Health Check

Health Check discusses the role of AI in healthcare after the announcement that the Gates Foundation will put hundreds of millions of US dollars towards AI access in low-income communities, with an emphasis on integration in healthcare. Claudia Hammond is joined by Graham Easton, Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University of London, to ask how AI is already changing the ways in which doctors work.
Health Check reporter Georgia Christie investigates whether the increasing usage of weight loss drugs is changing the products restaurants and food companies are offering to a wider population.
Also, Jessica Ringshaw, clinical neuropsychologist at King’s College London, talks to us about how anaemia in pregnancy is linked to differences in babies' brain development. Babies born to mothers who were anaemic during pregnancy have smaller brain volumes than babies born to mothers who were not according to Jessica’s new study.
And when did you last read a book? Fewer people are reading for pleasure, but getting lost in a good book has repeatedly been linked to substantial cognitive benefits. Claudia and Graham discuss the power of reading and how storytelling can help develop empathy during medical training.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

The Spanish Football Association has announced a new programme that will make fertility treatments such as IVF and egg freezing available to female players and referees, but what difference will it make and how does this move compare to support offered for professional sportswomen globally? Margie Davenport, Professor in Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta and retired Team Canada synchronized swimmer explains.
Three kinds of heart attacks that primarily affect women have been redesignated 'primary' attacks in an effort to improve diagnosis and treatment in an area of medicine where women have historically been 'deprioritised'. BBC health reporter Philippa Roxby explains the changes.
In rural Rwanda dust is hard to escape - it’s on the roads, in the fields, and for those living in homes with bare-earth floors, it’s dusty inside too. This has serious effects on air quality in the home, especially for children who are playing or crawling on the ground. Our reporter Ahishakiye Jean d’Amour is in Bugesera district in the east of Rwanda to find out about an organisation called Earth Enable who have developed a safer flooring at an affordable price.
Also, the latest on the global rollout of the RSV vaccine. Plus, eye drops to help you see better at night.
Image: Spain's players pose for a team photo before the FIFA Women's World Cup Europe Zone Qualifiers, group C, football match between Spain and England at Mallorca Son Moix Stadium in Palma de Mallorca, on June 5, 2026. (Photo by JAIME REINA / AFP via Getty Images)
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producers: Hannah Robins and Georgia Christie

There is still a lot unknown about why period pain can be so intense for some and not others. To find out more, Claudia Hammond speaks with Dr Melissa Lenert, research scientist at the University of Michigan in the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Centre. Her new research examines what early risk factors are associated with the intensity and onset of period pain in adolescents.
Claudia is then joined by Rebecca Katz, Professor and Director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, who has just returned from the 9th World One Health Congress in Lisbon, Portugal. We hear about the public health threats she has been monitoring, including a measles outbreak in Sweden linked to a music festival.
And Health Check listener, Philip in Lagos, Nigeria, got in touch with a question about the link between asthma and the eye condition keratoconus. We spoke to Dr Kareeshma Wadia, a cornea, cataract and refractive surgeon based in Mumbai, India, to get him an answer.
Rebecca also brings us the development that researchers have identified antibodies that could combat alpha-gal syndrome which can cause allergies to meat. And, does the temperature of your morning cup of tea increase your risk for oesophageal cancer?
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell and Georgia Christie

Usually when we think about vaccines, we imagine preventing viruses, but could mRNA vaccine technology also be used to reduce skin cancer recurrence? Claudia Hammond discusses the latest trials of this technology with Dr Matthew Fox, professor of epidemiology and global health at Boston University.
Then, reporter Rogelio Navarro brings us to Mexico City, where researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico are developing a rehabilitation program that makes recovery from brain injury more fun. We hear how a videogame - Cañonazo - is helping patients regain mobility without feeling like they’re in physical therapy.
What does it really mean to be hormonal? Claudia speaks with endocrinologist and author of the book Signals, Dr Saira Hameed, to understand how complex the body’s hormone signalling is, the problems hormone malfunctions can cause, and what we can actually do about it.
Claudia and Matthew also discuss how speaking multiple languages can slow brain ageing, and whether major album releases, like Taylor Swift or Harry Styles, increase the number of traffic fatalities?
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Jonathan Blackwell and Georgia Christie

Everyone experiences unwanted thoughts from time to time. But how does it feel to be trapped in a constant cycle of intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours? This is the reality of life for many people with obsessive compulsive disorder, a common - but commonly misunderstood - mental health condition.
Today's episode is dedicated to understanding OCD and how it’s treated. Claudia Hammond visits an inpatient OCD treatment unit, Seacole Ward in the United Kingdom, where she meets Albert and Emily who explain what it’s like when life is governed by OCD, and consultant psychiatrist Dr Ilenia Pampaloni who likens intensive treatment to "bootcamp" where patients must face their worst fears 24 hours a day. Claudia is joined in the studio by Dr Bruce Clark, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in London, to tackle some ingrained OCD stereotypes and dissect the common phrase, "I'm a bit OCD". Bruce offers advice on how to spot early signs of OCD and explains how he stays hopeful because the condition is so treatable.
Details of organisations offering information and support with obsessive-compulsive disorder are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Gerry Holt
Assistant Producer: Georgia Christie