Health

cyberbullying

Almost one child in six is cyberbullied: WHO Europe

By Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, March 27, 2024 (AFP) – Some 16 percent of children aged 11 to 15 were cyberbullied in 2022, up from 13 percent four years ago, a WHO Europe report covering 44 countries said on Wednesday. “This report is a wake-up call for all of us to address bullying and violence, whenever and wherever it happens,” WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement. Fifteen percent of boys and […]

Japan drugmaker reports death after health supplement recall

TOKYO, March 26, 2024 (AFP) – A Japanese drugmaker said Tuesday it is investigating one death from kidney dysfunction potentially linked to health supplements recalled last week by the firm. It comes a day after the company said it was aware of 26 cases of people being hospitalised in relation to the prescription-free tablets. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, which sells over-the-counter drugs and dietary supplements, has received an additional 50 unconfirmed reports of hospitalisations as of Tuesday […]

10 key dates on the path to a pandemic accord

By Robin MILLARD GENEVA, March 25, 2024 (AFP) – Here are 10 key dates on the pathway towards the signing of an international accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response: May 19, 2020 World Health Organization member states call for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the handling of Covid-19 which will “make recommendations to improve capacity for global pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response”. July 9, 2020 WHO launches the Independent Panel for Pandemic […]

UN warns against thirsty tech to solve water crisis

PARIS, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – The world needs to better manage its freshwater resources but thirsty new technologies touted as solutions could lead to “serious problems” if left unchecked, a UN report warned Friday. Roughly half of the planet’s population is facing grave water shortages, with climate change-linked droughts affecting more than 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021, the report for the UN cultural agency UNESCO said. As of 2022, more than 2 […]

US surgeons transplant pig kidney to live patient in world first

By Chris Lefkow WASHINGTON, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – US surgeons have successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a living patient for the first time, the hospital said Thursday, a procedure that could help address the chronic shortage of donor organs. The four-hour operation was carried out on Saturday on a 62-year-old man suffering from end-stage kidney disease, Massachusetts General Hospital said. “The procedure marks a major milestone in the quest to provide […]

Neuralink shows quadriplegic playing chess with brain implant

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – Neuralink on Wednesday streamed a video of its first human patient playing computer chess with his mind and talking about the brain implant making that possible. Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down by a diving accident eight years ago, told of playing chess and the videogame “Civilization” as well as taking Japanese and French lessons by controlling a computer screen cursor with his […]

The search to discover why ‘outliers’ survive deadliest cancers

By Isabelle TOURNÉ When Herve found out he had glioblastoma — the most aggressive form of brain cancer — at the age of 40, he made a deal with himself. “I said to myself: it is serious, but you are at war — and you’re going to win,” the French teacher, who did not want to give his surname, told AFP. “For my wife and children, I forbade myself to die.” Eight years later, following […]

How genetic therapies transformed the lives of sickle cell patients

By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – Their stories are divided into before and after. First, those long years of pain which flooded every moment — school, relationships, work. And then — after agonizing treatments — what felt like the miracle of life after sickle cell disease (SCD). Two Americans whose lives were turned around by newly approved treatments tell AFP they want others to benefit too. But the eye-watering cost — up […]

Surging nervous system disorders now top cause of illness: study

  Conditions affecting the nervous system — such as strokes, migraines and dementia — have surged past heart disease to become the leading cause of ill health worldwide, a major new analysis said on Friday. More than 3.4 billion people — 43 percent of the global population — experienced a neurological condition in 2021, far more than had previously been thought, the analysis found. The study was carried out by hundreds of researchers led by […]

‘Man in iron lung’ dead at 78: family

A polio survivor known as the “man in the iron lung” has died aged 78, according to his family and a fundraising website. Paul Alexander of Dallas, Texas contracted polio at the age of six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and reliant on a mechanical respirator to breathe for much of the time. Though often confined to his submarine-like cylinder, he excelled in his studies, earned a law degree, worked in the legal […]

Whale menopause sheds light on human evolutionary mystery

By Daniel Lawler Why do humans experience menopause? It’s a question that some women going through the symptoms might have asked themselves more than once. Scientists are also baffled. From an evolutionary perspective, animals generally take every chance they can get to have as many offspring as possible to boost their odds of survival. So why have some species evolved to have menopause, in which females live many years after they stop being able to […]

Mourners gather as Liberia approaches decade since Ebola outbreak

Dozens of mourners gathered to clear graves at Liberia’s largest Ebola burial site on Wednesday, as the country approached 10 years since the virus first swept through the population. The West African nation was badly hit by the region’s Ebola pandemic, which raged from 2014 to 2016 and killed 4,810 people in Liberia alone. The country’s first cases were confirmed on March 30, 2014, according to the World Health Organization. “It is very hard for […]