Category: VOA Health Report

On January eighth in Tucson, Arizona, a gunman opened fire on a small crowd meeting outdoors with a congresswoman. Six people were killed and fourteen were wounded, including the representative, Gabrielle Giffords. The bullet traveled along the left side of her brain as it went in one side of her head and came out the …

Many people have low amounts of iron in their blood. But pregnant women need extra iron for their own health and their baby’s health. Iron is important to the development of a baby’s brain and central nervous system. In poor countries, however, providing all pregnant women with iron supplements can be a financial issue. Some …

We talked last week about ways to avoid cold-weather injuries. Today we are going to talk about emergency treatment of hypothermia.Hypothermia can be mild, moderate or severe. Mild hypothermia is something that most people in cold climates have experienced at one time or another. You feel so cold that your body starts to shake — …

Freezing weather can mean frostbite and hypothermia unless a person is prepared. Today we talk about how to stay warm, dry and safe. Frostbite is damage that happens when skin is exposed to extreme cold for too long. It mainly happens on the hands, feet, nose and ears.People with minor cases of frostbite that affect …

When parents go to work, their young children often spend the day in child care. That contact with other children can make it easier to get sick. But new research suggests that this might have a protective effect a few years later when children start school. A research team looked at data from a large …

Doctors currently identify autism disorders by observing behavior. Autism affects social and communication skills. It usually first appears in young children. Now, researchers in the United States think they have found a biological test for autism. A team from Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of Utah developed it.The test uses an MRI or …

World AIDS Day was December first. This year, experts reported more signs of success in halting the AIDS epidemic. The number of AIDS-related deaths and the number of new infections are both decreasing. Michel Sidibe is the executive director of the joint United Nations program known as UNAIDS.She says today we can say that we …

The World Health Organization says the rising cost of health care is a struggle for people and governments around the world. The problem is greatest in countries where people must often pay directly for services. A new report says these costs push one hundred million people into poverty each year. Aging populations are one reason …

Delegates from around the world met in Uruguay in November to consider new ways to control tobacco. A World Health Organization treaty called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control took effect five years ago. More than one hundred seventy governments have signed it. The treaty requires a number of efforts — like raising tobacco prices, …

An outbreak of cholera in Haiti continued to spread sickness and worry. Health officials worried that the capital could suffer a major outbreak of the disease. By the middle of November, most cases in Port-au-Prince were found in people who arrived in the city already sick. But health officials confirmed the first case in a …

Malaria kills about one million people a year and sickens another two hundred fifty million. Most of the deaths are in young children in Africa. Malaria causes twenty percent of childhood deaths in Africa. People become infected when they are bitten by mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite. A new study estimates the possibility of ending …

A neighborhood barbershop might seem to some Americans like a thing of the past. Today men often get their hair cut at the same salons as women. But the traditional barbershop still holds a special place in black culture. A barbershop is a place of trust where men can talk about things they might not …

No one wants a pilot to make a mistake. This is why flight crews are trained in teamwork and communication. Now a study finds hospitals that trained their operating room teams had a lower rate of surgical deaths than other hospitals. The study is in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It involved more …

Years ago, scientists began to learn that certain parts of the brain had certain duties. For example, one part was responsible for breathing; another dealt with the sense of smell. Scientists thought our brains could not change. But then they discovered that the brain could sometimes reorganize itself when conditions required. Josef Rauschecker is a …

Rachel Valltos and Evan Sapperstein are dentists who share an office and a life together near Washington, D.C. In nine years of marriage, they have built a successful dental practice and a family. Rachel and Evan laugh about the last time they argued at home. He wanted her attention. So did one of their three …

Every few years, two groups do a study of how many Americans wash their hands after using the toilet. These groups are the American Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute, formerly the Soap and Detergent Association.There was good news in the latest study. Researchers found that eighty-five percent of adults washed their hands …

Every year, one million women around the world are found to have breast cancer. Almost two hundred thousand others are told they have ovarian cancer. The decisions for treatment are more difficult when the women have abnormal versions of two genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. The mutations in these genes can also increase the risk …

Vaccines and chest compressions are both ways to save lives. Now, separate new reports say each could save more lives if they were used more. One report is from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the GAVI Alliance. GAVI is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. This alliance of …

I’m Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English Health Report. World Suicide Prevention Day was September tenth. This year’s observance was meant to bring attention to the differences among suicidal individuals and their situations around the world. But the organizers also said that all over the world, people have something in common. They need to …

I’m Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English Health Report. Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older.Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age …