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Mesh surgery exposed UK women to 'unacceptable risk'
Women have been exposed to unacceptable risks through the use of vaginal mesh surgery, the UK government has acknowledged for the first time, as...
SA civil society groups want UNAIDS director to resign
The director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, is facing calls from South African civil society groups to resign over his handling of a recent sexual...
Senior NHS paramedics could soon be able to prescribe drugs
Hundreds of the UK National Health Service’s (NHS’s) most senior paramedics will soon be able to give drugs to sick patients thanks to a...
NHS trials one-stop cancer diagnosis shops
‘One-stop shops’ for cancer diagnoses are being trialled by the UK's National Health Service (NHS), says a Daily Mail report. In a pilot scheme,...
UK Public Accounts Committee finds NHS in a 'perilous state'
A hard-hitting report by the UK’s Public Accounts Committee has said that the health service is in a 'perilous state' despite getting an extra...
NHS stops funding for major UK homeopathy centre
A major taxpayer-funded centre for homeopathic, herbal and alternative medicines will no longer be providing these remedies on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)...
Canadian doctors protest against pay increases
Nearly 800 doctors and medical residents in the Canadian province of Quebec have signed a letter protesting against plans to raise their pay, arguing...
Australia may be first to eradicate cervical cancer with HPV school vaccinations
Australia could become the first country to eradicate cervical cancer, according to an announcement from the International Papillomavirus Society. The Guardian reports that new...
Diabetes diagnoses double in the UK
The number of adults and older teens with diabetes in the UK has more than doubled over the past 20 years, with 3.7m people...
NHS prescription errors contribute to 22,300 UK deaths a year
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) makes hundreds of millions of prescribing errors and mix-ups which contribute to as many as 22,300 deaths a...
US drugmaker undertakes to stop promoting opioids
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has announced that it has cut its sales force in half and will stop promoting opioids to physicians, following widespread...
Safety breaches at UK labs exposed staff to lethal infections
Safety breaches at UK laboratories that handle harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi have spread infections to staff and exposed others to potentially lethal diseases....
US flu outbreak the worst in 10 years
The US flu outbreak worsened over the past week as more people headed to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, with hospitalisations at the highest in...
US business giants move to shake up managed healthcare
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase are creating a new business designed to lower healthcare costs for US-based employees in a move that could...
NIH begins large study on treatment for pregnant women with HIV
The National Institutes of Health in the US has launched a large international study to compare the safety and efficacy of three antiretroviral treatment...
UK MPs call for inquiry into epilepsy drug 'scandal'
An MP in the UK has said the harm caused to children after their mothers were given the epilepsy drug sodium valproate is an...
Under-the-whip NHS calls on UK med students to help
Medical students in the UK are being urged to help relieve the National Health Service (NHS) winter crisis because hospitals are so short-staffed they...
WHO to include gaming disorder as a serious health condition
According to a New Scientist report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to include gaming disorder in its International Classification of Diseases for the...
Cancer drug price rockets 1,400% five years
Prices for the cancer drug lomustine have rocketed nearly 1,400% since 2013, putting a potentially life-saving treatment out of reach for patients suffering from...
CDC denies a Trump ban on some words
The new director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has reached out to alarmed agency staff to tamp down fears incited...
UK gets tough on 'health tourism'
Tough rules to combat health tourism in the UK have seen the number of foreign women giving birth on the National Health Service (NHS)...
Motsoaledi reacts to SA med students drowning at Cuban birthday party
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi learned with 'shock and sadness' about the death of two final-year Cuba-based SA medical students drowned in a swimming...
UK authorities urge MMR vaccine after measles outbreak
Public health authorities in the UK are calling on parents to ensure their children get the MMR vaccine after a measles outbreak in Leeds...
UK's NHS GPs not coping with 'unbearable' workloads
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has lost the equivalent of 1,000 full-time GPs in the past year as "unbearable" workload pressures and funding...
UK scheme to tackle GP stress is swamped
A 'world-first' mental health scheme set up to tackle stress among the UK's National Health Scheme (NHS) GPs has seen more patients in its...
MSF secures deals for cheaper generic hepatitis C medicines
On the eve of the World Hepatitis Summit in Sao Paolo, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced that it had...
Leading group of US doctors warns against 'vaginal seeding'
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has spoken out to warn expectant mothers against 'vaginal seeding'. The Independent reports that the new trend sees mothers...
UK plan to ban surgery for smokers and the obese
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will ban patients from surgery indefinitely unless they lose weight or quit smoking, under controversial plans drawn up...
NHS fearful of worst ever flu season
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is 'more scared than we have ever been' about the risks of a heavy flu season this winter,...
Measles eradicated in UK as anti-vaxx lobby wanes
Measles has been eliminated in the UK, global health leaders say, in what doctors have linked to a decline in fears over discredited research...
UK moves towards 'presumed consent' system on organ donations
Transplant doctors and health charities in the UK have praised Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to change how organ donation works in England in...
Some retailers stop selling baby sleep positioners after US report
Some UK retailers have stopped selling baby sleep positioners amid concerns over their safety. BBC News reports that this was after a US health...
Billions paid out in the US to replace defective heart devices
Medicare in the US has paid at least $1.5bn over a decade to replace seven types of defective heart devices. According to a report...
Review highlights safety concerns at GP surgeries in England
About 7m people are being treated at GP surgeries in England that have severe safety problems, The Guardian reports according to the first performance...
Congress rejects Trump's plan to cut NIH funding
The US Congress has not only rejected President Donald Trump's proposal for deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health but in a bipartisan...
UK nurses demand pay rise
Unions representing more than 1m nurses and other National Health Service staff have written to the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer to demand a...
UK's NHS braced for worst flu season in its history
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is braced for the worst flu season in its history, amid fears that overcrowded hospitals will be unable...
FDA again clears Pfizer cancer drug pulled from market in 2010
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Pfizer Inc’s drug, Mylotarg, for certain patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), re-clearing a drug...
10% of UK men have a heart age of 10 years older
One in 10 of British 50-year-olds has the heart of a 60-year-old man, suggesting they could die a decade earlier than they should, warns...
PEPFAR cuts may cost 9m years of lost life in SA and Ivory Coast
US President Donald Trump’s plan to cut foreign aid supporting HIV/Aids treatment could cost 9m years of lost life in South Africa and Ivory...