Category Archives: Health

First over-the-counter birth control pill in US to go on sale later this month

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Opill is being shipped to retailers and pharmacies, and its arrival on shelves comes at a deeply fraught time for reproductive rights

Opill, the first birth control pill approved for over-the-counter distribution, is now being shipped to retailers and pharmacies, the company behind the pill, Perrigo, announced on Monday. It will be available in stores and online later this month.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Opill last year, paving the way for the United States to join the dozens of countries that have already made over-the-counter birth control pills available. Opill, which works by using the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy, is meant to be taken every day around the same time and, when used as directed, is 98% effective.

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Catalan pharmacies hand out free reusable period products

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Move by Spanish regional government to tackle period poverty will benefit about 2.5m people

The Catalonia region in Spain has begun providing free reusable menstrual cups, period underwear and cloth pads at pharmacies, in one of the first initiatives of its kind in the world.

The programme is part of a drive by the regional government to reduce period poverty after a survey found 44% of women using menstruation products in Catalonia could not afford their first-choice product and 23% said they had to reuse items designed for single use.

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Screen time robs average toddler of hearing 1,000 words spoken by adult a day, study finds

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Research into 220 Australian families over two years concludes exposure to television, phone and other screens hinders young children’s language skills

The average toddler is missing out on hearing more than 1,000 words spoken by an adult each day due to screen time, setting back their language skills, a first-of-its kind study has found.

The research, published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) Pediatrics, tracked 220 Australian families over two years to measure the relationship between family screen use and children’s language environment.

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Telstra apologises to family of Victorian who died during triple zero outage

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Government says regulator is looking into the disruption which prevented more than 100 calls being transferred to emergency services

Telstra has apologised for a technical issue that meant Australians were not able to speak to trained triple zero call takers for more than an hour.

The telecommunications giant issued the apology to people who were unable to make phone calls to triple zero for more than an hour on Friday morning.

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Australia ‘horrified’ by Gaza humanitarian catastrophe – as it happened

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Both sides of politics are pulling out all the stops as the Dunkley byelection goes down to the wire.

Speaking on Sunrise this morning, the education minister, Jason Clare, and the deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, went head-to-head over a tweet she published last night.

You should delete the tweet… This is a classic example of why women aren’t joining the Liberal party and why they’re not voting for the Liberal party, because of that classic, desperate, grubby political scare campaign we saw from the Liberal party yesterday.

I don’t know, really, you must wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and think, after 25 years of being a member of parliament, is this what I’ve become? I’m reduced to putting out tweets like this?

Anyone who watched question time during this week and saw your hopeless immigration minister unable to demonstrate that he even knows where his criminals [are], what they’re doing, who’s monitoring them and whether the community is safe, would probably not agree with what you’ve just said.

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Oprah Winfrey announces she is stepping down from WeightWatchers

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Talkshow host says she will donate all her shares ‘to eliminate any perceived conflict around her taking weight-loss medications’

Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving WeightWatchers on Thursday and giving away all her stock – a move that follows the TV talk queen revealing that her recent dramatic weight loss was due to taking new weight-loss drugs.

A statement from Winfrey issued by the company said that the talkshow host, a public face for WeightWatchers since 2015, would donate all her shares in the company to the National Museum of African American History and Culture “to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight-loss medications”.

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Questions raised about whether GPs will be ready for influx of people seeking vaping prescriptions

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Doctors admit helping patients quit vaping is a ‘new experience’ ahead of a near-total ban coming into force on 1 July

GPs are preparing for a rush of patients seeking prescriptions for vapes or help to give up smoking, with a peak doctor’s lobby admitting it is a “new experience” for some medical experts ahead of new government vaping crackdowns and a near-total ban on electronic cigarettes from July.

The health minister, Mark Butler, says there is a need to “upskill” some GPs to help Australians off vapes. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says doctors are well-equipped to handle the looming changes, which will outlaw vapes without a prescription, but the head of the Australian Medical Association says it may be a difficult task.

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‘No intention of stopping’: New Zealand online vape seller vows to ignore Australia’s new import ban

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Health department rejects seller’s taunt ‘new rules don’t apply to us’ and points to ‘escalated enforcement action as appropriate’

A New Zealand online vape seller is taunting the Albanese government over its vaping reforms, telling customers “we have no intention of stopping” vape shipments because of “one twat in Canberra”, presumably in reference to the federal health minister, Mark Butler.

From Friday, importation of vapes to Australia is banned unless an importer has a licence and permit. Prescription vape importers and manufacturers also need to notify the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of their product’s compliance with standards.

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Assisted dying law may soon diverge across British Isles, MPs warn

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Parliamentary inquiry highlights likelihood of Scotland, Jersey or Isle of Man passing new laws

Laws to allow assisted dying may pass in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man in the next few years, leading to a divergence between different parts of the UK and British Isles, MPs have warned.

The government must consider the repercussions of this, a parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying has said.

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NHS waiting lists falling but will stay above pre-Covid levels until 2030, IFS says

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Length of time patients must wait for A&E care, diagnostic tests, cancer care and surgery will remain high, report predicts

The NHS hospital waiting list will be falling “consistently” by the time of the general election but will remain even larger than it was before Covid until 2030, a new report predicts.

In potentially good news for Rishi Sunak, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the waiting list for operations in England is expected to “start to fall consistently but slowly from the middle of 2024”, during the months leading up to the election, which is widely expected in November.

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New online tool reveals how much Australian aged care homes spend on food, care and services

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Anika Wells says ‘Dollars to Care’ tool which allows users to compare homes on key metrics will ‘hold providers to account’

Aged care residents and their families will be able to see exactly how their home spends their money on food, care and services through a new online tool the Albanese government says will hold providers to account for how they spend taxpayer money.

The government is also using increased levels of data about aged care homes to monitor whether providers are passing on the full wage rise granted to staff by the federal government.

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Deadly experiment? UK asylum sites criticised for ‘horrific’ level of despair

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Critics of the government’s mass housing plan say it won’t save public money and at worst put asylum seekers at risk of suicide

Twice in January, ambulances rushed to the former RAF airbase at Wethersfield in a remote part of Essex, now the Home Office’s biggest mass asylum accommodation site, to attend to suicide attempts. On each occasion, an asylum seeker was admitted to hospital. Both survived.

Acts of self-harm have been common since part of the 325-hectare (800-acre) site, which first opened in 1944, started to be used to house refugees in July 2023.

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People in 20s more likely to be out of work because of poor mental health than those in early 40s

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Resolution Foundation report calls for action as number of young people experiencing poor mental health increases

Young people are more likely to be out of work because of ill health than people in their early 40s, a report calling for action on Britain’s mental wellbeing crisis has found.

People in their early 20s with mental health problems may have not had access to a steady education and can end up out of work or in low-paid jobs, the Resolution Foundation research revealed.

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Newsom launches abortion ads in Republican states to fight ‘war on women’

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Series of new advertisements target Republican efforts to criminalize abortions and a ‘war on travel’ for reproductive care

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is launching a series of new advertisements in Republican states targeting Republican efforts to criminalize having an abortion and “a war on travel” for reproductive care.

The first advertisement by Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s political action committee (Pac), will air this week in Tennessee, where lawmakers are considering legislation that would make it illegal for anyone who helps a minor obtain an abortion without permission from their parents. Anyone found guilty of the offense could face between three and 15 years in prison.

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Government U-turn on plans to double number of medical students in England

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Fears for impact on NHS workforce as leaked letter reveals ministers stall on aim to increase trainee doctors to 15,000 by 2031

Ministers have dramatically stalled plans to double the number of doctors being trained in England by 2031 in a move that has caused dismay across the NHS, as well in medical schools and universities, the Observer can reveal.

In June last year, ministers backed a long-term plan to expand the NHS workforce and pledged, amid great fanfare, to “double medical school places by 2031 from 7,500 today to 15,000, with more medical school places in areas with the greatest shortages to level up training and help address geographic inequity”. Labour is also committed to raising the number of doctors to 15,000 by 2031.

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MPs to get free vote on decriminalising abortion in England and Wales

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Amendment by Labour MP Diana Johnson would end prosecutions for terminations after 24 weeks

MPs are expected to get a free vote on decriminalising abortion when a Labour backbencher lays an amendment that would end the prosecution of women who terminate pregnancies after the 24-week limit.

Diana Johnson is expected to lay an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act next month that would stop the possibility of women being jailed for going ahead with abortions after the time limit.

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Seeing same GP ‘improves patient health and cuts workload of doctors’

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Study analysing data from 10m consultations in England also says practice can free up millions of appointments

Seeing the same GP improves patients’ health, reduces doctors’ workloads and could free up millions of appointments, according to the largest study of its kind.

Primary care is under enormous strain, with patients struggling to book consultations, GPs quitting or retiring early, and financial pressures causing some practices to close. Four-week waits hit a record high in 2023, with 17.6m appointments taking place at least 28 days after being booked in England last year.

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‘Outrageous and unacceptable’: Biden and Harris decry Alabama court ruling on IVF

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President and vice-president speak out against ruling while Haley attempts to retract comments on embryos being babies

The decision of the Alabama supreme court on in vitro fertilization, granting legal protections to frozen fertilized eggs, drew fire from President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders on Thursday, laying responsibility for the decision on the US supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.

“A court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said in prepared remarks on Thursday. “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”

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Fire situation ‘will get worse before it gets better’ – as it happened

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Competition minister Andrew Leigh just spoke with ABC RN about, you guessed it, competition.

Speaking about supermarket prices and concentration in particular, Leigh said he is worried that Australia’s market concentration has “increased over recent decades”.

We’ve got evidence now from very good micro data, which wasn’t available a few years back, that market concentration has gone up, that markups have increased – that is the gap between costs and prices – and that there’s less job switching than there was in the past which is a problem, because switching jobs is one of the best ways people boost their wages. All of that points to a less dynamic economy, and maybe one of the reasons why we just had the lousiest decade of productivity growth in the post-war era.

It’s not a priority that we’re focusing on at the moment.

In London to support Julian Assange’s hearing on whether he can appeal his extradition to the US. Julian’s extradition would strike at the very heart of free speech [and] democracy. Enough is enough. The US must drop the extradition of Julian Assange.

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Australian working in Rafah hospital says all staff are struggling: ‘We have victims caring for victims’

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Médecins Sans Frontières logistics expert calls for immediate ceasefire and fears ‘catastrophic’ Israeli ground offensive

An Australian logistics expert who is working at a hospital in Rafah has warned that “everyone here is struggling” while raising fears of a “catastrophic” Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza city.

Lindsay Croghan, who is on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières, also said there must be an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” because a prolonged debate “equates to more deaths”.

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