Health

Paris, France | AFP | Virtual reality-based therapy combined with standard treatment reduced paranoia and anxiety in people with psychotic disorders, scientists reported Friday. In clinical trials involving 116 patients in the Netherlands, virtual reality exercises led to less fraught social interactions, a team wrote in The Lancet Psychiatry. More …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The South African government will compensate the families of more than 100 mentally-ill patients who died from neglect after they were moved from hospital and placed into unlicenced health facilities. At least 144 psychiatric patients died from hunger and lack of care within months …

Paris, France | AFP | A common amino acid produced in the human body or absorbed from food can be suppressed to stop breast cancer spread in mice, researchers reported Wednesday. They hope the finding may yield a method to prevent cancer cells spreading from their origins in a woman’s …

Baghdad, Iraq | AFP | The United Nations launched an appeal Wednesday for $17 million to rebuild essential health facilities for children in Iraq after a devastating three-year battle to expel the Islamic State group. The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said next week’s reconstruction conference for Iraq to be staged …

Sanaa, Yemen | AFP | Thousands of Yemenis suffering from kidney failure risk dying unless dialysis centres in the war-torn country receive more supplies and their staff are paid, the Red Cross said Tuesday. Yemen’s health sector has been devastated by three years of war between the Saudi-supported government and …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Thirty-one people have died from Lassa fever in Nigeria since the start of this year, the health minister said, with cases of the viral disease recorded across the country. Isaac Adewole told reporters in Abuja on Monday that the outbreak was currently “active in 15 …

Experts say it is more pleasurable and puts power in the hands of women Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | A new condom said to be more pleasurable is undergoing tests to be used in Uganda. The ‘panty condom’, as it is called, has already been given a greenlight by the …

Paris, France | AFP | In the never-ending quest for youthful, magazine-cover looks, 8.6 billion euros ($10.7 billion) were spent last year on materials and chemicals used in cosmetic procedures worldwide, the IMCAS industry body said Thursday. This meant plastic surgeons and beauty practitioners spent about the equivalent of Costa Rica’s …

Washington, United States | AFP | The top US public health official resigned Wednesday due to financial conflicts of interest, a day after US media reported she bought tobacco stocks while heading the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A statement from the US Department of Health and Human …

Washington, United States | AFP | A map showing paths taken by users of an exercise tracking app reveals potentially sensitive information about American and allied military personnel in places including Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. While some bases are well known to groups that want to attack them, the map …