How loneliness sets in motion cravings for food, drugs and eagerness to seek them out
Some remedies for loneliness will come as no surprise. Increasing access to social activities, for example by housing people in communities with common areas, can help, Sommerlad says. Some researchers are also finding ways to tap into the neural mechanisms underlying loneliness directly, through exercise, for instance.
Loneliness: Why lack of social interaction is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia
Loneliness is a slippery concept. It’s not the same as social isolation, which occurs when someone has few meaningful social relationships, although “they’re two sides of the same coin”, says old-age psychiatrist Andrew Sommerlad at University College London. Rather, loneliness is a person’s subjective experience of being unsatisfied with their social relationships.
Kenya government on strike: Authorities in East African nation ‘boycott’ doctors’ industrial action
The Kenyan health sector, which doctors say is underfunded and understaffed, is routinely beset by strikes. Talks between the two sides aimed at ending the ongoing strike have so far not borne any deal and other health workers, such as clinical officers, have also joined the doctors in the strike, domestic media reported on Tuesday.
Malaria vaccine rollout in tropical belt shines light on value of renewable power
The vaccine “cold chain” sees vaccines being stored and distributed through several layers, beginning with a national-level storage centre and cascading down to local facilities. In remote areas, where an electricity grid network is either absent or unreliable, the need for reliable refrigeration has long caused headaches, but huge progress has been made in recent years in developing fridges that use solar panels as a power source. Thousands of such devices are now in position across sub-Saharan Africa, ready to serve as the workhorse of the malaria vaccine rollout.
While abortion is now legal in much of Africa, few women know and providers don’t publicise it
More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say that like Efua, many women probably don’t realise they are entitled to a legal abortion. And despite the expanded legality of the procedure in places like Ghana, Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique, some doctors and nurses say they’ve become increasingly wary of openly providing abortions.
US abolishes centuries-old biased test that kept thousands of Blacks from getting kidney transplant
At issue is a once widely used test that overestimated how well Black people’s kidneys were functioning, making them look healthier than they really were – all because of an automated formula that calculated results for Black and non-Black patients differently. That race-based equation could delay diagnosis of organ failure and evaluation for a transplant, exacerbating other disparities that already make Black patients more at risk of needing a new kidney but less likely to get one.
PEPFAR: Pioneer of embattled global HIV programme recalls the hope after years of despair
Opponents say the HIV/Aids funding could be indirectly supporting abortion abroad, although the Biden administration and PEPFAR’s defenders say there is no evidence that it does. After a handful of conservative lawmakers threatened for months to block the funding unless restrictions were attached, a compromise was struck in late March that extends the funding for a year.
Study finds since 1979 climate change has made heatwaves last longer, spike hotter, hurt more people
From 1979 to 1983, global heatwaves would last eight days on average, but by 2016 to 2020 that was up to 12 days, the study said.
Death of 45 in accident is a grim reminder of treacherous nature of South African road transport
Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays in South Africa and many of its neighbours, when millions travel into, out of and across the nation. For some South Africans, it’s a chance to return to their home towns and villages from jobs in the cities. Migrants also travel back to their home countries to see family. Some, like the pilgrims that died on Thursday, make religious trips.
How doctors kill hundreds of cancer patients every year with chemotherapy overdoses
British and European Union drug authorities have recommended the testing since 2020. A small but growing number of US hospital systems, professional groups and health advocates, including the American Cancer Society, also endorse routine testing.
