Health Health

Health

Victoria Micieli, director and scientist at the Center for Parasitological and Vector Studies of the national scientific research institute CONICET, classifies different species of mosquitoes at a laboratory in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires Province, on Tuesday. Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images

Kim Botteicher, founder and executive director of FAVOR ~ Western PA, runs the nonprofit out of the basement of an old church building in Bolivar, Pa. In addition to providing various addiction and recovery support services, she would like to hand out clean syringes to help prevent disease transmission. But doing that isn't authorized under state law. Nate Smallwood hide caption

toggle caption
Nate Smallwood

In Pennsylvania, she wants to hand out new syringes to save lives. But is it legal?

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1238282456/1240928137" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

The palms of a patient with mpox during an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. The country is now seeing a dramatic spike in mpox — with a strain that is deadlier than the one that sparked the global outbreak in 2022. CDC/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
CDC/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Jackyenjoyphotography/Getty Images

Want to stop needle phobia in adults? Make shots less painful for kids

According to the CDC, about one in four adults has a fear of needles. Many of those people say the phobia started when they were kids. For some people, the fear of needles is strong enough that they avoid getting important treatments, vaccines or tests. That poses a serious problem for public health. Researchers have helped develop a five step plan to help prevent what they call "needless pain" for kids getting injections or their blood drawn. Guest host Tom Dreisbach talks with Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, who works with a team to implement the plan at his own hospital. Friedrichsdorf told us some of the most important research on eliminating pain has come from researchers in Canada. Learn more about their work here.

Want to stop needle phobia in adults? Make shots less painful for kids

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198909558/1241073712" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Kevin Carlson, with nurse Joshua Lee (right) and respiratory therapist Eric Mathewson (left), watches a WWE match on October 2, 2023 in San Jose, Calif. Gabriel Torres hide caption

toggle caption
Gabriel Torres

When Australia's black flying foxes are well-fed, they tend to be healthy. A lack of food stresses the bats — and stress causes them to shed, or release, viruses into the environment. Ko Konno/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption

toggle caption
Ko Konno/Getty Images/iStockphoto

How do we halt the next pandemic? Be kind to critters like bats, says a new paper

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1240779167/1241043560" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

When relaying the difficult news of a cancer diagnosis to kids, it's important to give them time to process the information, says Elizabeth Farrell, a clinical social worker at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mary Long/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mary Long/Getty Images

About two months after undergoing open-heart surgery, Sara England's infant son, Amari Vaca, was sick and struggling to breathe. Staff members at a local medical center in Salinas, California, arranged for him to be transferred to a different hospital via air ambulance. Kevin Painchaud/Kevin Painchaud hide caption

toggle caption
Kevin Painchaud/Kevin Painchaud

A mom's $97,000 question: How was an air-ambulance ride not medically necessary?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1239206451/1241043536" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O'Hara is pictured working with the Microgravity Science Glovebox, a contained environment crew members use to handle hazardous materials for various research investigations in space. NASA hide caption

toggle caption
NASA

What's it like to live in space? One astronaut says it changes her dreams

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198909547/1240420878" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Warehouse workers often labor in extremely hot conditions in California, as do many others who work indoors. The state has been considering new rules to protect them when temperatures soar to dangerous levels, but political headwinds have left the rules in limbo. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jae C. Hong/AP

Palestinian people with empty bowls wait for food at a donation point in Rafah. A report out this week shows widespread hunger and malnutrition in Gaza but stopped short of declaring it a "famine." Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Opponents of the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) gather outside the National Assembly in Banjul, The Gambia, on March 18, 2024. Lawmakers voted to advance a highly controversial bill that would lift the ban on FGM. Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP via Getty Images

Composting vessels arranged in a honeycomb array at the Recompose human composting facility in Seattle, WA. Recompose hide caption

toggle caption
Recompose

The ultimate green burial? Human composting lets you replenish the earth after death

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1240080757/1240780404" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

J.J. Holmes was recognized this year among the News Service of Florida's 40 under 40 for his advocacy work for people with disabilities. The News Service's Dara Kam hosted the ceremony. Erich Martin hide caption

toggle caption
Erich Martin

A push is underway for voters to make Florida the next state to expand Medicaid

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1240124290/1240125487" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Nestlé says it is recalling nearly half a million Starbucks mugs that were sold recently after at least a dozen people suffered injuries including burns or cuts while using the product. Shown here is a Starbucks location in Havertown, Pa. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt Rourke/AP