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A year in health in review
Health Check
Dec 27, 2023

As 2024 draws ever closer, Claudia Hammond looks back at the medical news, trends and advances which the last twelve months have brought us. She is joined in the studio by BBC health reporter Philippa Roxby and Graham Easton, Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University in London who debate their favourite health advances of the year.

And Claudia returns to some of the biggest health news stories of the year to ask what happened next? Reuters’ Krishna N. Das gives an update on the contaminated cough syrup scandal in which more than 300 children are known to have died worldwide. And she revisits a story Health Check has been following for more than a decade; the case of disgraced transplant surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, as a new TV series hits Netflix. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

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Apr 22, 2026
Making surgery safer for infants

We learn about a new injectable microgel to help reduce bleeding in infants who require surgical care. In a mice model, it reduced bleeding by at least 50%. Ashley Brown, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill tells presenter Claudia Hammond more about this new material her team has designed.

Joined by Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at Boston University in the US, Dr Matthew Fox, Claudia hears about a mystery illness that is being investigated by health officials in Burundi, which has caused five deaths and sickened thirty-five people. So far lab analysis of the illness - which causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea - has been negative for Ebola and Marburg viruses, Rift Valley fever, and others.

We hear about influential analysis from Cochrane which has concluded that "breakthrough" Alzheimer's drugs are unlikely to benefit patients. Researchers said the impact was "well below" what was needed to make a difference to dementia patients' lives. However, their report has also provoked a vicious backlash from equally esteemed scientists who label it as fundamentally flawed.

We’re joined by health journalist Katie Silver in Mexico, who brings us the news that the President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has announced the details of a plan to introduce universal healthcare – no mean feat in country of 130 million people.

And we hear about an experiment that was done by academics to see if they could trick AI chatbots into believing in an entirely fake disease.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell


26min 28sec

A year in health in review

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