Health Check

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

World Service,916 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

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
Have we found an animal reservoir of mpox?
Investigating the mystery of which animals form reservoirs of mpox in the wild.
16 Apr 2025,26 mins
The Kidney Waiting Game
What it's like to give, receive, and wait for a kidney.
09 Apr 2025,26 mins
Zimbabwe government takes on ‘friendship benches’
A famed Zimbabwean mental health intervention is being handed over to the government
02 Apr 2025,26 mins
How do funding cuts feel?
What does it feel like to be part of a study which might have its funding cut?
26 Mar 2025,26 mins
Judge blocks further USAID shutdown
A federal judge has said the shuttering of USAID is ‘likely unconstitutional’
19 Mar 2025,26 mins
Measles spreads in the Americas
The Americas are in danger of losing their measles elimination status
12 Mar 2025,26 mins
Ninety percent of USAID programs cut
How will large cuts to US aid affect global health?
05 Mar 2025,26 mins
Improving global encephalitis care
Encephalitis can be a debilitating condition. How do we improve diagnosis and treatment?
26 Feb 2025,26 mins
The global oxygen crisis
The global need for medical oxygen is high, but there are huge access gaps to tackle.
19 Feb 2025,26 mins
The psychology of nostalgia
Can we harness nostalgia for our own wellbeing?
12 Feb 2025,26 mins
Guinea eliminates sleeping sickness
Guinea uses novel approach to eliminate disease.
05 Feb 2025,26 mins
USA issues stop-work order on global aid
President Trump has stopped work on foreign aid projects.
29 Jan 2025,26 mins
A WHO without the United States
What happens if the United States withdraws from the WHO?
22 Jan 2025,26 mins
The toll of wildfires on health
What are the long-term health effects of wildfires that persist even once extinguished?
15 Jan 2025,26 mins
Should we be worried about HMPV?
We look behind the headlines to reality check what is going on with HMPV.
08 Jan 2025,26 mins
A Malawi ‘Spay Day’
How can a ‘Spay Day’ help stop the spread of rabies?
01 Jan 2025,26 mins
One Health in Malawi
Claudia meets the vets who are treating animals in order to protect people from disease.
25 Dec 2024,26 mins
2024 in global health: a review
Which stories shaped global health in 2024?
18 Dec 2024,26 mins
Expanding the anti-malaria toolkit
Scientists trial a malaria vaccine delivered by mosquito bites, showing promising results
11 Dec 2024,26 mins
Genetic risk of diabetes in South Asian populations
New study finds genetic links to how and when South Asian populations develop diabetes
04 Dec 2024,26 mins
Health crisis in Sudan
What is driving the health polycrisis in Sudan?
27 Nov 2024,26 mins