ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS

January 2017 NYTimes; THERE’S quite a paradox when it comes to our health data. Most of us still cannot readily look at it, but there’s been an epidemic of cybercriminals and thieves hacking and stealing this most personal information. Last year hundreds of breaches involving millions of health records were …

December 2016 BBC; A drug that alters the immune system has been described as “big news” and a “landmark” in treating multiple sclerosis, doctors and charities say. Trials, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the drug can slow damage to the brain in two forms of MS. …

November 2016 TheConversation; After years of legal battles, a global agreement has been reached for developing countries to buy – and for drug manufacturers to produce or import – generic medicines without breaching patent rules. The Conversation Africa’s Health and Medicine Editor Candice Bailey asked Natalie Schellack to explain what …

November 2016 Africacheck; A news story saying that South Africa’s health minister urged men not to undergo voluntary circumcision as it can cause cancer of the penis is going viral. Not only is the claim false – the very opposite is true. In South Africa, a fake news story claiming …

November 2016 NHSNews; “Why processed food may cause bowel cancer: Common additives change gut bacteria which allow tumours to grow,” reports the Mail Online. This follows a study in mice investigating whether common food additives (E numbers) called emulsifiers cause inflammation in the gut that in turn triggers bowel cancer. The researchers …

November 2016 NHSNewsCentre; “Worried well ‘make themselves sick’,” reports The Daily Telegraph. Several other news outlets covered the same story with headlines about how the “worried well” may be more likely to develop heart disease. The stories are based on a Norwegian population study with 7,052 participants that aimed to …

November 2016 theguardian; Men are far less likely to seek medical support for a mental health problem than women, new figures reveal. A survey commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation found that not only are men far less likely than women to seek professional support, they are also less likely …

October 2016 lshtm; Common painkillers such as ibuprofen and diclofenac that are used by millions of people in the UK have been linked to an increased risk of heart failure, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal. Led by the University of Milano-Bicocca, the study analysed 10 …

September 2016 TheConversation; In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly set the global development agenda for the next 15 years. The adoption of the new sustainable development goals included a range of targets to tackle the world’s health challenges. As part of the Global Burden of Disease Study collaborative …

September 2016 nbcnews; Smoking scars DNA in clear patterns, researchers reported Tuesday. Most of the damage fades over time, they found — but not all of it. Their study of 16,000 people found that while most of the disease-causing genetic footprints left by smoking fade after five years if people …