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An independent report has recommended that child heart surgery should remain suspended at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital until improvements are made. Four children died between December and February, after being operated on by consultant sur...

A court in the Netherlands has ruled against Trafigura, a multinational corporation based in Switzerland, for breaking European waste laws when it dumped toxic waste in the Ivory Coast.In 2006, Trafigura transported waste alleged to have been invol...

Public health minister for England, Anne Milton, has urged GPs and other health professionals to tell people they are fat rather than use the word obese. She said that using the term ‘fat’ would be more effective in motivating people to lo...

Researchers in the US have developed a way of using people's own stem cells to regrow bones and joints.The discovery of the new method is a scientific breakthrough, and the scientists are claiming to have achieved a complete success with their test...

Experts have warned that an overhaul of the NHS may impact on public health. The King’s Fund health think tank fears that government plans to abolish primary care trusts in England and give GPs control of the budget will have a negative effe...

Official data has revealed that breast screening rates in Scotland are significantly lower in deprived areas.Health service figures showed that around three-quarters of women between the ages of 50 and 70 were screened in 2008-09 in Scotland.This f...

The government has announced it has set up an emergency fund of £50 million to allow seriously ill cancer patients to be given drugs more quickly.The move means that by October this year, the fund will allow patients to be given drugs that have no...

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have said that drinking alcohol could help with symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). According to the results of a study, people who drank alcoholic drinks had less joint pain and swelling than peop...

Patients have given GP care across Scotland a positive rating. Findings from an extensive national survey have revealed that some 90% of patients rated the care that they received at GP practices in Scotland as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. ...

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued a health warning amid fears of obesity among pregnant women. The health watchdog says that obesity levels among pregnant women have reached epidemic levels, putting the healt...

In India, where attitudes toward safe-sex education are still more conservative than in much of Europe, women are beginning to use 'morning after pills,' also known as emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), on a regular basis.Radhika Chandiramani, a...

In Yunnan province, in southwestern China, more than 80 children are currently suffering from lead poisoning due to illegal gold smelting in the region.Last year, amid a public outcry, China pledged to tackle heavy metal poisoning.The children are ...

The Belgian military has announced that it is trying to trim the figures of its soldiers, the majority of whom are overweight, and will launch a diet programme for them in the next few months.From now on, soldiers in Belgium will be ordered to diet...

People in northwestern Canada and the US are beginning to suffer from a fungus that is usually found in tropical locations.In four US states, the fungus has made at least 60 people sick, and killed 15.Cryptococcus gattii, which grows on or around t...

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has said that special teams should be put in place to help patients with "cancer of unknown primary".NICE stated that the cancer was "very neglected" despite more than 10...

An internally displaced child in Burma’s Shan state, on a path leading into Thailand, in late monsoon season, October 2009. Along the Thai-Burma border “I have had this for four years,” said Loong Wan, as he rolled up his pants to rev...

China has been beset by a series of product safety scandals over the past few years. At least six children died in 2008 after drinking milk contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine. In 2003 and 2005, three Chinese children suffered sev...

Personnel from a medical research lab in China's southwestern Sichuan province have been detained, authorities said, following clashes between police and angry parents demanding to know if their children had been infected by re-used needles durin...

Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang have executed two people for their role in a tainted baby milk scandal which killed at least six children and sickened hundreds of thousands. The announcement came as groups of supporter...

Amid a global slowdown in new HIV infections, sex workers and gay men in East Asia are increasingly vulnerable to the virus, in a region where access to treatment is still below the world average. Six million households will be forced into pov...

Around 20 people petitioning major state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm in Beijing for compensation after they became infected with HIV/AIDS have vowed to renew their appeal, following clashes with police in which three people were injure...

The Background A controversial Bill which would have given terminally ill patients the right to end their lives was blocked by the Lords on the 12 May after an impassioned seven-hour debate. Peers voted by 148 to 100, a majority of 48, to dela...

It is a condition that is destined to have a huge global impact in the coming decades. And with an ageing population, the number of sufferers from Alzheimer’s could quadruple over the next 40 years. More than 26 million people worldwide a...

The 12 week consultation on the Department of Health’s proposed Code of Practice for Promoting NHS services has just closed.  What is it proposing, and what has been the initial reaction to the Code? Why the need for a Code of Practice ...

Colour is a good way to differentiate tablets and their containers because it enables more immediate recognition than do words printed on labels or embossed onto tablets. Moreover, patients with poor vision or those not wearing their reading ...

Residents of one of the poorest regions of central China have staged repeated demonstrations outside a zinc smelting plant near their homes after their children were diagnosed with lead poisoning. Villagers in Fengxiang county, in the north-ce...

Residents of Mandalay say that patients needing transfusions at a main public hospital in the Burmese cultural capital are routinely asked for money for donated blood. "You have to pay money at the hospital," a member of the Aung Pin...

More than 1,300 children have been poisoned by lead from a year-old manganese factory in China’s central Hunan province, official media said, on the heels of another lead-poisoning scandal in nearby Shaanxi province. The mass lead contaminat...

BBC On-line has launched a new weekly insight into the local and national issues affecting a busy GP practice in Wandsworth, South West London. Drs Jones, Andrews, Coffey, Sangha and Duckenfield will be documenting their views in a r...

Experts have warned of the possibly harmful effects of the swine flu virus on pregnant women and their babies.A woman aged 39 who was infected with the virus died after she gave birth and her baby is in intensive care.The BBC asked Maureen Baker, H...

Anna Quigley poses the question whether the “irresponsible” have a right to NHS care? With the NHS facing tighter financial constraints, there is an argument that people who do not look after themselves should have to pay for treatment, or...

Writing in The Guardian, Felicity Lawrence suggests Andrew Lansley's belief that children should be responsible for their own diet choices would be risible were it not so scary. This house believes obesity is a moral failure and that solving i...

Writing in the Guardian, Rachel Roberts adds her backing to homeopathy. I was such a dedicated scientist that the idea that I would one day become a homeopath would have seemed ludicrous. I scoffed when a woman told me that homeopathy had s...

A panel of experts offer suggestions on how to keep cool in the heat. WHAT TO DRINK - Dr Dan Rutherford writes: With signs of dehydration such as increased pulse, feeling faint and muscle cramps, it is important to drink more in hot weather an...

Writing in the Guardian, SE Smith argues that US police need proper training in mental health. In the US, people suffering from mental health problems are too often subjected to brutality by poorly trained police officers. In one case in Ne...

Cherrill Hicks examines what dyslexia is and what can be done to help those affected. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that mainly affects literacy skills such as reading, writing and spelling. People with dyslexia often have difficulties ...

The Telegraph argues there is no economic case for ring-fencing the health service and overseas aid. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has written to all departments apart from the Department of Health and the Department fo...

Former Cabinet minister Lord Young of Graffham, adviser to the Prime Minister on health and safety law and practice, says it is time to tackle the compensation culture. Changes in legislation over the past decade have seen “ambulance chasers...

The Daily Express comment section argues that the health service must prioritise preserving life, not meeting financial targets. The NHS has forgotten the reason why it exists if it does not consider lengthening the life expectancy of people w...

Why do some people suddenly become struck by hay fever after years of being symptom-free, asks The Magazine from the BBC. Pollen counts are soaring as summer reaches its peak, sparking misery for hay fever sufferers. But while many assume t...

In an interview for OnMedica, GMC chair Professor Peter Rubin responded to questions from OnMedica members. The issue of revalidation was a subject a number of OnMedica members sought to raise with Professor Rubin. He said that he, like the...

Writing in The Daily Mail, Stephen Glover argues that tougher drink driving limits will hit the modest drinker. Few would argue that the drink drive limits introduced in 1967 have saved thousands of lives and led to drink driving being regarde...

Editor-in-Chief of fashion magazine Elle and a mum of three, Lorraine Candy reveals what life is really like for working mothers. Due to a quirk of the diary, I was able to pick my eldest two up from school several times one week, rather than ...

Writing in the Telegraph, Science Correspondent Richard Alleyne examines what autism is. Affecting about 1pc of children and adults, and mostly males, autism covers a group of conditions known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) that can vary ...

In his first interview as Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley tells Judith Woods of the Telegraph about his plans for urgent reform within the ailing NHS. Following my bitter experience with the NHS, where I felt bullied, woefully neglected and w...