When you’re pregnant, there’s a lot of talk about the “birth plan” – basically a blueprint for how you’d like the baby’s delivery to go in ...
Family
15th April 2019
When you’re pregnant, there’s a lot of talk about the “birth plan” – basically a blueprint for how you’d like the baby’s delivery to go in an ideal scenario. But sometimes life doesn’t cooperate and that’...
25th April 2018
I’d never seen it this bad. Jessie was covered in rash and scratching nonstop. My 12-year-old daughter was having her worst ever flare-up of eczema (or atopic dermatitis), an inherited skin condition that disrupts the skin’s barrier and ...
30th March 2018
In his job as ‘The Gadget Man’ Matt Porter tests and reviews cool techie stuff, but gadgets also play a critical role in his personal life. They support the unique needs of his 7-year-old twins James and Grace, who have ...
3rd May 2017
When you’re a busy working mum with kidney failure, the last thing you have time for is dialysis in hospital three days a week. Lucy Ward was in this position until she found the perfect solution with remote monitoring. ...
10th January 2017
Oh, the horror, the horror. Those five pounds that you were so proud of losing are back after a week of holiday celebrations. Now that the parties are over and detox season has begun, be grateful that you enjoyed the ...
2nd January 2017
These simple tricks can improve patients’ ability to understand health information Roughly one in two people in Europe have health literacy problems, according to a study of eight European countries. As outlined in an earlier post, this is an important ...
2nd January 2017
A few years ago, 12-year-old Campbell Remess came up with a brilliant way to help sick kids in hospital. At the time, Campbell, or “Bumble” as most people call him, asked his mum Sonya if he could buy toys for ...
22nd December 2016
Ready to escape the winter cold and curl up with a hot drink in front of the screen? Medtech can be very entertaining. Here are our totally unscientific recommendations for a TV marathon. Pick your mood, and we have the ...
19th December 2016
You’ve asked and answered this question a dozen times this week, sharing good wishes and looking forward to spending time with family and friends. But for millions of forced migrants, there is no plan. Safety is a daily concern, ...
13th December 2016
Underestimating risks, misusing medicines and medical devices – and even struggling to find your way around a hospital – can be bad for your health Healthy literacy is our ‘ability to engage with health information and services’. People with low levels of ...
6th September 2016
Early treatment with the latest anti-retroviral medication can have a profound impact on the lives of new-born babies with HIV. But a combination of social stigma and late diagnosis make prompt intervention a challenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (...
20th July 2016
In some parts of Mexico, adolescents routinely find themselves rushed into parenthood To some, they are ‘runaway brides’ eloping in search of adventure and a new life. To others, they are children pressured into motherhood long before they are mature ...
23rd June 2016
Dawlen Tirkey, a nurse who had just delivered a baby girl, was one of 45,000 Indian mothers to die after childbirth last year. In India, and elsewhere, the infant mortality numbers are even higher – but it doesn’t have to be ...
9th June 2016
Natasha Louise Penney had always been aware of blood donation. But when her 18-month-old son was diagnosed with a rare form of bladder cancer, it took on a whole new meaning. Suddenly, all those “give blood” campaigns, which many of ...
10th May 2016
When Anne Charlet’s teenage daughter complained of extreme fatigue, she thought it was just end-of-school year tiredness or anaemia. But a precautionary blood test that revealed an unusually low platelet count led to a completely unexpected diagnosis several months ...
20th April 2016
In the small island nation of Sri Lanka, a midwifery training program founded in the 1880s by a revered native entrepreneur has evolved into a community health program that has taken maternal and infant mortality rates close to rich-country levels, ...
21st March 2016
“Say ‘Congratulations’, not ‘I’m Sorry’. This is the birth of a child, not a funeral. And the birth of a child always calls for congratulations.” That’s Rick Smith’s advice to friends and family when you tell them ...
7th March 2016
Doctors gave Hope Rollings a 10-20% chance of survival even before she was born. Today, the lively toddler is about to celebrate her 3rd birthday, thanks to life-saving surgery she had while still in the womb. At her 20-week scan, ...
29th February 2016
Sometimes when you’re ill or you’re caring for a loved one who’s ill, you just want to talk to someone who understands exactly what you’re going through. If the illness is a rare disease, however, that ‘...
25th February 2016
A necklace that contains a computer chip is keeping track of immunization records of young children in India. When linked to a mobile application, health care workers seeing patients in remote villages in India can access real-time data to help ...
16th February 2016
Taliya Dawkins was born without a left hand but that hasn’t stopped her from embracing gymnastics, acrobatics, swimming and ice-skating. Now eight years old, she joins a growing list of people whose lives are being transformed by prosthetics Sabrina ...
2nd February 2016
When Remy Bonnasse’s 7-year-old daughter Victoria was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes two years ago, the family suddenly faced a daunting task. The very next morning, Victoria – a carefree, imaginative daydreamer -- had to start calculating and recording her carbohydrate ...
14th January 2016
Doctors gave Reggie a 20% chance of survival when he was born early at 23 weeks, weighing just over a kilogram. Though Danielle Stoakes and Matt Hansom were excited about becoming parents for the first time, they were also scared. Their son ...
7th January 2016
After two years of trying, Noemi Denish was ecstatic to be pregnant with her first child. But 10 weeks into the pregnancy, she lost the baby. Noemi and her husband were devastated but more determined than ever to have a baby. ...
24th November 2015
Giving birth is one of the most personal things a woman can experience. Yet in many developed countries, soon-to-be mums often find themselves in a room full of virtual strangers when it’s time to start pushing. Not only are ...
17th November 2015
Lucille Horn’s parents were told to plan their baby girl’s funeral – that ‘baby’ is now 95! In the early 20th century, preterm babies – or ‘preemies’ – rarely survived. In fact, most doctors thought it was pointless to try because the ...
10th November 2015
Layla’s parents never expected their baby girl to become the poster child for a life-saving new blood cancer treatment. They just wanted her to get better. Having exhausted all treatment options including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, doctors ...
1st October 2015
Hasan's daughters, Duaa and Shahd, were aged just one and four years old, respectively, when a rocket hit their house in Syria. Now doctors at a clinic in Jordan are working to rehabilitate them and hundreds of other victims of ...
17th September 2015
Sarah Ivermee couldn’t have imagined that she’d become an overnight sensation when she gave a friend’s 9-year-old daughter some flowery nail stickers to use for sprucing up the plain beige hearing aids that she was embarrassed to ...
10th September 2015
After 54 hours of labour, Jenny Rose Ryan was exhausted. Cradling her baby boy, she began to relax for the first time in more than two days. But this, believe it or not, was just the beginning her epic story. "Before ...
27th August 2015
Now that the Ebola pandemic has come to a close, we count the costs, assign the responsibilities and define the lessons to be learnt. MedTech can go a long way, but without the right people, education and training, the battle ...
22nd June 2015
It’s not breaking news but it simply BEGS a closer look. Find out how one man’s ingenious idea brought Indian women from ash and sand to the ‘next level’ of female hygiene. In the Western world we don’...
19th May 2015
They've been called 'fat', 'lazy', and even labelled as 'drug addicts'. Kids living with diabetes can be subjected to bullying and discrimination leaving them feeling depressed and isolated. Children – and sometimes their parents – are made to feel guilty or ashamed ...
15th May 2015
Two physical features, among others, make humans unique: our way of walking and running upright on two legs, and our newborn babies’ very large heads. Those two traits of humanity meet at the pelvis, a set of bones that includes ...
10th May 2015
“Being a mum can be stressful at the best of times, but when you have hepatitis, there’s an added layer of worry that most people don’t even know about,” says Natalia Jeleva, who’s been carrying the hepatitis ...
28th April 2015
If your child has been diagnosed with diabetes and you've taken to the internet in search of information, understanding and support, it won't take long before you come across A Mother's Anthem. Written by Linda Kaniasty, the poem circulated on ...
21st April 2015
When young children are diagnosed with diabetes, the news can be shocking both for them and their families. Yet, once the initial worry has passed, getting into the daily routine of testing and shots can even be a laugh… The ...
7th April 2015
Welcome to sub-Saharan Africa, where innovative health care isn’t always about cutting-edge medical technology. It’s just as likely to be about having a reliable motorcycle. In this respect, UK-based charity Riders for Health is leading the way. Ex-motorbike ...
12th March 2015
I don't think there’s anything more adorable than kids with glasses. It probably started when I saw Jerry Maguire... Photo: Jonathan Lipnicki I got my first pair of glasses when I was 7. And I was absolutely thrilled about it. ...
9th March 2015
What happens when four passionate, fearless, determined, tech-savvy and more-than-a-little-bit-frustrated women, take on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? You end up with a breakthrough global campaign called #GetYourBellyOut! The #GetYourBellyOut campaign is harnessing the power of social media to unite thousands ...
1st March 2015
Mothers are biologically hard-wired to protect their children. We feel their struggles within our own bodies. When my son was born pre-term and had trouble breathing, I could hardly breathe myself. How could I guarantee that he would be healthy &...
27th January 2015
Londoner Hedy Watt was planning for her daughter’s arrival in a pool specially designed to be used in labour and childbirth, with little or no medical intervention. Like many women with straightforward pregnancies, Hedy wanted to have her baby ...
21st January 2015
Every mother knows her child's need for attention. But sometimes, life happens and our focus changes. Work comes first, or a family matter or a health issue. That's what happened to me. My focus changed. For two months it moved ...
16th January 2015
It’s really not just a figure of speech when people say “the shock of birth”. Of course it’s shocking, and somehow babies need to cope with that trauma. This is, for a big chunk aided by the physical ...
Your baby is up at 3am, crying. You try the usual routine, nothing works. Aftwr that never-ending night your day starts off with a rush to the nearest Children’s Hospital. It could be a swallowed lego piece, an ear ...
14th December 2014
The first cry, the first time you lock eyes, the first smile. From the moment you knew you're pregnant to the first time you can see and feel your baby in your hands, a whole new set of "firsts" start ...
12th December 2014
With all my prejudice (and because I never actually attended one) I imagine a hackathon something like this: a bunch of people sitting in a warehouse type of room for a weekend; gulping down litres of coffee; and hitting the ...
Wriggling around in her mother's arms, Ruby Munoz looks like any other 10-month-old child – alert, active and curious about the world. But when Ruby was six weeks of age, she suddenly became seriously ill and was rushed to hospital. Her ...
8th December 2014
“Womb sounds.” “Mother’s smell.” “Less scary.” These are just some of the things that new mums wish they could change about incubators to make them seem more like the real deal. After reading about the German Hohenstein Institute’s ...
6th December 2014
With around 10% of all babies in Europe born prematurely and many others born with an illness, it is inevitable that lots of parents will get the first glimpses and touches of their newborns through the walls of an incubator. Scientists ...
28th October 2014
Mark’s father has glaucoma. His grandma has glaucoma. Half of his uncles and aunts have glaucoma. And he might, too. But what is it, again? When Mark’s grandmother went to get her eyes checked, it was already too ...
27th October 2014
You are young and in love. You and your husband have been enjoying life with your new baby, but you decide it’s time for a romantic get-away. You are enjoying a carefree weekend, stay up a little later than ...
16th October 2014
The german Hohenstein Institute set out to make incubators for preterm babies more, well...motherly. So they created an 'artifical womb'. Stories like this leave me in awe. And my admiration is for nature usually: how very specifically and carefully ...
9th October 2014
You’re ready to have your life turned upside down. You’ve made up your mind to pull a whole different type of all-nighters, and to give up lazy Saturdays. You want to have ridiculosuly animated fights over baby names ...
26th September 2014
My four-month old daughter lie hacking on the examination table with a high fever. Was the world ending? No, but it felt like mine was. Anna had RSV. Anna was born about four and half months earlier (a few days ...
17th September 2014
My science fair project in middle school was about the drawing and writing skills of left versus right handed people. There was a (grand) twist on how clever the participants were using their non-dominant hands. Could be the reason why ...
7th September 2014
New gadgets allow you to check your kids’ vital signs without rushing to hospital You are awoken by your child’s cry. It’s 4.00am; the night is pitch dark and the street outside is silent and still. A fever, ...
29th August 2014
Birth control is one of those ever-green topics. Everyone deals with it, and everyone has an opinion about it. So coming up with some new high-tech in contraception is bound to receive publicity. Especially if it’s like this one. ...
28th August 2014
London-based mother of twins Natalia Jeleva recalls the journey of her pregnancy from the first suprising ultrasound with two (!) "egg-shaped dots" to the terrifying moment when her daughter's arm had to be broken to get her safely delivered. As any ...
25th August 2014
You’re pregnant. WOW! 10 seconds later: oh my. Then a few minutes pass and most likely these pass through your mind as well: doctor, check-ups, tests, ultrasound! One of the (first) most exciting times is when you first see that ...