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Billions still lack essential health services despite worldwide gains in coverage

Since 2000, most countries – across all income levels and regions – have made concurrent progress in expanding health service coverage and reducing the financial hardship associated with health costs, according to a new joint report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group.

6 Dec 2025

New work requirement adds red tape to Missouri’s snarled food aid system

Distributing food stamps soon could get even harder for Missouri's food aid system, which a federal judge has already called "broken and inaccessible."

1 Dec 2025

SNAP and Medicaid cuts could strip students of school meals

Federal changes to Medicaid and SNAP could limit school meal access for vulnerable students, undermining nutrition equity and increasing administrative strain.

27 Nov 2025

Urban households across Barcelona show low or moderate adherence to Mediterranean diet

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in urban households across Barcelona is low or moderate, despite its widely recognized benefits for cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health.

26 Nov 2025

Research links social determinants of health to rural-urban disparities in colorectal cancer mortality rates

New research reveals that certain social determinants of health-such as socioeconomic status, household characteristics, and racial/ethnic minority status-have significant effects on rural–urban disparities in colorectal cancer mortality rates.

24 Nov 2025

Young children in Nigeria may be widely exposed to skin lightening products

A significant proportion of under 5s in Nigeria may be being exposed to skin lightning products, if the results of a semi-urban community survey are indicative, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

21 Nov 2025

Prenatal stress hormones may shape when a baby’s teeth erupt

A study links maternal stress hormones in late pregnancy to the timing of baby teeth eruption, highlighting prenatal factors in early childhood development.

20 Nov 2025

Global report highlights persistent violence against women

Violence against women remains one of the world's most persistent and under-addressed human rights crises, with very little progress in two decades, according to a landmark report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners.

19 Nov 2025

Middle-aged Australians experience the highest levels of stress, burnout and emotional fatigue

Middle-aged Australians are keeping the country running - but it's taking a hefty toll on their wellbeing, a new report shows.

19 Nov 2025

Integrated financial and mental health programs offer stronger benefits

Supporting people with both financial and mental health support at the same time works better than tackling either one in isolation, according to new research led by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

19 Nov 2025

Medicaid expansion boosts PrEP access for people at risk of HIV diagnosis

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) significantly increased the number of people at risk of HIV diagnosis who were prescribed preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a preventative medication taken in pill or injectable form, according to Rutgers Health–led research.

17 Nov 2025

Funding challenges threaten to reverse global gains in the fight against TB

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world's deadliest infectious killers, claiming over 1.2 million lives and affecting an estimated 10.7 million people last year, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, released today.

13 Nov 2025

Income and social disparities found to influence dementia risk factors

People with lower incomes and people from racial and ethnic historically underrepresented groups in clinical studies are more likely to have modifiable risk factors for dementia, factors that could be changed to lower their risk, according to a study published November 12, 2025, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

12 Nov 2025

Study provides a new perspective for optimizing School Feeding Programs

School Feeding Programs (SFPs), as crucial public policies for improving children's nutrition and development globally, have covered 388 million children across 161 countries.

11 Nov 2025

Mapping London’s food deserts and nutrition gaps

A study reveals London's food deserts, linking access to healthy food with income, culture, and transportation, highlighting urgent public health challenges.

11 Nov 2025

Cash transfer programs improve health outcomes across low- and middle-income countries

Large-scale, government-led cash transfer programs drove significant improvements in health outcomes across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), according to a major new study in The Lancet from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

10 Nov 2025

Long-term poverty and rising unsecured debt may increase risk of premature mortality

Adults who experience poverty-level family income-whether sustained or intermittent-over two decades spanning young to mid-adulthood face a significantly higher risk of dying prematurely than those who are never in poverty, according to new research led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

10 Nov 2025

Children's oral health remain very poor despite improvements from government interventions

Children's access to NHS dentists and rates of tooth decay remain very poor despite improvements from national government interventions, oral health experts say.

10 Nov 2025

SNAP benefits fail to fund healthy diets for many Americans, study shows

A new study reveals that while the Harvard Healthy Eating Pattern aligns with SNAP benefits, the Mediterranean and DASH diets often exceed allowable costs, particularly for individuals with higher calorie needs, highlighting a systemic “poverty tax” on healthy eating.

6 Nov 2025

Congressional stalemate creates chaos for Obamacare shoppers

This year's Obamacare open enrollment period, which started Nov. 1 in most states, is full of uncertainty and confusion for the more than 24 million people who buy health insurance through the federal and state Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

4 Nov 2025