Health

François Picard is pleased to welcome Lawrence Gostin, author and director of the WHO Center on Global Health Law. His analysis highlights the legal and ethical dilemmas surrounding a cruise ship carrying suspected hantavirus cases off the coast of Cape Verde. Drawing direct parallels with the traumatic memory of cruise ships stranded during the Covid-19 pandemic, Gostin argues that the international community has already learned, at enormous human cost, the dangers of confining passengers at sea without adequate medical care or disembarkation plans. ]

Two critically ill crew members from the MV Hondius will be evacuated via Cape Verde to the Netherlands after a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has killed three. The quarantined vessel, anchored off Praia, is expected to resume its journey to the Canary Islands once evacuations are complete. ]

Three people have died aboard a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic after an outbreak that includes a confirmed case of hantavirus, the World Health Organization said Sunday, raising concerns about a rare but potentially severe infection at sea. ]

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalised and is in “critical but stable condition”, his spokesperson Ted Goodman said Sunday, without providing further details. Giuliani, 81, rose to prominence after the September 11 attacks and later served as an attorney for Donald Trump during efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. ]

French residents are three to four times more likely to register unsafe levels of cadmium in their bodies than their European counterparts, ingesting dangerous amounts of the carcinogenic metal through the food they eat. Experts blame government inaction, farming practices and a historic reliance on North African phosphate-based fertilisers that is rooted in the colonial era. ]

François Picard is pleased to welcome Merijn Tinga, a biologist, artist and activist affectionately known as the Plastic Soup Surfer. He joins us, not only as a scientist or activist, but as someone who spends hours a day on the water, experiencing directly the forces we so often abstract away. From the surfboard, everything becomes clear: "You become one with the wind, with the waves… you have one focus." And yet back on land, "you're immersed by this throwaway culture". ]

France announced Tuesday that it will expand access to sustainable menstrual products by reimbursing reusable cups and underwear for eligible young women and low-income groups. The move, aimed at tackling period poverty, is expected to benefit millions once implemented through the country’s social security system from the upcoming academic year. ]

They are known as "forever chemicals": synthetic compounds that resist breakdown in the human body and the environment. Also known as PFAS, there are thousands of them, and you might not even realise that you are being exposed to them while doing simple everyday tasks like cooking. The EU does have a strict rulebook on chemicals, when compared to other parts of the world, but some say that industrial lobbying is holding back more stringent regulation. In this episode we look at how the EU is trying to tighten its rules on these pollutants. ]

Sophie Drogué, INRAE Research Engineer, is our guest. ]

François Picard welcomes Jozef Síkela, European commissioner for international partnerships. He says global health is at a crossroads. The Covid-19 pandemic showed that such crises are not isolated events, but systemic shocks with far-reaching economic and social consequences. Today, a convergence of pressures is adding to the strain: climate change is driving new diseases, funding is declining, and global health governance is fragmented. He says prevention must replace reaction as the organising principle of global health. ]