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Obesity in childhood may limit future income and opportunities

Childhood obesity may be quietly undermining one of the central promises of American life.

18 Mar 2026

Cambridge study calls for tighter regulation of talking AI toys for children

AI-powered toys that "talk" with young children should be more tightly regulated and carry new safety kitemarks, according to a report that warns they are not always developed with children's psychological safety in mind.

13 Mar 2026

Study finds correlation between a state's sources of revenue and public-health policies

A new study in the United States finds that the more a state's budget relied on sales tax revenue, the more likely it was to shorten stay-at-home orders during the early stages of the COVID pandemic.

10 Mar 2026

New index provides state-level vulnerability to influenza-like illness

Infectious disease can afflict a population in complex ways. Understanding the varying risks is an equally complex challenge.

9 Mar 2026

Florida hasn’t expanded Medicaid. Lawmakers want to add work requirements anyway.

In states that have long refused to expand Medicaid to more low-income adults, people in the program aren't subject to new rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act requiring them to prove they're working in order to get and keep coverage.

9 Mar 2026

Chile verified as leprosy free after decades of public health efforts

The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), congratulates Chile for becoming the first country in the Americas – and the second globally – to be officially verified as having eliminated leprosy disease.

4 Mar 2026

Poverty linked to early motor delays in babies as young as six months

Poverty can affect babies' motor development as early as six months of age. This is the conclusion of the first Brazilian study to examine the quantity and quality of motor development month by month and its relationship with socioeconomic vulnerability during the first months of life.

2 Mar 2026

Study highlights systemic forces sustaining tuberculosis transmission

Despite major advances in diagnostics and treatment, tuberculosis (TB) remains the world's deadliest infectious disease.

26 Feb 2026

Nearly 6 in 10 women in the U.S. may have cardiovascular disease in the next 25 years

Driven by rising rates in high blood pressure, nearly 6 in 10 women in the U.S. will have some type of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the next 25 years, according to a new scientific statement published today in Circulation, the peer-reviewed, flagship journal of the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all.

25 Feb 2026

Social deprivation tied to less diverse gut microbiome

Living in a poorer neighborhood in the UK could impact the make-up of your gut microbiome, potentially leading to worse health.

25 Feb 2026

Review: Natural selection can occur on multiple levels of biological organization

The common view of natural selection is based solely on the individual: A trait allows an organism to out-compete its rivals and is thus passed down to its offspring.

20 Feb 2026

Neighborhood poverty, uninsured status linked to COPD hospitalizations

Certain neighborhood characteristics, including higher poverty, more uninsured residents, and lower educational attainment, may lead to an increase in COPD-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations, according to a new study in the January 2026 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation, a peer-reviewed, open access journal.

19 Feb 2026

UK aid cuts accelerate dangerous retreat from global health in crisis-affected regions

UK aid cuts demand justice-led solutions such as debt restructuring to repair the harm, writes Katie Husselby, director of Action for Global Health.

17 Feb 2026

Higher red meat intake links to greater diabetes odds in large US study

Higher intakes of total, processed, and unprocessed red meat were associated with greater odds of diabetes in a nationally representative sample of US adults. Statistical substitution models suggest replacing red meat with plant proteins, poultry, dairy, or whole grains may be linked to lower diabetes odds, though causality cannot be inferred.

15 Feb 2026

Trump team’s planned ACA rule offers its answer to rising premium costs: Catastrophic coverage

The Trump administration has unveiled a sweeping set of regulatory proposals that would substantially change health plan offerings on the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year, aiming, it says, to provide more choice and lower premiums.

13 Feb 2026

Global report highlights inequities in pediatric palliative care

Nearly all the world's 10.6 million children experiencing serious health-related suffering (SHS) live in low- and middle-income countries with little to no access to palliative care specialized care for their illness, according to a comprehensive new report published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

10 Feb 2026

Expanded vaccine supply allows resumption of cholera prevention campaigns

Global cholera vaccine supply has now increased to a level sufficient to allow the resumption of life-saving preventive campaigns for the first time in over three years, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

5 Feb 2026

Most commercially insured patients live with chronic conditions

The majority (57.5 percent) of commercially insured patients had at least one chronic condition in 2024. The average allowed amount for a patient with no chronic conditions was $1,590, while the average allowed amount for a patient with one chronic condition was nearly double ($3,039).

2 Feb 2026

Nearly half of adults now live with heart disease as obesity and diabetes surge

The 2026 American Heart Association Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics report shows that nearly half of adults are living with cardiovascular disease, with cardiometabolic risk factors projected to rise substantially by 2050. Despite progress in smoking reduction and cholesterol control, worsening obesity, diabetes, hypertension, sleep health, and persistent inequities threaten future cardiovascular health.

22 Jan 2026