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Episode details

World Service,05 Feb 2020,26 mins

Fighting the new coronavirus alongside other infections

Health Check

Available for over a year

Headlines are still dominated by the spread of the new coronavirus including the race to create a vaccine. But does that divert attention from other infectious diseases which can kill? GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance, has announced that it’s planning to vaccinate 45 million children against measles in places like South Sudan, Bangladesh and Nepal following a surge in the number of cases. GAVI’s CEO Seth Berkeley believes that we must strengthen all healthcare systems to tackle the outbreaks. Going to see a doctor can be difficult if your community has experienced discrimination. A new clinic has been set up in the Canadian city of Ottawa for Inuit children from Nunavut in the frozen north. They travel to the Aakuluk clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for specialist treatment. Reporter Sian Griffiths met some of the families, translators and Inuit social navigators who support the homesick children. When a word is “on the tip of the tongue” but you just can’t remember it, you might think your memory is failing. We hear from a psychologist who says that our verbal skills don’t all get worse as we age – many of us become better storytellers as the years go by. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Paula McGrath (Image: Children waiting for a measles vaccination in the Central African Republic. Photo credit: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images.)

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