s Riaz Sohail visited the region and tells us about the conditions in roadside camps and a hospital in Dadu district.A recently published Motor Neuron Disease trial suggests that a new drug could make a fundamental difference for some people living with the disease. And how does healthcare work if a doctor can only be reached by boat, helicopter or plane? BBC’s Marnie Chesterton went to Greenland and spoke to a healthcare worker in the small village of Narsarsuaq.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Florian Bohr(Picture: Flood-affected people on the road in Dadu city, Pakistan. Photo credit: Jan Ali Laghari/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.)

Egypt has almost eliminated the 'silent killer' hepatitis C – less than a decade after having the highest number of cases of the virus in the world. A new report from the World Economic Forum details how they managed to screen almost the whole adult population and treated those infected with the virus which can cause liver damage and even cancer. Professor Imam Waked from the National Liver Institute explains how other countries like Rwanda and Georgia are now following suit – but not quite at the rapid pace which Egypt managed. There is currently a rise in cases of cholera in Syria, and outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever in Pakistan, but for opposite reasons. The first is caused by a drought, and the latter by a flood. And what psychology can tell us about the behaviour of crowds when there’s a false alarm but people feel genuine fear. And James Gallagher reveals what nightmares and learning a musical instrument tell us about our brains.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Picture: Labourers line up for Hepatitis C screening at a construction site in Egypt in 2017. Photo credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images.)

The trial of a malaria vaccine in Burkina Faso has revealed promising results, protecting young children from being infected by the parasite for a second season. Most malaria deaths are in children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. We hear from one of the research team Professor Katie Ewer, about how difficult it is to create a malaria vaccine. It’s hoped that the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer in Pune, India, will make enough of the vaccine to make it available to every child who needs it in the next few years. A new study has shown that forehead thermometers are not as accurate at picking up high temperatures in black patients as they are in people with white skin. Family doctor Ann Robinson explains how worrying symptoms could be missed in some patients, leading to health inequalities if we rely on devices which are only tested on white skin. And how walking can help to reduce our risk of dementia – and also help tired parents get their crying babies off to sleep. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath(Picture: A child receives a malaria vaccination at Yala Sub-County hospital, Kenya, in October 2021. Photo credit: Brian Ongoro/AFP/Getty Images.)