MSF charity calls situation ‘beyond urgent’ as thousands seeking refuge from war rely on contaminated water
The “worst cholera outbreak in years” has killed at least 40 people in the last week in Sudan, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
Overwhelmed medical centres are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor, MSF said, as the country’s two-year civil war aids the spread of the disease.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Doctors are sounding the alarm over a surge in cancers and irreversible skin damage linked to bleaching creams, as colourism continues to shape beauty ideals from Africa to Asia
Good morning. The slogan “black is beautiful” rang out from civil rights marches in the US and UK during the 1960s and echoed through liberation struggles across the global south. It became a rallying cry against racist beauty standards that had long cast Black skin, facial features and hair as undesirable.
These movements urged pride in what had been denigrated for centuries, and their message was not limited to people of African or Caribbean heritage. Calls to embrace natural beauty resonated across Asia and much of the global south, directly challenging the colonial belief that lighter skin conferred greater worth.
Ukraine | Donald Trump told European leaders on Wednesday he would be seeking a ceasefire in Ukraine at his summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday and gave reassurances that he would not make any territorial concessions without Kyiv’s full involvement.
UK news | David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after going fishing with JD Vance without the required licence during the US vice-president’s trip to the UK.
Immigration | At least 20 people have died after a boat capsized off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, a United Nations agency and local media reported on Wednesday.
UK politics | Keir Starmer is to formally revive Northern Powerhouse Rail this autumn with an announcement expected before the Labour conference.
Palestine | The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied territories has warned that moves to recognise a Palestinian state should not distract member states from stopping mass death and starvation in Gaza.
Continue reading...Lifestyle factors such as drinking and smoking could contribute to increased severity of obstructive sleep apnoea
Letting your hair down at the weekend might be a well-known recipe for a hangover, but researchers say it might also increase the severity of a common sleep disorder.
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) involves complete pauses in breathing or partial reductions in airflow that arise because muscles in the back of the throat relax, causing the airways to narrow or close. It is more common in groups such as older people and people who are overweight or obese.
Continue reading...US medical journal article about 60-year-old with bromism warns against using AI app for health information
A US medical journal has warned against using ChatGPT for health information after a man developed a rare condition following an interaction with the chatbot about removing table salt from his diet.
An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported a case in which a 60-year-old man developed bromism, also known as bromide toxicity, after consulting ChatGPT.
Continue reading...Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms
The climate crisis is driving a sharp rise in dengue fever cases across the Pacific islands, experts say, as infections hit their highest level in a decade and several countries declare emergencies.
Pacific Island countries and territories have reported 16,502 confirmed cases and 17 deaths since the start of 2025, according to the Pacific Syndromic Surveillance System (PSSS), which collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies. Infections across the region are at the highest level since 2016, the WHO said. Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are among the worst affected.
Continue reading...NHS figures show rise in violence against nurses to 4,054 incidents last year, with long waits for care often a factor
Attacks on A&E nurses have almost doubled over the last six years, with incidents often involving patients frustrated at waiting so long for care.
Nurses have been punched, spat at, pinned up against a wall, had a gun pointed at them and been threatened with having acid thrown at them, according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
Continue reading...Some Salisbury, Maryland, residents say the contaminated water from Perdue Farms’s local plant has sickened them
Wastewater from an industrial soya bean farm and processor has poisoned a Maryland town’s drinking water with Pfas, several lawsuits allege, raising questions about residents’ health and “forever chemical” pollution from industrial agricultural operations nationwide.
Perdue Farms acknowledged that its 300-acre Salisbury, Maryland, operation is polluting local waters, but the chemicals’ sources have not been confirmed. It appears the Pfas is in part also coming from some combination of sludge used as fertilizer and pesticides, attorneys for plaintiffs say.
Continue reading...Self-administering Innotox, which is not licensed for use in UK, can lead to eyelid droops, infection and even botulism
People seeking cheap Botox-like injections have been warned by experts against doing it themselves due to the risk of “eyelid droops”, infection and even botulism.
There are growing concerns over the availability of medication called Innotox that is being sold illegally online in the UK. Unlike Botox, which comes as a powder that must be reconstituted for use in an injection, Innotox is a ready-to-use liquid – making it easier to self-administer.
Continue reading...Countess of Chester receives urgent warning notice over ‘visibly dirty equipment’ and routine corridor care
Emergency care at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked is falling far short of legal standards, the healthcare watchdog has found, with routine corridor care and “critical gaps” in sepsis treatment.
The Countess of Chester hospital, in north-west England, was issued with an urgent warning notice after inspectors found “repeated breaches” of regulations in its emergency care unit.
Continue reading...Girl was sent home from Sydney Children’s hospital in Randwick twice before being admitted to Northern Beaches hospital a day later, where she died
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A six-year-old girl has died of the flu at Northern Beaches hospital after being twice sent home from the Sydney Children’s hospital, and the New South Wales health minister has said her parents “deserve answers”.
The girl presented to the emergency department at the Sydney Children’s hospital in Randwick on Monday and was discharged after a clinical assessment.
Continue reading...Study finds Wiltshire ham products sold by retailers such as Tesco and M&S contain highest level of nitrites
Ham and bacon sold by supermarkets including Tesco, and Marks and Spencer still contain cancer-causing chemicals almost 10 years after the World Health Organization warned about the dangers of their use in processed meats.
Wiltshire ham is the product with the highest concentrations of nitrites, according to analysis that compared it to cooked ham and unsmoked bacon.
Continue reading...Incineration of $9.7m of contraceptives to lead to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions, IPPF says
A decision by the US government to incinerate more than $9.7m (£7.3m) of contraceptives is projected to result in 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions in five African countries.
More than three-quarters of the contraceptives (77%) were destined for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an NGO global healthcare provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive rights.
Continue reading...Charities urge government to move quickly after it announced scheme to help critically ill and injured children
More than 100 critically ill and injured children in Gaza hope to come to the UK as soon as possible after the government announced a scheme to provide those in severe need with NHS care.
The government announced on Sunday that it would evacuate children from Gaza to the UK for treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.
Continue reading...Dietitian Lyndi Cohen says her likeness is being ‘abused and misrepresented’ as websites posing as Australian businesses claim to offer GLP-1 substances
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Online “ghost stores” masquerading as Australian businesses have expanded into advertising Ozempic-like weight loss treatments, and are impersonating real people, including a well-known dietitian, to recommend their products.
After uncovering more than 140 sites falsely claiming to be Australian fashion retailers that prompted a public warning from the consumer regulator, Guardian Australia has identified a new scam that targets people trying to lose weight.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data reveals ‘invisible crisis’ with millions yet to have first specialist appointment or diagnostic test
Almost half of the 6 million people needing treatment from the NHS in England have had no further care at all since joining a hospital waiting list, new data reveals.
Previously unseen NHS England figures show that 2.99 million of the 6.23 million patients (48%) awaiting care have not had either their first appointment with a specialist or a diagnostic test since being referred by a GP.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing urges ministers to improve 3.6% offer to avoid industrial action ballot later this year
Nine out of 10 nurses have rejected a 3.6% pay award for this year and warned they could strike later this year unless their salaries are improved.
In an indicative vote among members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 91% said the 3.6% rise was not enough.
Continue reading...American Medical Association writes to health secretary after reports he aims to overhaul taskforce for being ‘woke’
A top US medical body has expressed “deep concern” to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies.
The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US Preventive Services Task Force because he regards them as too “woke”, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Continue reading...People like David Clune have been saved by medical breakthroughs, but many still don’t know the risks or can’t access doctors
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In 1989 David Clune was a young dad with four children when he was diagnosed with hepatitis B and C. Being told he wouldn’t get to see them grow up “was like a spear went through my heart”, he remembers.
Clune is not sure how he contracted the virus. However, entering state care in New Zealand at the age of 10, he experienced abuse and neglect as he was cycled through eight different homes, three youth detention centres, one adult remand centre and a psychiatric hospital, and was exposed to shared needles for tattooing and drugs.
Continue reading...Research notes lack of interventions for perimenopausal women despite finding that hot flushes and night sweats can be as severe as for those of menopause
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Almost 40% of women going through perimenopause experience moderate to severe hot flushes and night sweats but have no treatment options, new research has found.
The study, published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, explored differences in symptom prevalence by menopausal stage among women aged 40-69 years.
Continue reading...The BMA says resident doctors have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-09 than the rest of the population
The Conservatives have accused Labour of having “opened the door” to fresh resident doctors’ strikes with a “spineless surrender to union demands last year”.
Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: “They handed out inflation-busting pay rises without reform, and now the BMA are back for more.
It is hard to believe that, yet again, we are going into industrial action by our resident (formerly junior) doctors. It has only been a year since the last round of strikes and the length of this one – five days at two weeks’ notice over the summer when people are away – is designed to send a message.
Consultants were, by and large, supportive of the previous rounds of strikes. There is a recognition our residents have it harder than we did. There is more financial hardship than there used to be, their salaries don’t go as far as ours did when we were training, and they have amassed more student debt.
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