World

A woman dies from cervical cancer every two minutes, according to UNICEF, underscoring why the disease remains the fourth most common cancer among women globally. Cervical cancer develops when abnormal cells grow in the cervix, the lower, narrow part of the uterus that connects to the vagina, and can be life-threatening if not detected early. January, marked as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, aims to educate women and healthcare workers about prevention and early detection. While awareness around symptoms and screening is improving, experts say a crucial aspect often overlooked is the link between cervical health and fertility. To shed light on this, we spoke to Dr Amreen Singh, Consultant, Infertility and IVF at Yatharth Super Speciality Hospital, Noida Extension.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that although the COVID-19 pandemic has officially ended and the virus no longer causes the level of disruption seen during the global health emergency, it continues to hospitalize and kill people, particularly those who are not up to date with vaccination. Studies led by the WHO Regional Office for Europe found that people who received timely booster doses were significantly less likely to develop severe illness, require intensive care or die from COVID-19. The findings were drawn from data collected by the European Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Vaccine Effectiveness (EuroSAVE) network, which monitors hospitalised respiratory infections across parts of Europe, the Balkans, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

For decades, steroid use has been stereotypically associated with hyper-muscular men, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or modern-day shirtless influencers like “the Liver King.” But that image is rapidly shifting. Women now account for a growing share of steroid users, signalling an urgent need to rethink harm-minimisation strategies that have long targeted men alone.

Three people have died after contracting the Marburg virus, and three more are suspected of being linked to the extremely contagious haemorrhagic sickness, Ethiopia's health ministry announced on Monday. Ethiopia's Health Minister, Mekdes Daba, said the government, which announced a Marburg epidemic on Friday, had tested 17 probable cases in the country's south. The outbreak has been recorded in the Omo region.

Recent research has revealed that pregnancy and breastfeeding generate long-lasting CD8+ T lymphocytes that remain active in breast tissue, offering enduring immune protection. This groundbreaking discovery, described by scientists as a "paradigm shift," was unveiled at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting in Berlin and published simultaneaously in Nature. The findings have the potential to reshap how sceintistws and clinicians understand breast cancer (BC) prevention and treatment, especially regarding immune-related mechanisms in women's health.

Researchers at the Van Andel Institute have discovered a significant finding about glucose, a sugar commonly found in the body, and its potent role in enhancing the ability of T cells, a type of immune cell, to combat cancer. On September 2, 2025, the work was released in the esteemed journal Cell Metabolism.