Health & Safety

Anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside Planned Parenthood's Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee on Monday, Sept. 2023. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin began offering abortions at the clinic that day after not doing so for more than a year.

Abortions resume in Wisconsin after 15 months of legal uncertainty

11:39am September 21, 2023

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a law still on the books from 1849 left the legality of abortions in dispute in the state. This week, Planned Parenthood resumes services.

The California company iHealth is one of 12 U.S. manufacturers getting an investment from the federal government to provide free tests by mail to people ahead of the winter COVID season.

Health & Safety

Free COVID tests by mail are back, starting Monday

11:34am September 21, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

People will be able to go to COVIDTests.gov and get four free tests per household, starting next week. The Biden administration says it is trying to prepare for the fall and winter COVID season.

About 12 million Americans qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, and they face relentless red tape accessing health care. A bipartisan fix that could help them is in the works.

Health & Safety

She has Medicare and Medicaid. So why should it take 18 months to get a wheelchair?

5:00am September 21, 2023

About 12 million Americans are known as "dual eligibles" because they need both Medicare and Medicaid. A bipartisan bill offers hope to cut through the tangle of red tape that often ensnares them.

Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada obscures New York City's Empire State Building this year. The air in the U.S. has improved over the past 50 years, but smoke pollution from growing wildfires erodes much of that progress.

How wildfire smoke is erasing years of progress toward cleaning up America's air

8:45pm September 20, 2023

by Alejandra Borunda

A new study finds that smoke from massive wildfires has eroded about a quarter of the air quality gains from the last few decades.

This discovery could help detect genetic risk for Parkinson's disease

5:08pm September 20, 2023

by Jon Hamilton

An effort to diversify genetic studies has led to a discovery about Parkinson's disease: a gene variant that raises the risk of Parkinson's in people of African ancestry.

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Scientists pal up on pandemic prevention program

4:36pm September 20, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Deadly diseases kept emerging in West Africa, but going undetected. Now a program spearheaded by two scientists hopes to catch the next emerging disease before it becomes a pandemic.

Bulbul Aktar, a shasthya kormi, or community health worker, with the malaria elimination program in Bangladesh, goes door to door to treat malaria patients. "This is my job, my duty," says Aktar. "Every single home, I have to know about them and visit them."

Malaria is on the ropes in Bangladesh. But the parasite is punching back

4:35pm September 20, 2023

by Ari Daniel

What does it take to beat malaria? Thousands of moccasins walking down rural roads, overnight bus rides for lab tests ... and a highly effective drug. But the parasite isn't going along with the plan.

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Women, aged 40 and older, gathered in Chicago to jump Double Dutch during the club's annual playdate.

Jumping for joy and sisterhood, the 40+ Double Dutch Club holds a playdate for women

11:36am September 20, 2023

by Cheryl Corley

Hundreds of women aged 40 and older gathered in Chicago recently to jump rope and play other games from their youth. It was the 3rd national playdate held by the Double Dutch Club.

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Neglected diseases like noma, the impact of diaspora money, artificial intelligence and the promotion of locally grown foods are four topics proposed by our authors for discussion at the U.N.'s General Assembly.

Dear U.N.: Could you add these 4 overlooked items to the General Assembly agenda?

11:13am September 20, 2023

A physician from Nigeria and a scientist from Kenya propose ideas for the United Nations to consider — issues important in Africa and other regions that are often neglected by global bodies.

Health & Safety

Bangladesh has been effective at fighting malaria. Can it eliminate the disease?

5:06am September 20, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Bangladesh has slashed its malaria numbers dramatically. But the parasite that causes the disease has a history of fighting back — and it seems it's doing so once again.