Health Check Podcast
Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.
Episodes to download
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China’s latest bid to boost its birth rate
Wednesday
What impact might taxes on contraceptives have in China?
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How can we eliminate malaria?
Wed 31 Dec 2025
The big ideas and innovations that may help us one day eliminate malaria
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2025: A big year for tackling malaria
Christmas Eve 2025
The new drugs, gadgets and vaccines making a difference
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Behind the Huntington’s disease breakthrough
Wed 17 Dec 2025
The world’s first gene therapy to treat Huntington’s disease
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Shingles vaccine slows the progression of dementia
Wed 10 Dec 2025
We unpick further research on the benefits of the shingles vaccine
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The risky use of skin lightening in children
Wed 3 Dec 2025
A new study finds 20% of Nigerian under-5s have been exposed to skin-lightening products
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Childhood hypertension becomes more common
Wed 26 Nov 2025
New study finds the prevalence of high blood pressure in childhood has doubled since 2000
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The disappearing mid-life crisis
Wed 19 Nov 2025
The trend in wellbeing over our lifespans is changing, driven by unhappier young people
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Canada loses measles elimination status
Wed 12 Nov 2025
Why are measles cases continuing to spread in North America and beyond?
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Cloud seeding to cut air pollution in Delhi
Wed 5 Nov 2025
We hear the fallout of a failed attempt at cloud seeding to cut pollution in Delhi
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What surpassing 1.5°C means for global health
Wed 29 Oct 2025
How can we protect global health in a world that will ‘inevitably’ warm past 1.5 degrees?
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How impostors distort medical research
Wed 22 Oct 2025
How to find human and bot impostors amongst real participants in health research
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How to prioritise aid in Gaza
Wed 15 Oct 2025
What impact will aid deliveries have to health in Gaza
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Immune system researchers win Nobel Prize
Wed 8 Oct 2025
We explain the science behind the Nobel winners
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Creating human eggs from skin cells
Wed 1 Oct 2025
How cell reprogramming might help address infertility
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Trump’s unproven claims on autism and paracetamol
Wed 24 Sep 2025
We fact-check Trump’s claims that paracetamol is linked to an increased risk of autism
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More children are obese than underweight
Wed 17 Sep 2025
For the first time there are more overweight than underweight children globally
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The psychology of curiosity
Wed 10 Sep 2025
Astronaut Tim Peake and panel discuss if curiosity is good for us
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Have we found a better alternative to aspirin?
Wed 3 Sep 2025
An alternative blood thinner is showing improvements in warding off heart attack
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A breakthrough in treating chronic pain
Wed 27 Aug 2025
A gene has been identified that is critical for regulating pain signals
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Using AI to discover new antibiotics
Wed 20 Aug 2025
How AI has helped find potential new antibiotics to fight gonorrhoea and MRSA
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How plastic harms health
Wed 13 Aug 2025
As negotiations conclude on a global treaty, we consider how plastic affects our health
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Making human blood deadly to mosquitoes
Wed 30 Jul 2025
We assess a novel technique to combat malaria
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Do you really have a penicillin allergy?
Wed 23 Jul 2025
How more accurate allergy labels would improve patient outcomes
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HIV prevention drug Lenacapavir recommended by WHO
Wed 16 Jul 2025
What difference could this make in the fight against HIV?
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First malaria treatment approved for newborns
Wed 9 Jul 2025
The new dose strength is the first approved malaria treatment for neonates
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Can bacteria-eating viruses be used to fight superbugs?
Wed 2 Jul 2025
How phage-therapy could tackle antimicrobial resistance.
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Childhood vaccination coverage stalls worldwide
Wed 25 Jun 2025
Childhood vaccination coverage stalls despite huge progress since the 1970s
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