Henrietta Lacks was only 31 years old when she died from cervical cancer in 1951. While she was in hospital in the USA, her cells were harvested without her knowledge which, since being replicated infinitely, have gone on to enable research into cancer, dementia and Parkinson’s. As well as contributing to the development of vaccines for polio and COVID-19. Her family have fought for decades to get justice for the “stolen” cells, and this week reached a settlement with Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. The United Nations says we now live in the era of "global boiling". As tempe ..read more

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF say global immunisation services reached 4 million more children in 2022 compared to the previous year, after a huge backslide during the Covid 19 pandemic. But the progress in countries like India and Indonesia masks continued decline in many lower income countries. Global health expert Tabitha Mwangi and Claudia Hammond discuss how immunisation numbers can bounce back. They also look at new research from Sub-Saharan Africa that suggests as many as one in 10 teenagers might have high blood pressure, and what might be the most effective way of lowering ..read more

Just months after the ‘momentous’ announcement of the first drug shown to slow the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, the results of a global trial into another have been published. The antibody medicine donanemab helped people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s by slowing the pace of the brain’s decline by about a third. Dr Graham Easton joins Claudia Hammond to look at what another ‘breakthrough’ means in practice. They also look at new evidence from the USA that giving hearing aids to older people at risk from dementia could be another way to slow cognitive decline in some people. While cari ..read more

“Sickle cell is not all that we are – Sickle Cell is solvable.” Lea Kilenga Bey from Kenya founded the non-profit Africa Sickle Cell Organisation to campaign on behalf of people like her who live with an inherited blood condition known as sickle cell disease. Now a group of experts from around the world are calling on Governments to provide better care for people with conditions like Lea’s. It comes just weeks after a study published in academic journal The Lancet Haematology showed that the number of people around the world who die with sickle cell disease could be as much as 11 times higher ..read more

Since early times, the drum has been part of human society. But have you ever considered how drumming might actually improve our physical and mental health? Researchers from the University of Essex are at this year’s annual Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition in London to talk to the public about their work which shows drumming during a rock concert might give you a similar workout as playing football. Along with the BBC’s health and science correspondent, James Gallagher, Claudia Hammond gets a drumming lesson. They also hear how specially designed audio is being used in virtual reality gamin ..read more

African HIV research now makes up almost a third of total research being conducted into the virus. A new study highlights how it has increased from just 5 per cent in 1986. But there’s still a way to go until the quantity of research reflects the burden of HIV infections on the African continent. Claudia Hammond speaks to Professor Thumbi Ndung’u and Dr Omolara Baiyegunhi from the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa about the future of research being conducted in Africa by Africans and why it matters. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is now the fastest growing liver disease in E ..read more

When China abruptly ended its tough lockdown policy in December 2022, Covid cases in the country rose rapidly. The Government’s official death toll was 121 thousand, but medical epidemiologist Ray Yip is one of several experts estimating it could have been much higher. Now China is experiencing another wave of Covid-19 fuelled by the Omicron variant, but this time the nation seems determined to continue with normal life. Claudia Hammond speaks to journalist Cindy Sui who has interviewed Chinese people about how authorities are handling the virus. Claudia investigates the rise of medical journ ..read more

As Uganda approves some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation in the world, we hear from Dr Chloe Orkin, Professor of infection and inequities at Queen Mary University in London about the impact the new laws are already having on HIV health services. Strict abortion laws in some US states are causing women to travel hundreds of miles to terminate their pregnancies across state lines. In the latest in our series on the health impacts of the US Supreme Court ruling on abortion, Claudia Hammond discusses the mental health consequences that these abortion restrictions can have. She speaks to Nan ..read more

Home testing kits for screening people for signs of diseases have become more and more common in recent years. Now a study in the US shows that mailing women from low-income backgrounds tests for HPV, almost doubled the uptake of cervical screening. So, is ‘do-it-yourself’ testing the answer for other conditions, in other countries? Claudia discusses with BBC health and science journalist Philippa Roxby. Dr Ike Anya is a consultant in public health and published author. He explains why he hopes his new memoir ‘Small by Small’ about his student days spent studying medicine in Nigeria might ins ..read more

Medical professionals in Khartoum tell us how they are managing to continue their work to treat people in hospitals despite the ongoing violence in Sudan. Some hospitals are out of service and doctors say they are struggling to secure medical supplies. There is evidence that high blood pressure in young people in England is going undiagnosed, and levels are rising in the USA. Dr Graham Easton looks at the latest. He also discusses new research which may lead to earlier diagnosis of the degenerative condition Parkinson’s disease by testing for a build-up of abnormal proteins. Ian Temple has P ..read more