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Health Policy InsightHealth organisations refute assertion by Sunbed Association that tanning is protective and warn it could increase risk of skin cancer
The body that represents the UK’s sunbed salons is wrongly insisting that a tan protects against sunburn, even though leading medical bodies (contacted by Full Fact) say that claim is untrue.
Health organisations have challenged the accuracy of information being disseminated by the Sunbed Association, which on its website asks: “Is it true there is no such thing as a safe tan?”
Continue reading...London exhibition explores how care and protest improved rights and dignity of those living with disease
From photos of a mass “die-in” by Aids activists in Trafalgar Square, London, in the 1990s to plushie breasts, lips and vulvas hand-stitched by HIV-positive women, a new exhibition explores how care and protest have improved the rights and dignity of those living with the disease.
The show, Tenderness and Rage, at the Wellcome Collection, London, reflects how different groups affected by HIV, including gay men, women of colour, and refugees in the UK and around the world have found power, solidarity, comfort and joy in Aids activism and support services.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As the virus spreads across borders, health workers warn that weakened global support is making a prolonged crisis more likely
Ebola is spreading rapidly in parts of east Africa. The deadly disease, which kills around half of those it infects, is suspected to have claimed the lives of at least 240 people since the outbreak began in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo earlier this month.
Public health officials are scrambling to contain the virus in one of the toughest environments: Ituri province, the centre of the crisis, is a mining hub where thousands of people work in close proximity every day, and a conflict zone, with ongoing fighting between rebel groups. Medical facilities are modest, while waves of displaced people are being forced into overcrowded camps to escape fighting, making it even harder to control transmission. The virus has already spread to other regions in eastern DRC and the Ugandan capital Kampala.
UK news | Britain risks a financial hit worth £125bn a year after a rise in the number of young people not in employment or education to more than 1 million.
US-Israel-Iran | Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control.
UK politics | Andy Burnham has rolled back from his previous calls for ministers to scrap a restriction on immigrants claiming benefits as the Makerfield byelection places greater scrutiny on him.
Ukraine | A Russian drone that was part of an overnight attack on Ukraine crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people, authorities said, in what an official statement condemned as an “irresponsible escalation” by Moscow.
Climate crisis | Abandoning net zero and drilling for more oil and gas would be a massive setback for the UK and would not help the economy, leading experts have said in response to Tony Blair.
Continue reading...Readers respond to an article by Roe McDermott saying that women don’t need laws to make them ‘reflect’ on their choices
Well done to Roe McDermott for saying what is rarely said – that abortion doesn’t lead to inevitable regret (Abortion trauma is a myth. Irish women don’t need laws to make them ‘reflect’ on their choices, 26 May). My own experience of one, many years ago, was that it was in fact a very straightforward decision – I didn’t want to become a mother, so I didn’t. End of.
What was maybe most confusing about it was that I somehow felt that I should feel more hesitant and conflicted than I actually did, that I wasn’t a “proper woman” because I wasn’t more upset about it all.
Continue reading...The new and excoriating account of the dire prospects for UK young people is a call to action. It could be the Beveridge report for our time
The diagnosis is dire. Alan Milburn has published the first part of his forensic report on the lives and chances of young people, their fate after leaving school or college, the inadequacy of their health, education and pastoral care, and the reluctance of employers to hire them. This is a “moral crisis”, he says. There are now more than a million young people not in work, education or training (Neets), and Milburn expects that number to rise to 1.25 million without radical change. The government needs a “big idea”, he tells me. This should be it, “the spine, the purpose”.
Perhaps he was expected only to solve the particular problem of left-behind and lost Neets. What he has delivered instead is an excoriating overview of how badly this young generation is treated altogether. A sense of shock reverberates through every well-written page. Why have children and young people had such a low priority in resources and political concern, especially since 2010? There has been institutional neglect, loss of youth and careers services, chaotic non-communication or data exchange between dislocated silos, small schemes coming and going. Milburn describes a catastrophic failure: it needs a whole “system reset” and no more “tinkering”.
Continue reading...For those of us working in Aboriginal health, the outbreak doesn’t come as a surprise. We must invest in housing that keeps remote communities safe
The diphtheria outbreak should shock Australia. Not simply because a disease once considered virtually eradicated has returned, but because of where it is spreading and why.
More than 220 cases have been recorded in 2026, primarily across the Northern Territory and northern Australia. The overwhelming majority of patients are Aboriginal people, including those living in remote and very remote communities.
Continue reading...Cases remain ‘consistently high’ – with 10,406 infections last year, 26% more than in 2016
The number of people in England struck by salmonella poisoning after eating contaminated food has reached its highest level for a decade.
There were 10,406 laboratory-confirmed cases last year of non-typhoidal salmonella, the type of the bacteria found in contaminated foods such as meat, poultry and eggs.
Continue reading...Government will consider committee’s guidance that says mass screening ‘likely to cause more harm than good’
Most men in the UK will not be offered prostate cancer screening if the government accepts the final recommendation of an expert committee.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with more than 64,000 men diagnosed every year. There is, however, no national screening programme for the disease.
Continue reading...States with abortion bans are turning away from medications to a wait-and-see approach, with care falling below standards
Abortion restrictions in the US have made it more difficult to access care for miscarriages, a new study stays.
The new research found that since the June 2022 Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v Wade, pregnancy care has fractured along state lines; it’s getting increasingly harder to access healthcare for miscarriages in US states with abortion restrictions.
Continue reading...The former minister paints damning picture of structural issues affecting 1 million young people in the UK
Alan Milburn, the Blair-era cabinet minister turned social mobility adviser, has delivered the first part of his government-commissioned report on why increasing numbers of people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training (Neet).
Its 217 pages cover the extent and causes of the issue – with possible solutions coming in his next report – and set out a hugely detailed and damning picture of what Milburn calls a “record of failure”, one that is letting down young people. These are some of its main points.
Continue reading...Medics battling the incurable disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo working in ‘agonising’ conditions
When Dr Vladimir Maduali died of Ebola in the early hours of Sunday morning, he was the fourth member of staff at his hospital to be killed by the disease in as many days. Two days later, his colleague Dr Tibenderana Katho Blaise also died of the disease at the Bunia Evangelical medical centre, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Maduali graduated from the University of Bunia just three years ago and had been working in the Rwampara region, one of the areas of eastern DRC’s Ituri province worst hit by Ebola. The 30-year-old died at Rwampara’s isolation centre, where he had spent two days on oxygen therapy, according to his family.
Continue reading...BMA blames new health secretary for decision to stage 16th strike in long-running jobs and pay dispute
Resident doctors in England will next month stage the 16th strike in their long-running jobs and pay dispute, and have blamed the new health secretary for their decision.
They will strike for four days from 7am on Monday 15 June until 6.59am on Friday 19 June. Announcing the move, the British Medical Association warned that resident doctors would mount a further stoppage in July unless progress towards meeting their demands was made.
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