Health Check

Matt Fox, professor of epidemiology at Boston University, discusses the potential threats to funding for the PEPFAR program, which has saved millions of lives. Other topics include a gene variant increasing the risk of Parkinson's disease in African populations, vaccine hesitancy among pet owners, the importance of exercise during cancer treatment, and a study on turmeric as a treatment for indigestion.

Max Dickins, author of 'Billy No-Mates', joins Claudia Hammond, Robin Dunbar, and Dr. Radha Modgil to discuss the psychology of male friendships and its impact on mental health. They explore the importance of friendships, cultural differences, taking initiative, building habits, and the challenges men face in forming close relationships.

Naloxone nasal spray to counteract opioid overdoses in the US. Polar research team addressing menstrual health in expeditions. Morning after pill more effective with anti-inflammatory drugs. Study on romantic relationships explores whether opposites attract.

In March 2015, Brazil reported a large outbreak of the Zika virus infection. Over the next year, the disease became a global medical emergency. Thousands of babies were born brain-damaged, after their mothers became infected while pregnant.As the World Health Organisation discusses the current global Zika situation and the lessons learned from the outbreak, Claudia Hammond is joined by Dr Graham Easton to hear from the families affected in Brazil and ask what life is now like for the babies who were born with complications.We also hear about new recommendations for how communities around the world can better prevent Sudden Cardiac Death, as well as research on whether how far away you are from a defibrillator is related to how deprived your area is.Claudia speaks to a psychiatric nurse and the woman who says she saved her life by going above and beyond the call of duty.And we hear about the world first from Australia, where scientists discovered a living worm in the brain of a woman who’d been experiencing stomach pain and night sweats.Image Credit: Joao Paulo BuriniPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Dan Welsh

Disgraced former transplant surgeon Paolo Macchiarini appeals against a prison sentence for gross assault. Health Check also discusses the impact of eating speed on health and the first functional kidney transplant from a pig into a human.

Contaminated cough syrup found in Iraq; Impact of anti-LGBTQ legislation on HIV healthcare in Uganda; Brain signal decoding technology; Insecticide-treated bed nets for malaria prevention; Nose picking and COVID-19 correlation

In the week that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that leprosy could now be endemic in the South-eastern United States, Claudia Hammond looks at global action on leprosy with science journalist Kamala Thiagarajan. There is an international effort to learn more about weaning seriously ill people off ventilator support in hospitals. We hear about the Weansafe study from Ireland.Professor of integrated community child health at University College London, Monica Lakhanpaul joins Claudia in the studio to discuss why the roll out of a new vaccine for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) in the US could be a gamechanger. And why on your next trip to a hospital, you could see groups of elderly in-patients going on walks. Could it help prevent the effects of bedrest?Image: Leprosy, nerve biopsy, nerve fibres surrounded by histiocytesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

Henrietta Lacks was only 31 years old when she died from cervical cancer in 1951. While she was in hospital in the USA, her cells were harvested without her knowledge which, since being replicated infinitely, have gone on to enable research into cancer, dementia and Parkinson’s. As well as contributing to the development of vaccines for polio and COVID-19. Her family have fought for decades to get justice for the “stolen” cells, and this week reached a settlement with Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. The United Nations says we now live in the era of "global boiling". As temperatures continue to soar across the southern USA, the BBC’s Health and Science Correspondent James Gallagher heads to a high-tech heated chamber in the UK, on a mission to find out how hot is too hot for our bodies to cope with.In Sweden, dentist Dr Nivetha Natarajan Gavriilidou tells Claudia Hammond about her work using the bone structure of the jaw to predict how we might get shorter as we age. Could it lead to dentists working closer with GPs? It’s a question we also put to our studio guest family doctor Ann Robinson. Who brings us new research from the USA that could lead to better treatment for children’s runny noses. And potentially some good news if you’re struggling to shave seconds off your 5KM PB. Could beating your time be down to your genes? Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF say global immunisation services reached 4 million more children in 2022 compared to the previous year, after a huge backslide during the Covid 19 pandemic. But the progress in countries like India and Indonesia masks continued decline in many lower income countries. Global health expert Tabitha Mwangi and Claudia Hammond discuss how immunisation numbers can bounce back.They also look at new research from Sub-Saharan Africa that suggests as many as one in 10 teenagers might have high blood pressure, and what might be the most effective way of lowering it?While you may be gripped by the action from the Women’s football World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Dr Kerry Peek is keeping a careful eye on the games for health reasons. She’s one of a team of ‘concussion spotters’ deployed this year for the first time at the tournament. Claudia asks her why professional sports women are more at risk from head injuries than men.And are you a perfectionist? Psychologist Dr Thom Curran says striving to be perfect could put our mental health at risk.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producers: Clare Salisbury and Dan Welsh(Photo: A child gets administered the polio vaccine from a health worker in Kabul, Afghanistan, 15 May 2023. Credit: SAMIULLAH POPAL Samiullah Popal/EPA)

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 risk from dementia could be another way to slow cognitive decline in some people. While caring for women in childbirth, midwives are expected to be compassionate. Claudia hears from Dr Halima Musa Abdul, Senior Lecturer in Nursing Science at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, and to Dr Kaveri Mayra, who trained in India and is now a researcher at the University of British Columbia. They say that particularly in lower and middle income countries, midwives aren’t being shown enough compassion at work themselves. And we hear from Germany where a portable brain scanner could provide a solution for people in hard-to-reach health clinics. Image Credit: Andrew BrookesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury & Dan Welsh