WHO, UNICEF say more than 14 million infants worldwide remain unvaccinated

Cognitive impairment is increasing globally. All stages of dementia are marked by declines in memory and executive function. Previous research has examined whether micronutrient levels may relate to cognitive resilience.

Scientists have used an AI model to reassess the results of a completed clinical trial for an Alzheimer's disease drug. They found that the drug slowed cognitive decline by 46% in a group of patients with early-stage, slow-progressing mild cognitive impairment—a condition that can progress to Alzheimer's.

Two university hospitals are pioneering new ways to expand lifesaving heart transplants for adults and babies—advances that could help recover would-be heart donations that too often go unused.

17 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – The Regional Health Alliance (RHA) convenes today to accelerate efforts to improve maternal, newborn and child health and support immunization and polio eradication across the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region. The meeting will gather representatives from nine UN agencies and six priority countries – Afghanistan, Djibouti, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Hosted by WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the one-day meeting aims to strengthen support for Member States as they implement national strategies to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, eradicate polio and boost immunization coverage through the Expanded Programme on Immunization. Recent data indicate that 60 countries globally are not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on under-5 mortality, and 65 are off track for the neonatal mortality target. In 2023, the six  priority countries accounted for almost 85% of under-5 deaths (694 000 out of 812 000) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and recorded some of the highest maternal mortality rates globally, ranging from 155 to 563 per 100 000 live births. Participants will discuss ways to enhance efforts, renew commitment and increase investment in maternal, newborn and child health to help countries achieve the SDG targets adopted by UN Member States in 2015, including reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100 000 live births and ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 by 2030. Recognizing the urgent need for action, WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are collaborating Read more...

17 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean joined with mental health partners and stakeholders to launch the Regional Coalition for Mental Health Promotion and Substance Use Prevention. The Coalition will provide a platform to align strategies and maximize collective impact. Stakeholders will be able to transform how mental health, psychosocial support and substance use are addressed across the Region and facilitate the urgently needed shift from stigmatization to empowerment, punishment to prevention, isolation to integration and fragmentation to coordinated, impactful action. Tackling mental health conditions and substance use poses a major challenge at both the global and regional level. In today’s context of shrinking resources and growing needs, unified strategic actions are required. No single sector or agency can address the pressing challenges alone. The Coalition brings together civil society actors working on the frontlines of mental health and substance use, many led by people who have been directly affected. Their work spans prevention, rehabilitation, advocacy, service delivery and policy reform. People with lived experience are a vital resource and must be engaged with as equal partners and leaders, not as beneficiaries or symbols. Mental health conditions and substance use disorders exact a devastating toll across the Eastern Mediterranean Region – on individuals, families and communities. One in 6 people in the Region lives with a mental health condition. Substance use is on the rise, with 6.7% of adults affected – above the global average – of whom only a fraction receive treatment. Read more...

A simple digital photograph of the back of the eye can predict a major cardiovascular event—such as a heart attack or stroke—set to happen in the next decade with 70% accuracy, according to research supported by the British Heart Foundation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The UK's pioneering licensed IVF technique to reduce the risk of mitochondrial diseases carried out in Newcastle has seen eight babies born, research shows.

A new treatment that uses music therapy on dementia wards could improve care and support for some of the NHS's most vulnerable patients.

A new study from Florida State University's Claude Pepper Center and Pepper Institute on Aging & Public Policy has shed new light on the importance of psychological resilience for aging adults experiencing widowhood, including notable gender differences in recovery.

Newborns exposed to HIV during pregnancy or birth should receive preventive antiretroviral medication immediately after delivery to reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child.

A new study that examined older and newer medications to treat seizures has found that using some medications during pregnancy is linked to an increased risk of malformations at birth, or birth defects. The study is published in Neurology.

Hispanic people have an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy compared to white people that cannot be explained by many health, lifestyle and social risk factors, according to a study published in Neurology.

Doctors at Baylor College of Medicine have confirmed that the use of the portable Organ Care System (OCS), or "breathing lung" technology, boosts long-term survival for transplant patients. This discovery offers new hope for people currently awaiting lung transplantation.

In utero exposure to two liquid ingredients in e-cigarettes—minus the nicotine that drives addiction—can alter skull shape during fetal development, a new study in mice has found.

The human intestine is home to a dense network of microorganisms, known collectively as the gut microbiome, which actively helps to shape our health. The microorganisms help with digestion, train the immune system and protect us against dangerous intruders. However, this protection can be disrupted, and not just by antibiotics, which—when used for treatment—are intended to prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

From your phone to your sponge, your toothbrush to your trolley handle, invisible armies of bacteria are lurking on the everyday objects you touch the most. Most of these microbes are harmless—some even helpful—but under the right conditions, a few can make you seriously ill.

Aerobic exercise and a high capacity for exercise may protect against metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), also known as fatty liver disease, by increasing the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids, according to a new study published in the journal Function.

Food insecurity is not only linked with, but directly causes symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to research published in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health.