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Does your home country impact your cancer risk?
Health Check
Mar 18, 2026

North Korean defectors and lifelong South Korean residents have significantly different cancer rates, despite their genetic similarities; new research finds. Presenter Laura Foster unpacks this study, explaining what it tells us about how upbringing and environment contribute to different cancer rates, and how migration can change these risks.

A new study has found GLP-1s – drugs typically used to treat diabetes and obesity – could have an unexpected benefit for patients dealing with substance abuse disorders. Laura speaks with Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist and Veterans Affairs physician at Washington University in St Louis to understand what this could mean for treating drug and alcohol addictions, and what questions still need answers before this treatment can be rolled out.

Last weekend, Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority rolled out new waste management rules to better dispose of products containing plastic, but the new laws are expected to increase the price of sanitary pads by 20%. Global health reporter based in Nairobi, Dorcas Wangira joins Laura to unpack what these policies mean for the accessibility of sanitary products, and what alternative solutions are needed to balance access with environmental impact. They also discuss how a drug to treat Parkinson’s disease can be made from waste plastic bottles using a pioneering method.

And Jane Chambers reports from Peru about the growing prevalence of anaemia, speaking to local healthcare workers about what steps families can be taken to help their children recover.

Presenter: Laura Foster Producers: Jonathan Blackwell and Georgia Christie

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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

Does your home country impact your cancer risk?

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