logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
26m 35s

Malaria vaccines approved first in West ...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

More than a quarter of the world’s malaria cases happen in Nigeria according to the World Health Organisation. This week the country became the second, after Ghana to provisionally approve the use of malaria vaccine R21. Professor Matt Fox explains why scientists have called the vaccine a ‘world changer’. We hear from dementia nurse Kemi Reeves who supports people living with dementia in Los Angeles. Her project has recently been shown to reduce the cost of caring for people with Alzheimers. We also hear about a new piece of research from the UK showing that hearing aids may protect against a higher risk of dementia. As we learn more about ‘Long Covid’, we explore evidence that links breathlessness with having had disrupted sleep. And have you ever been told you grind your teeth? Author Naomi Alderman was shocked recently when visiting the dentist to be told she had a condition called bruxism and hadn’t even realised. We ask whether experiencing the Covid pandemic may have led to more of us griding and clenching our teeth.

Image Credit: Halfpoint Images

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Clare Salisbury

Up next
Aug 20
Using AI to discover new antibiotics
AI models have helped to discover new potential antibiotics to treat drug resistant infections of gonorrhoea and MRSA. We speak to Professor Jim Collins from MIT to understand what’s next for his machine-generated medicines and the role AI could play in the future of drug discove ... Show More
26m 28s
Aug 13
How plastic harms health
As negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty are due to conclude at the United Nations, we check in on whether health is on the agenda with Dr Cressida Bowyer, Associate Professor in Arts and Sustainability from the University of Portsmouth in the UK who is at the conference. We ... Show More
26m 29s
Aug 6
Malnutrition in Gaza
UN-backed experts – the IPC - say the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza and that there is mounting evidence that widespread malnutrition is driving a rapid rise in hunger-related deaths among the 2.1 million Palestinians there. Aid worker Olga Chere ... Show More
26m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
What will it take for Africa to combat malaria?
In today’s podcast, Alan Kasujja sits down with award-winning South African health practitioner professor Lucille Blumberg. She explains why she thinks she was recognized for her efforts in fighting malaria. She also tells our presenter why thousands of people across the African ... Show More
15m 9s
Dec 2021
The Evidence: When will the pandemic end?
Everybody hopes that the new super-charged Omicron variant of coronavirus will be less severe, but even if it is, it’s spreading so fast and infecting so many people, health services around the world could still buckle under the strain.Two years into the pandemic, Claudia Hammond ... Show More
50m 9s
Oct 2021
Could this new malaria vaccine save millions of lives?
With close to half a million deaths from Malaria in 2019 --most in Sub-Saharan Africa-- scientists have spent decades working toward a vaccine, and last week, the World Health Organization approved the first. But, with only 30 to 40 percent efficacy some are also asking, is it wo ... Show More
20m 57s
Jan 2022
The Evidence: Africa, the pandemic and healthcare independence
In a special edition of The Evidence, Claudia Hammond and her panel of experts focus on Africa, on how the more than fifty countries on the continent, home to 1.3 billion people and the most youthful population in the world, have fared, two years into the pandemic.African scienti ... Show More
50m 17s
May 2021
The Evidence: Sharing Vaccines – what’s gone wrong?
The lofty ambition of the global community was that across the globe, those with the highest risk of losing their lives to this virus should be vaccinated first. With 99% of deaths coming in the over fifties, the plan was that everybody in this age group should be inoculated.But ... Show More
50m 28s
Oct 2021
Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa
Since their discovery in the 1970s, artemisinin-based drugs have become the mainstay of treatment for malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Researchers have identified artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Southeast Asia since the early 2000s, but now, there ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2021
The Evidence: To boost or not to boost?
The divide between the Covid vaccine haves and have-nots has been described as “criminal”, with only 20% of people in low and middle income countries having had one dose, compared with 80% in higher income countries. Countries with high vaccination rates have been called on to gi ... Show More
50m 5s
Mar 2021
Coronavirus: Resilience during a year of the pandemic
One year ago, the World Health Organisation announced that Covid-19 was spreading across different countries at such an alarming rate that it needed to be classed as a pandemic. It has been a challenging year for everyone and host Nuala McGovern shares conversations with people w ... Show More
50m 14s