Health Check

Functional human eggs have been generated using human skin cells in a breakthrough study. What impact could this have on couples with fertility issues? BBC Health Correspondent James Gallagher explains.

How long covid is affecting menstrual cycles. Dr Jackie Maybin, Reader and Consultant Gynaecologist at the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian explains her findings.

With a rising trend of pa...

President Trump has claimed that consuming Tylenol, or paracetamol, whilst pregnant can increase the risk of autism in children; Claudia is joined by Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Laurie Tomlinson to fact-check this unproven statement.

Also on the show, BBC’s Philippa Roxby joins Claudia to share a breakthrough in treating Huntington’s disease. In a medical first doctors have used gene therapy to slow the progression of this fa...

In a ‘historical turning point’ there are now more overweight than underweight children and teenagers worldwide according to a new report from UNICEF. Claudia Hammond is joined by BBC’s Laura Foster to understand what changes to our food environments may be driving this shift.

An international row has erupted over durian fruit, with China limiting imports of Vietnamese fruits due to health concerns. Journalist Sen Nguyen explores th...

Is curiosity good for us, or should we learn a lesson from what curiosity did to the cat? And why does curiosity drive some people to explore the ends of the earth and beyond, while others just really aren’t very curious at all?

We invite a panel of people for whom curiosity is also at the centre of what they do to discuss the psychology of curiosity in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK.

They are......

Millions of us take aspirin daily to ward off heart attack or stroke, but a new study has found an alternative blood thinner, clopidogrel, could be more effective. We find out how it compares.

An oral health check-up at least two weeks before surgery has shown to reduce the risk of post-operative infections such as pneumonia as well as reduce the length of a patients' hospital stay. Dr Kristina Wanyonyi-Kay Research Programme Leader...

One in five of us suffer with chronic pain globally and the exact cause of it is often unknown making it very hard to treat. However, in what has been hailed as a remarkable breakthrough, a gene has been identified that is critical for regulating pain signals. Professor David Bennett, head of Clinical Neurology at Oxford, who led the research explains.

BBC Africa’s health correspondent Dorcas Wangira joins Claudia to delve into a de...

AI models have helped to discover new potential antibiotics to treat drug resistant infections of gonorrhoea and MRSA. We speak to Professor Jim Collins from MIT to understand what’s next for his machine-generated medicines and the role AI could play in the future of drug discovery. A new report has found high rates of bloodstream infections and antibiotic resistance in central lines used in Indian ICUs. Family doctor Ann Robin...

As negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty are due to conclude at the United Nations, we check in on whether health is on the agenda with Dr Cressida Bowyer, Associate Professor in Arts and Sustainability from the University of Portsmouth in the UK who is at the conference.

We also hear from John Chweya, a Kenyan waste picker, who has seen the impacts of plastic waste firsthand and delve into the scientific evidence about how pla...

UN-backed experts – the IPC - say the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza and that there is mounting evidence that widespread malnutrition is driving a rapid rise in hunger-related deaths among the 2.1 million Palestinians there. Aid worker Olga Cherevko shares what she’s witnessed on the ground and Claudia is also joined by specialist Dr Marko Kerac to understand the health impacts of malnutrition and ...

Antiparasitic drug Ivermectin has been shown to reduce malaria transmission by making the blood of treated persons deadly to the mosquitoes that carry the disease. Journalist Layal Liverpool explores the impact this new approach could have.

Six months on from President Trump’s dramatic cuts to US foreign aid, the HIV/AIDS relief fund PEPFAR hangs in the balance. We hear how the cuts have impacts one HIV clinic in Thailand and Devex ...

Penicillin is the go-to antibiotic for many common infections - but in the UK more than 1-in-15 adults have a penicillin allergy label on their medical record. New research suggests that many with these labels are not actually allergic. Professor Sue Pavitt explains how more accurate allergy labelling might help fight the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

Both Burundi and Senegal announced last week that they had eliminated trachom...

Lenacapavir has been incredibly promising in trials and now the World Health Organisation have officially recommended the drug for HIV prevention. Smitha Mundasad explains the difference this bi-annual injection could make in the fight against HIV.

We hear how Malawi is trying to stop mpox from entering its borders. Reporter Carrim Mpaweni investigates the measures in place to keep the disease at bay.

A skin swab test could detect Pa...

Until now there has been no approved treatment for malaria in newborns and infants weighing less than 4.5kg. We hear from families and clinicians firsthand what this new formulation, due to be approved across eight African countries, means for them.

We are joined by Professor Damian Bailey as we become pickle juice detectives to find out why it is becoming more common for athletes to drink the briny solution in a bid to tackle cramp...

Phages are viruses that only infect bacteria. How might they help us tackle antimicrobial resistance? Franklin Nobrega and Esme Brinsden from the University of Southampton explain how their citizen science project that collects samples from around the globe is building a library of these bacteria-fighting viruses.

How can ultrasound find new targets to treat apathy in Parkinson’s disease? Tom Gilbertson and Isla Barnard from the Un...

There has been immense progress on childhood vaccination since 1974, with over four billion children vaccinated worldwide. So why now are we seeing vaccination rates stall, and decline? We look at what is driving this stagnation that is putting millions of children at risk.

The psychological impacts of war can persist for long after the events themselves. Reporter Stephanie Tam talks to the therapists aiming to break cycles of inte...

Thinking about the future comes so naturally to most people that we do not realise what a complicated and essential skill it is. Claudia Hammond and an expert panel of psychologists look into our ability to mentally travel to the future.

Catherine Loveday, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster, explains how our ability to mentally time travel into the future is useful for everyday tasks as well as fun...

As mpox cases rise in Sierra Leone, we check-in with Professor Trudie Lang to understand the implications of the continuing spread of the disease and what progress is being made in responding to the outbreak.

In a breakthrough for HIV research, scientists have used mRNA to reveal the virus hiding in white blood cells. For now, it is only in a laboratory setting, but they hope this could lead to future treatment pathways that clear...

A new immunotherapy regime has shown significant improvements in treatment for head and neck cancer. Meanwhile, exercise is boosting outcomes for colon cancer patients. BBC journalist Philippa Roxby explains what’s been shown in these studies.

Aflatoxins are a toxin produced by a fungi which can be found in crops. They’re having a severe impact on harvests and health including immune suppression, growth stunting and damage to the li...

Women with dense breasts are four times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with low breast density and it’s also harder for cancer to be detected with existing screening methods. But now, the findings in a new study could dramatically improve the chances of having the disease spotted early on. We speak to the study’s lead author is Professor Fiona Gilbert to find out more.

The 2025 World Health Assembly has just conclud...