5 h. ago Many forget the damage done by diseases like whooping cough, measles and rubella. Not these families

In the time before widespread vaccination, young children often lost their lives to devastating infectious diseases that ran rampant in America

Events

5 h. ago Takeaways from interviews with families forever changed by diseases that vaccines can prevent

In the time before widespread vaccination, young children often lost their lives to devastating infectious diseases that ran rampant in America

Politics

3 d. ago Global vaccination efforts stall, leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases

Global efforts to protect children against diseases like measles, polio and tuberculosis have stalled since 2010, leaving millions vulnerable to deadly infections

Politics

3 d. ago Millions of children at risk as global vaccine rates fall, study finds

Decline blamed on health inequalities, Covid disruption and soaring levels of misinformation and hesitancyMillions of children worldwide are at risk of lethal diseases because vaccine coverage has stalled or reversed amid persistent health inequalities and soaring levels of misinformation and hesitancy, the largest study of its kind has found.Major progress in rolling out jabs to billions of children in all corners of the globe over the last five decades has prevented the deaths of 154 million children, according to an analysis published in the Lancet. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Push to change ‘misogynistic’ name of one of the world’s most common surgeries

The name hysterectomy is rooted in a mental health condition – ‘hysteria’ – that was once believed to affect women

Politics

4 d. ago How can RFK Jr ‘Make America healthy again’? He is ignoring the two biggest killers of American children | Devi Sridhar

The US health secretary’s latest report is more interested in vaccine scepticism than the brutal toll inflicted by guns and road traffic accidents“Make America healthy again”. We can all get behind this slogan and agree that much more could be done to improve the health of people living in the US. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health and human services secretary, recently released a report detailing the challenge of the US’s health. About 90% of it outlines the high rates of obesity, mental health issues and chronic disease, 10% covers vaccine scepticism, and 0% looks at solutions or any discussions of the systemic social and economic issues that drive much of the US’s health problems.But what surprised me more was a notable omission of the two biggest killers of American children. American children aren’t just unhealthier. They’re more likely to die in the first 19 years of life because of guns – both homicides and suicides – or in a road traffic accident than children in comparable ...

Events

7 d. ago CDC vaccine panel to review ingredient RFK Jr has targeted for removal

ACIP panel to discuss influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal, which Kennedy called ‘dangerous’ in 2014 bookA key vaccine advisory panel reconstituted by health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr is slated to discuss thimerosal-containing influenza vaccines in its first meeting – an ingredient which has been a fixation of anti-vaccine activists for decades.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will hold two separate votes later this month: one on “influenza vaccines” and one on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Child Benefit change coming this summer for thousands of families

You normally pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge through self-assessment - but there will soon be the option to do this through your PAYE tax code instead

Society

2 w. ago 'My little girl's body was desecrated by evil murderer – the law must change'

Honoured campaigner Marie McCourt is being backed by families of horrific murders all calling for a law change to go after killers who desecrate and hide bodies

Events

2 w. ago Families in Argyll & Bute encouraged to explore adoption services

One of the UK’s leading children’s charities, Kibble, is inviting families from across Argyll and Bute to discover the life-changing journey of adoption at a free virtual event this June.

Politics

2 w. ago In limbo: families hoping for change to UK income rules for spousal visas

The migration advisory committee is due to release a review of the UK’s minimum income requirement for family visas – currently set at £29,000. Many British families are in a state of enforced separation. Family visas represent just 5% of total UK visa applications, yet are a key focus of a migration crackdown. Working with Reunite Families, photographer Frankie Mills documents the lives of nine families whose stories illustrate the human cost of this policy thresholdThree weeks ago, Keir Starmer said the UK was at risk of becoming an “island of strangers”. But for countless British citizens across the country, that isolation is already a lived reality by design of immigration rules that force them to choose between their homeland and family.The minimum income requirement dictates how much a person needs to earn in order to bring their non-British partner here. Set at £18,600 for a decade, the Conservatives announced plans to raise it dramatically to £38,700 before backtracking afte...

Politics

2 w. ago RFK Jr to remove all members of CDC panel advising on US vaccines

Health secretary says he’s getting rid of members sitting on panel of vaccine experts and reconstituting the committeeThe health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is getting rid of all members sitting on a key US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts and reconstituting the committee, he said on Monday.Kennedy is retiring and replacing all 17 members of the CDC’s advisory committee for immunization practices, he wrote in piece published in the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Cuts to UK’s global vaccination funding would risk avoidable child deaths, experts warn

Exclusive: Scientists also say any reduction in Foreign Office funding for vaccine alliance Gavi would harm UK’s soft powerAny cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make British less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned.Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Who's in charge? CDC's leadership 'crisis' apparent amid new COVID

The CDC, a $9.2 billion-a-year agency tasked with reviewing life-saving vaccines, monitoring diseases and watching for budding threats to Americans’ health, is without a clear leader

Politics

3 w. ago Major change for families on Universal Credit announced as parents set to save £500 a year

The government has announced that hundreds of thousands more children will now be eligible for free school meals

Society

3 w. ago All international travelers should get measles vaccinations, CDC says

U.S. health officials have changed their advice to international travelers about measles, saying Americans should be vaccinated against the disease no matter where they travel in the world

Politics

3 w. ago Al Djanat: The Original Paradise review – striking account of Burkina Faso homecoming

Chloé Aïcha Boro’s watchful documentary charts the disharmony and legal wrangling caused by a dispute in her family over sacred burial landEconomic and financial woes cast a dark shadow over family bonds in Chloé Aïcha Boro’s contemplative, searching documentary. Returning to her Burkina Faso village after decades of living in France, Boro experiences an emotional paradox intimately known by all immigrants. Once-familiar places turn foreign, since the migrator has undergone huge internal changes of their own. And with the recent passing of her uncle Ousmane Coulibaly, the head of her extended Muslim family, Boro’s homecoming is marred by disharmony. Between Coulibaly’s brothers and his 19 children, warring interests over inherited land rage on.The film returns time and again to a sacred courtyard where, for centuries, the umbilical cords of Coulibaly newborns have been buried to ensure their ascendence to heaven in the afterlife. More than a ritual, the tradition concretises the lin...

Events