Health Check

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

World Service,907 episodes

Episodes

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Canada loses measles elimination status
Why are measles cases continuing to spread in North America and beyond?
12 Nov 2025,26 mins
Cloud seeding to cut air pollution in Delhi
We hear the fallout of a failed attempt at cloud seeding to cut pollution in Delhi
05 Nov 2025,26 mins
What surpassing 1.5°C means for global health
How can we protect global health in a world that will ‘inevitably’ warm past 1.5 degrees?
29 Oct 2025,26 mins
How impostors distort medical research
How to find human and bot impostors amongst real participants in health research
22 Oct 2025,26 mins
How to prioritise aid in Gaza
What impact will aid deliveries have to health in Gaza
15 Oct 2025,26 mins
Immune system researchers win Nobel Prize
We explain the science behind the Nobel winners
08 Oct 2025,26 mins
Creating human eggs from skin cells
How cell reprogramming might help address infertility
01 Oct 2025,26 mins
Trump’s unproven claims on autism and paracetamol
We fact-check Trump’s claims that paracetamol is linked to an increased risk of autism
24 Sep 2025,26 mins
More children are obese than underweight
For the first time there are more overweight than underweight children globally
17 Sep 2025,26 mins
The psychology of curiosity
Astronaut Tim Peake and panel discuss if curiosity is good for us
10 Sep 2025,26 mins
Have we found a better alternative to aspirin?
An alternative blood thinner is showing improvements in warding off heart attack
03 Sep 2025,26 mins
A breakthrough in treating chronic pain
A gene has been identified that is critical for regulating pain signals
27 Aug 2025,26 mins
Using AI to discover new antibiotics
How AI has helped find potential new antibiotics to fight gonorrhoea and MRSA
20 Aug 2025,26 mins
How plastic harms health
As negotiations conclude on a global treaty, we consider how plastic affects our health
13 Aug 2025,26 mins
Malnutrition in Gaza
The impact of malnutrition on health and the aid needed in Gaza
06 Aug 2025,26 mins
Making human blood deadly to mosquitoes
We assess a novel technique to combat malaria
30 Jul 2025,26 mins
Do you really have a penicillin allergy?
How more accurate allergy labels would improve patient outcomes
23 Jul 2025,26 mins
HIV prevention drug Lenacapavir recommended by WHO
What difference could this make in the fight against HIV?
16 Jul 2025,26 mins
First malaria treatment approved for newborns
The new dose strength is the first approved malaria treatment for neonates
09 Jul 2025,26 mins
Can bacteria-eating viruses be used to fight superbugs?
How phage-therapy could tackle antimicrobial resistance.
02 Jul 2025,26 mins
Childhood vaccination coverage stalls worldwide
Childhood vaccination coverage stalls despite huge progress since the 1970s
25 Jun 2025,26 mins
Future thinking
How thinking about the future shapes our health and happiness
18 Jun 2025,26 mins
Mpox surging in Sierra Leone
As mpox cases rise in Sierra Leone we check-in on how the outbreak is progressing.
11 Jun 2025,26 mins
Exercise and immunotherapy improving cancer outcomes
The impact exercise and a new immunotherapy drug regime is having for cancer patients.
04 Jun 2025,26 mins
A new way to screen for cancer in dense breasts
Research finds screening methods to pick up cancer in dense breasts much earlier
28 May 2025,26 mins
A promising new antimalarial
A new antimalarial targets disease-causing parasites and lasts a year on mosquito nets
21 May 2025,26 mins
Listening to your body's signals
We explore what interoception is and how we can listen to internal signals in our body
14 May 2025,26 mins
Shingles vaccine lowers risk of heart disease
A shingles vaccine unintentionally protects against heart disease for up to 8 years
07 May 2025,26 mins
Mycetoma’s only research centre destroyed
What happens when the world’s only research centre for a neglected disease is destroyed?
30 Apr 2025,26 mins
WHO agrees to a pandemic treaty
WHO members have agreed to a draft treaty intended to make the world safer from pandemics
23 Apr 2025,26 mins