#preventable-blindness

#preventable-blindness

I am open-minded; I believe in integrative practices, and I agree that the medical establishment can be arrogant and unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, which now funds so much of medical research. But I fully understand Scherer's frustration with his interminable discussions with Kennedy about scientific articles.

I didn't want to get hearing devices because, to me, there was a horrible stigma. People who wore hearing aids were doddering. They didn't listen, they said, 'what, what,' over and over. Worse, the hearing aid would make this squealing sound. I worried that it was the beginning of the end of me.

Risks of outbreaks with pandemic potential rise with increasing land-use change, biodiversity loss and climate change. The Pandemic Agreement adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2025 marks a historic shift that establishes the One Health approach as a legally binding obligation for pandemic prevention.

When I take a walk in my neighborhood, my white hair, dark glasses, and white cane shout to the world that I am an older blind man. Some passers-by assume that I am lost and ask if I need help. It is true that blind people sometimes need help when using a mobility aid (a white cane or guide dog) to navigate their physical environment. However, once a person becomes proficient at traveling with a mobility aid, they typically need much less help.

The front of the eye, and the cornea in particular, has more nerve endings per millimetre square than anywhere else in the body, says Dr Dilani Siriwardena, a consultant NHS ophthalmologist at Moorfields eye hospital in London and vice-president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. So it can be very sensitive. The tiniest scratch or piece of grit in your eye can feel like a brick.

"What we've identified here could help improve adherence to vaccination quicker if we target the right people," he says.

Blindness is a very scary disability, says Prof Lauren Ayton, deputy director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne. But people don't realise actually about 90% of vision loss can be prevented or treated. And like many other problems, keeping the eyes healthy so often comes down to good diet, keeping active, and regular check-ups.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Measles. Measles, measles, measles! After decades of not having to worry much about the most contagious virus on record, it suddenly seems to be everywhere. The outbreak in South Carolina is nearing 1,000 cases, overtaking last year's largest outbreak, in Texas, which ended in August with 762 cases. Twenty states are currently reporting infections. Canada recently lost its measles elimination status.

Adult literacy advocate Toni Cordell recounts the story of feeling comforted when her doctor told her that her medical concern could be solved with an easy surgery. She agreed to proceed without asking further questions and didn't understand the medical consent forms because she didn't read well. At a follow-up office visit a couple of weeks after the procedure, Cordell was shocked when the nurse asked, "How are you feeling since your hysterectomy?"

Being overweight doesn't just make people more susceptible to chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetesit might also increase their risk of severe influenza and other infections, a new study confirms. The study, published today in the Lancet, suggests that people with obesity may be more susceptible to death and hospitalization from a variety of infections caused by viruses, fungi, parasites and bacteria.

Smoking, being overweight, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and sunbeds are the top preventable causes of cancer, experts have warned. Researchers from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) analysed 30 risk factors that cause cancer, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and air pollution. Using data from across 185 countries, they estimate that about 7.1 million of the 18.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed globally in 2022 were preventable.

Public health consultant Dr Ross Keat said supporting people earlier to make small preventative changes would make "a big difference later on". Some 3,500 people in the north of the island within that age bracket are eligible for the checks. The checks will be carried out by two pre-existing nurses that support GP staff and would not replace GP appointments, Keat explained, adding that the cost would be minimal and absorbed by Ramsey Group Practice.

Aid cuts could lead to more than 22 million avoidable deaths by 2030, including 5.4 million children under five, according to the most comprehensive modelling to date. In the past two decades there have been dramatic falls in the number of young children dying from infectious diseases, driven by aid directed to the developing world, researchers wrote in the Lancet Global Health. But that progress was at risk of reversal because of abrupt budget cuts by donor countries, including the US and the UK.

Actor James Van Der Beek died on 11 February, aged 48; he had been diagnosed in 2023 with colorectal cancer. According to the World Health Organization, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. While rates are declining overall, cases among younger people are rising. This is a curable cancer if diagnosed early, says Dr Deirdre Cohen, director of the gastrointestinal oncology program for the Mount Sinai health system and an associate professor of medicine. It's important to bring any symptoms to the attention of your physician.

Perhaps the most significant milestone was the adoption by WHO Member States of the Pandemic Agreement, a landmark step towards making the world safer from future pandemics. Alongside this, amendments to the International Health Regulations came into force, including a new pandemic emergency alert level designed to trigger stronger global cooperation. And to sustainably finance the WHO's work, governments in a historic show of support increased their contributions to our core budget.

Clothes, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, a teddy Although it should be two teddies, she re-evaluates, quickly. I can hear her trying to quell her panic. A diehard survivalist preparing for catastrophe? Actually, a beleaguered 44-year-old mother recovering from scabies an itchy rash caused by microscopic mites that burrow under human skin. Far-fetched as it sounds, emergency evacuation is exactly what she, her partner and children (six and four) resorted to in November in a desperate bid to beat the bugs.