The Guardian Health

Parkrun is a joy for many. Get involved | Letters

Bill Hunter says the weekly 5k race at locations across the UK and beyond is for everyone, and should be celebrated, while Helen Beioley says it is the perfect excuse to meet friends and consume a croissant afterI am sorry that the parkrun spoils Janet Knowlson’s experience of her local park (Letters, 7 August). I wonder if she has ever spoken to a parkrunner or a volunteer? Many would tell of the camaraderie and their improved physical and mental health. Strangers become friends and even partne

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

Trump administration finalizes rule to end federal support for gender-affirming care

Move blocking funds through Medicaid and Chip to make it harder for vulnerable children to get healthcare, experts sayThe Trump administration finalized a rule on Tuesday to end gender-affirming care through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip), a move that will make it harder for vulnerable children to access healthcare and that eschews evidence to advance an anti-transgender ideology, opponents say.The rule is set to take effect on 13 October – but legal challenges could

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

How Trump’s order on vaccines is sowing confusion, doubt and fear

The order cannot affect change, and is only ‘undermining trust in vaccines’ as CDC guidance remains the sameDonald Trump’s executive order on vaccines does not change the US recommendations for the shots – but experts say it does create confusion and doubt about vaccines, which will lead to more illness and possibly deaths among children and will make it harder for families and pediatricians to protect them.The executive order was an attempt to reinstate sweeping changes to the vaccine schedule

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

What end-of-life experts know about living well: love your wrinkles, celebrate birthdays and don’t obsess over work

How can our understanding of mortality shape the way we live? Palliative care doctors and death doulas share the lessons they have learnedWe will all face death one day, but our attitude towards this is individual. How can our understanding of mortality shape our approach to life? Here, palliative care doctors and death doulas share what they know about the end – and how it informs the way they live. Continue reading...

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

Stop the bites! How to survive another summer of mosquitoes, midges and horseflies

Dress like a zebra, wash your feet, keep off the beer: insect experts explain what works and what doesn’t – and why some of us get bitten more than othersIt’s a good time to be a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect. In the UK and beyond, they are enjoying the summer heat, and there are lots of humans outdoors, some wearing very little, like an all-you-can-eat walking buffet. Some of the humans are drinking beer, which apparently makes them even more irresistible to mosquitoes. Many of us are

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

How to keep babies and children safe in heatwaves

Biological factors mean a child’s core temperature rises faster than an adult’s – and that can result in a medical emergencyChildren and babies are more vulnerable in heatwaves than healthy adults. As temperatures rise again, how do we keep children safe? Continue reading...

health  Aug 13, 2026

The Guardian Health

Heard about the ‘luteal uglies’? Women know more about our hormones than ever – and that’s beautiful | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

When I was younger, female biology was seen as something to be overcome. Now we can talk about the reality of living in our bodiesHave you got the “luteal uglies”? I’m not trying to insult you, merely deploying the latest hormonal buzz phrase on social media, which refers to the phase in a woman’s cycle, two or so weeks between ovulation and menstruation, when she apparently feels at her lowest and most unattractive due to a drop in oestrogen levels.Women’s hormones have become trending topics a

health  Aug 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘Bold and ethical’: doctors on AOC’s egg-freezing journey - and Maga’s criticisms of it

In documenting the process, AOC is defying the right’s pronatalist narratives about motherhood and women’s careersOn Sunday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she is freezing her eggs. The 36-year-old New York congresswoman took to Instagram to document the process, complete with jabbing a syringe into her stomach on camera.“Don’t be weird about this,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “even though I know all of you will be.” Continue reading...

health  Aug 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent – and the consequences are deadly

The climate crisis is hitting Europe hard in 2026, warming twice as fast as any other continent. What is to blame?The whole world is getting hotter as carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning traps ever more heat, but Europe is heating up twice as fast as other continents. The consequences are increasingly deadly, with tens of thousands of heatwave deaths so far this summer. Continue reading...

health  Aug 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

A moment that changed me: My stammer made life a misery – then a song gave me back my voice

As a teenager, I was so ashamed of my speech disability that even my family didn’t know about it. When Scatman John came on the radio, celebrating his own stammer in a hit about self-esteem, I knew I had to meet him For most of my life, I had one goal: don’t get found out. I was a covert stammerer (or stutterer). Nobody realised I had a speech disability, because whenever I felt I was going to get stuck on a word, I switched it or stayed silent. I appeared fluent by avoiding certain sounds, word

health  Aug 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

Trump’s vaccine order is about feelings, not facts | Robert B Shpiner

There’s no evidence that vaccines cause autism, or that we should separate MMR shots. This order is dangerous“This is based on what I feel.” That was the president last September, explaining why he wanted the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine broken into three separate shots. On Monday, he signed an executive order instructing exactly that.Four decades in intensive care have taught me what a feeling costs once it becomes national policy. Children will be hospitalized who did not need to b

health  Aug 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘I’m giving people a happy space’: the man clearing gardens for free – and letting light into strangers’ lives

When he saw a messy yard being criticised on social media, Stephen Jalland grabbed his trimmer and decided to help. An overgrown garden, he discovered, often hides an overwhelmed ownerAnita Thursby had been dreading the gas engineer coming to service her boiler. They would have needed to enter her kitchen, where the window looked into the jungle of swirling, 2-metre-high brambles that made up her back garden, and her shame had spiralled. “I would have been horrified,” she says. For the same reas

health  Aug 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘Drops take seconds but change a life for ever’: the women saving India’s remotest people from polio

Shameema and Tanzeela must trek for miles in summer heat to vaccinate children in Kashmir’s highlands as part of a vast national programmeBefore sunrise, Shameema slips on her worn rubber sandals and checks the insulated box – the ice packs inside must maintain the crucial cold chain at between 2C and 8C (35.6-46.4F). She hoists the container on one shoulder and steps out into the dark.Tanzeela follows with her own pack, after quickly retying the laces of her canvas shoes. Both women live in Pul

health  Aug 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Mental health: one step forward and two steps back? | Letters

Dr Kate Martin is encouraged by the new network of community clinics, while Prof Dr John R Ashton says the forthcoming mental health strategy is an opportunity to grasp the nettle, while Marjorie Wallace expresses concerns about plans to cut mental health jobs in the NHSIt’s very encouraging to hear the announcement about the new network of community mental health clinics in England (Editorial, 6 August). The focus on early intervention is crucial, as it means that people can access treatment as

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

Breast cancer screening guidelines discriminate against families like mine | Brief letters

Health concerns | Rubbish decisions | In sympathy | Funeral songs | Short illnessesCalls for changes to breast cancer guidelines for GPs are welcome (Report, 4 August). The existing guidelines are irrational. If your grandmother and mother have both had breast cancer, you are still not added to the intensified screening list unless an aunt or great-aunt or sister has also had breast cancer. Hence the system discriminates against families – like mine – with only one woman in a generation.Helen Hi

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘Safe, quick and painless’: what is a DXA scan, and do you need one for bone health?

The imaging test is most often used to help determine a person’s risk of osteoporosis and bone fracturesDXA – or sometimes DEXA – scans are important for people in their 60s and above. They are also increasingly used by younger people interested in body composition.A DXA – dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry – scan is an imaging test that uses low-dose X-rays to evaluate a person’s bone health, explains Dr Michael Perry, associate professor of radiology and medical imaging at the University of Virg

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

Louisiana warns beachgoers amid surge in flesh-eating bacteria infections

State confirms nine cases, including five deaths, from Vibrio vulnificus organism, which thrives in seawaterHealth officials in Louisiana are urging beachgoers to take precautions during a summertime surge in infections from a flesh-eating bacteria found in coastal waters.Louisiana has confirmed nine cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections this year, the state’s health department said last week in a news release. All were hospitalized, and five died. During the same period over the previous decade

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

What happens when medical students rely on AI – and never develop their own judgment? | Simar Bajaj and Joseph Sakran

AI’s danger isn’t just in experts losing the ability to reason. It’s that trainees may never learn how to do so in the first placeIn healthcare, there’s growing concern over doctors becoming less clinically adept as they increasingly rely on AI tools. But what about the trainees – medical students, residents and fellows – who are using these tools before they’ve built their own clinical judgment? The idea of deskilling implies that someone possessed an ability and then lost it. Here, the danger

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘Babies will be born in laybys’: maternity cuts leave women with stark choices in Devon

Concerns about feeling pressure to have caesarean section, or paying for hotel in Exeter after hospital in Barnstaple suspends birthing servicesFor mother-to-be Harriet Knight, the suspension of maternity services at one of England’s most remote hospitals means having to face horribly stark choices.“The next closest maternity unit is a full two hours away and we have a family history of labour taking under two hours from start to finish,” said Knight. Continue reading...

health  Aug 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘I’ve sat at the very precipice of life’: Clarke Carlisle on gambling, depression – and survival

The former professional footballer has struggled with his mental health for most of his life. But it took five suicide attempts for him to admit how badly he wanted to end it. He talks about how he turned the corner – and his hopes for his new post with the charity Mind‘How are you?” I ask Clarke Carlisle. Usually when you meet people it’s a nicety. Not with Carlisle. He smiles ecstatically. “I’m incredibly well, thank you. Yeah, really, really good,” says the former footballer and incoming chai

health  Aug 10, 2026