From fears that eating chicken wings makes it hard to find a husband to beliefs that pineapple jeopardizes fertility, a host of food taboos are fueling malnutrition among Indonesian girls, experts said as they launched an adolescent health drive. Nutritionists …
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday cautioned against declaring victory too early in Congo’s Ebola epidemic, despite encouraging signs that it may be brought under control. “The outbreak is stabilizing, but still the outbreak is not …
With frustration mounting over lawmakers’ inaction on gun control, the American Medical Association on Tuesday pressed for a ban on assault weapons and came out against arming teachers as a way to fight what it calls a public health crisis. …
The most widely used antimalarial therapy may not fully treat some children and pregnant women, according to a new study. These patients’ bloodstreams contained lower concentrations of one active ingredient compared to adults who aren’t pregnant. The research may explain …
The recent suicides of high-profile celebrities lead experts to worry that young people will copy the act of taking their own lives. “They think, ‘Well, OK, that person hung themselves from a banister using 10-foot rope,’ then that might be …
Irene Mboyo Mola spent 11 days caring for her husband as he died of Ebola in a hospital where she said nurses were too scared to get close. She helped him to the bathroom, picked up his feverish body when …
Keeping healthy could become more costly as climate change and water scarcity cause a huge drop in the global production of vegetables and legumes, scientists said Monday. The amount of vegetables produced could fall by more than a third, especially …
A vaccine against bacterial pneumonia and another against meningitis have saved 1.45 million children’s lives this century, according to a new study. The diseases the vaccines prevent are now concentrated in a handful of countries where the medications are not …
Paraguay is officially free of malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, making it the first country in the Americas in 45 years to have wiped out the deadly disease which is back on the rise globally. Nearly …
Tropical Storm Bud intensified late Sunday afternoon into a Category 1 hurricane some 254 miles (410 km) west of the Pacific coast of Mexico, the country’s weather service said. With maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (121 km) per hour …
After years of research and 400 million dollars from investors, Impossible Foods has produced the hottest new item on the vegan market, meat-free burgers. The goal of the California-based start-up is to make an all-natural organic product that could deliver …
The University of Hawaii Cancer Center is the leader in a groundbreaking national study that found that early-stage breast cancer patients with the most common form of the disease do not benefit from chemotherapy. The center helped develop the largest …
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that nearly $3 billion in pledges has been raised to help fund the education of vulnerable girls and women around the world. Canada will contribute $300 million to the campaign. Germany, Japan, Britain …
A Yemeni student has taken his passion for invention to a new level by building household appliances such as refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and cooling fans out of cardboard. Surprisingly, the boy’s creations work very well. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …
Scientists say due to indiscriminate use of antibiotics, for treating even minor infections, many bacteria have developed strong immunity against this type of drug. In their words, we may have already entered the ‘post-antibiotic era,’ with previously non-life-threatening infections becoming …
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention … and Gaza needs electricity. The coastal enclave’s two million residents now receive only three to four hours of power per day. So four university students invented a device that uses sea …
Some 640,000 tons of lost fishing gear pollute the world’s oceans, according to the United Nations. Slow to break down, these so-called “ghost nets” take a huge toll on sea creatures from tiny sponges to dolphins, turtles and whales. A …
A spike in suicide rates in the United States has cast fresh light on the need for more effective treatments for major depression, with researchers saying it is a tricky development area that has largely been abandoned by big pharmaceutical companies. U.S. health …
Health officials say a salmonella outbreak linked to pre-cut melon has sickened 60 people in five Midwestern states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Caito Foods LLC on Friday recalled pre-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and fruit medleys …
More people are committing suicide than ever before, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports, but suicide isn’t uniquely an American issue. The World Health Organization estimates that every 40 seconds, someone in the world ends his or her life. …
Microplastics, the tiny particles of plastic from decaying waste in the world’s oceans, have been found in seawater and snow in Antarctica. It had been hoped that the frozen continent was protected from the soaring levels of plastic waste in …
Earthquakes happen frequently in Italy, but the famous leaning tower in Pisa still stands, puzzling scientists. An earthquake expert from University of Bristol thinks he knows why. VOA’s George Putic has more. …
The very thought of visiting a hospital emergency department is stressful enough for many people, even without the discomfort or pain of an examination or treatment. Enter an immersive virtual-reality program created by three graduates being used in France to relax …
Efforts to fight suicide in the United States are desperate for additional funding, suicide-prevention experts said, following this week’s high profile deaths of celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, and new statistics showing a growing problem. Federal funding for suicide …