The Guardian Health

Medical colleges condemn scrapping of NHS placements for overseas doctors

Scheme brought in up to 500 foreign-trained doctors a year and was seen as example of British ‘soft power’The NHS has scrapped a longstanding scheme that let overseas doctors boost their skills in UK hospitals and was seen as an example of British “soft power”.Senior doctors have criticised NHS England’s decision to axe the Medical Training Initiative, under which 400 to 500 foreign-trained doctors were given placements in Britain every year. Continue reading...

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

The cost and burden of avoiding ‘forever chemicals’ should not fall on parents | Letter

Kendal Archer says it is the government’s responsibility to legislate and big agriculture’s responsibility not to cover our food in chemicalsI read your article (‘Forever chemicals’ linked to gut inflammation in children after early exposure, 24 July) on prenatal and early-life exposure to Pfas leading to higher levels of intestinal inflammation in children – and by extension colorectal cancer – with interest.I’m a mum of two. Since my first pregnancy, I have grappled with the endless advice and

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘So ... can I get this peptide?’: the loophole making way for the US’s ‘wild west’ of untested drugs

A century ago, compounding pharmacies helped people get bespoke drugs. Now under RFK Jr, these less-regulated businesses are fueling the peptide boomRobert F Kennedy Jr is sitting stiffly in Joe Rogan’s podcast studio, inside the influencer’s enormous Texas mansion. Atypically for Rogan’s guests, Kennedy still cloaks himself in the trappings of authority; in a blue suit and pink novelty tie featuring kayakers paddling upstream, he is a stark contrast from Rogan, who sports a biceps-hugging T-shi

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

The US public is fed up with RFK Jr. To really ‘make America healthy again’, it should look to Europe | Devi Sridhar

Americans are dying younger than Europeans, despite being the wealthiest people on the planet. Wellness fads won’t change thatI’m just back from my home country, the United States. I always enjoy visiting, but every time I go between the US and my adopted home of Europe, I’m keenly aware of disparity in health: Americans live much shorter lives and spend more of their lifetime in poor health. This is despite Americans earning some of the highest salaries per capita in the world and spending twic

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

I’ve spent years researching what it means to be alive. This is what I’ve learned | Melanie Challenger

To understand the experience of life, don’t look to the mind. Look to the bodyIn a 1982 article, the American feminist scholar Elizabeth Spelman coined the term “somatophobia” to describe the strange human delusion that we are minds rather than bodies.Forty years later, artificial intelligence is everywhere, offering the most powerful illusion yet that intelligence can exist without flesh. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a recent study believe that tools like ChatGPT possess some consciousness

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

Excess deaths caused by heatwaves in England ‘almost double’ so far this year

UKHSA estimates 2,877 heat-associated deaths during heatwaves in May and June, almost twice the number in summer 2025The number of excess deaths caused by heatwaves has almost doubled so far this year in England compared with 2025, the UK Health Security Agency, has said.There were 2,877 heat-associated deaths during the heatwaves in May and June this year, a report has estimated, almost double the figure reported from the UK heatwaves in June to August last year. Continue reading...

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

The body snatchers: how a young Nigerian man was lured to London in an organ-trafficking plot

David Nwamini was working at a market in Lagos when he was given the chance to start anew in the UK. He had no idea what was expected of him in return• The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to orderDavid Nwamini arrived in Lagos for the first time in 2016. He had come from a village in Ebonyi, a state in southeastern Nigeria. He was 15 years old, the eldest of nine siblings and his parents were farmers. When he was a boy, his father became sick and David started worki

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

Battles loom over social care, but this fight must be won. At last, we have a PM who believes that | Polly Toynbee

Burnham seems ready to use his power and influence. He understands the depth of this crisis: the task is persuading all those still in denial“People pleaser!” That’s the insult Andy Burnham’s enemies sneer at him. And yes, he will need all his mightiest people-pleasing talents to win over voters to contribute to a new national care service. Choosing this forever failed policy (22 major reviews over three decades) as his first great challenge is a remarkable act of bravery. No mere people pleaser

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

Lindsay Clancy’s ex-husband testifies about the day she killed their three children

Lawyers for Massachusetts mother say she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis amid January 2023 tragedyMore than three years after a Massachusetts mother strangled her three young children, her former husband described returning home to the aftermath and a jury listened on Wednesday to his frantic 911 call, as her lawyers seek to prove she was in the grip of post-pregnancy psychosis.Lindsay Clancy, 35, admits she killed her children in January 2023 while her then husband was ⁠on an errand a

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘You have to sit quietly until you die’: The families failed by England’s social care system

Carers tell of their struggles to get loved ones the support they need, and the emotional and financial toll caring takes on their own livesAndy Burnham has vowed to fast-track the Casey Commission, an independent review of adult social care in England, with final recommendations expected to be released by summer 2027.“I think social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare,” Burnham said in a speech outlining his pledge for reform on Wednesday. “The vulnerable pay with everything and

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

Assisted dying debate should come after end-of-life care reform, says Burnham

Introducing legislation would be ‘very challenging’ before improvement of care system, says prime ministerUK politics live – latest updatesAndy Burnham has said the assisted dying debate needs to wait until palliative care and social care are fixed, as he delivered a speech to set out his path to resolving one of the most intractable problems in British politics.The prime minister said he was not opposed to having the debate on assisted dying, but told reporters it would be “very challenging” to

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

Deep breathing: the asthma clinic buried 250 metres into an Armenian salt mine

Underground clinic’s fate hangs in the balance after government withdrew state funding For most people, spending hours deep underground in darkness would seem an odd prescription for better health.Yet every morning, a handful of Armenians descend 250 metres beneath the earth into an active salt mine where they spend six hours in cavernous chambers carved from rock salt, hoping the air below ground will help them breathe more easily. Continue reading...

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘Prioritising profit’: Australians regularly prescribed medicinal cannabis with very high THC levels

Exclusive: Of more than 1,000 medicinal cannabis products available, only two have been evaluated by the drugs regulatorGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDoctors are commonly prescribing high-dose medicinal cannabis containing up to four times the concentration of THC tested in clinical trials, a review has found.Researchers from Monash University evaluated the available evidence for the efficacy and safety of higher THC potency medicinal cannabis products, in line with

health  Jul 29, 2026

The Guardian Health

Trump reportedly pushing RFK Jr to cut vaccines more aggressively

White House has halted changing vaccine schedule as it is unpopular, but anti-vaxx Trump set on ‘alleviating autism’Donald Trump is pushing longtime vaccine opponent and current health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be more aggressive on cutting vaccines in the US, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.Trump has a long record of anti-vaccine statements, but the White House recently put a hold on vaccine changes after polling indicated they were a losing issue in the midterm elec

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

The Guardian view on noise pollution: keep it down | Editorial

New research linking the issue to Parkinson’s disease adds to the evidence of serious health repercussions from traffic volume and other sourcesThe roar of late-night traffic is not just annoying for those trying to sleep. It can also have profound effects on their health. A pioneering new study, published this month, has found a clear link between road noise and Parkinson’s disease. The research, which followed more than 3 million Danish participants, found a modest but consistent effect: for e

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

California’s largest ICE facility neglected detainees’ medical needs, monitor finds

Court-appointed investigator finds California City facility failed to comply with judge’s order to provide adequate healthcareCalifornia’s largest immigration detention center has failed to comply with a judge’s orders to provide adequate healthcare, according to a court-appointed monitor who found the facility was struggling to meet a wide range of medical standards.The California City detention center, located north-east of Los Angeles, was found to have major flaws in the care it provides res

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

Why migraines are often undiagnosed | Letters

Dr Sally Cheseldine reflects on the experience of people who cannot articulate their pain and the significance of cravingsDuring my clinical career, I noticed that migraine was rarely diagnosed in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities or autism who were non-verbal and therefore unable to say that they had a sore head (Letters, 24 July). Instead, there was a high level of damaging head-banging, something that others say they feel tempted to do if they don’t have access to rapid pain r

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

Black people’s risk factors for stroke ‘rising faster than for white people’

Exclusive: King’s College London analysis finds diabetes and hypertension are more common in Black African and Caribbean peopleStroke risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes are rising faster among people from Black African and Caribbean backgrounds compared with their white counterparts, according to analysis.Researchers at King’s College London analysed data from more than 8,500 adults over a 30-year period from the South London Stroke Register, one of the longest-running popul

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

I had my first alcoholic drink at 16. By 26, I was given six months to live

Holly Dyson’s addiction led to extreme pain, hospital trips and thousands of pounds’ worth of debt. Here is how she recoveredHolly Dyson’s last alcoholic drink was a can of cider to manage her withdrawal symptoms, which she had in her dad’s car on the way to rehab on 2 May 2023. She’d barely eaten in two weeks. Instead, she spent her last few days at home in the north-west of England vomiting blood into the toilet bowl and lying in bed twitching, feeling unbearably nauseous. Her hand hovered ove

health  Jul 28, 2026

The Guardian Health

Johnson & Johnson to pay $5.5bn settlement in talc cancer lawsuit

Landmark deal covers about 76,000 claims and could end contentious, decade-long legal battleJohnson & Johnson said it would pay an estimated $5.5bn to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby ⁠powder and other talc products caused ⁠ovarian cancer, in a landmark ​deal that could end a contentious, decade-long legal battle.Johnson & Johnson on Monday said the settlement covers about 76,000 claims, including ones consolidated in a federal court in New Jersey, and related case

health  Jul 28, 2026