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General Medicine
28th Nov, 2025
The Lancet
We thank Lei Xu and Wenzhe Zhao for their interesting observations focused on response-guided therapy in the era of direct-acting antivirals. We support their view that strategies proposed to date to select those patients with hepatitis C infection who could be cured with 4 weeks (ultra-short) treatment are still not able to offer high enough cure rates to be recommended routinely. However, it is worth noting that, in our trial,1 the 80% sustained virological response at week 12 rates in patients selected for 4 weeks of treatment, based on day 7 viral load under the lower limit of quantification, is the highest of studies to date.
Chairing a Lancet Commission is a daunting challenge.1 Our task is particularly great as we are leading the first Commission focused on disability, and it should encompass the experience of 1·3 billion people with disabilities globally.2 We will need to present the overall health inequalities experienced by people with disabilities, the solutions required to reduce those gaps, the economic case for addressing this inequity, and consider why the topic is not yet a global priority. At the same time, we must recognise that people with disabilities are an enormously diverse group, including people with different impairment types, ages, sexes, geographies, etc.
2nd Dec, 2025
The recent announcement of the Lancet Commission on disability and health offers a vital platform for advancing disability-inclusive health systems.1 However, it falls short by not explicitly naming how interlocking systems of discrimination, such as racism (eg, anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism), homophobia, and transphobia, intersect with ableism to compound and worsen health outcomes for people with disabilities.
Following the formation of the Lancet Commission on disability and health,1 it is essential that young people with disabilities in humanitarian settings are not overlooked. In 2019, the UN Security Council adopted an urgent call to respect the rights of people with disabilities in conflict under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006).2 According to UNICEF, 13% of children worldwide aged 5–17 years have a disability, with higher levels in regions impacted by armed conflict.
The destruction of Gaza's health system represents one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time and demands a response from professional health organisations. European public health associations have objected to the “scale and intensity of the destruction being wrought by the Israel Defense Forces, creating a virtually complete collapse of the health and social systems in Gaza”,1,2 but other professional health associations have remained largely silent—or worse, have actively silenced members advocating for Palestinian health.
The lives and respiratory health of Palestinians are at risk. In the Gaza Strip, the average life expectancy decreased by 34·9 years1 and over 59 587 Palestinians (including 17 921 children) were killed during the recent conflict.2 War leads to respiratory harm (panel), but the full extent of the health crisis is expected to become clearer when Gaza's health system is restored.
My earliest memories all take place at my grandmother's house. On the nights when I had sleepovers at her apartment, I would get to indulge in my favourite activity. Armed with a frozen aluminium can, I would follow my grandmother down to a tiny Soviet candy shop called Penguin where ice cream came in one flavour and was served in 100g scoops, containers not included. It felt like a clandestine indulgence reserved just for us.
Doctors sometimes meet with patients in suicidal crises; for psychiatrists and general practitioners it is part of our routine clinical work. When a conversation can unfold with such patients, it might explore the value and purpose of life, the bonds and relationships that sustain us, and the idea (bolstered by experience of others in the situation) that suicidality is a temporary state of mind: that if adequate support can be found, and the despair and agitation can be endured, it will pass. Every death by suicide sends shock waves that reverberate through the lives of those it touches, with the potential for an aftermath of rage, guilt, grief, regret, and incomprehension, among other feelings.
Science and scientists are under assault. From denial of vaccines to climate change, political leaders are increasingly sacrificing democracy as well as science on the altar of populism and authoritarianism. While scientists often see the result of such attacks on science and scientific institutions through loss of funding or jobs, they are sometimes naive about the underlying forces behind such attacks, weakening their ability to fight back.
“One thing about South Asian populations is that we do have a very different presentation of diabetes, partly due to our genetics, partly due to migration pressures”, says Rohini Mathur, Professor and Chair of Health Data Science at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), UK. Factors such as these affect care pathways and quality of life not only in the subcontinent, but also across diaspora populations. As an example, Mathur, whose work spans projects in India, Thailand, and the UK, explains how “in the standard NHS guidelines, type 2 diabetes diagnosis criteria usually look at high BMI and older age.
When scientists gather, it is not uncommon for them to lament a decline in the public's trust of science. The examples are well described: anti-vaccination movements, climate scepticism, COVID-19 conspiracy theories. But are we talking ourselves into premature failure? In October, 2024, the Pew Research Center surveyed 9593 US adults “to understand how Americans view scientists and their role in making public policy”. The survey was carefully designed to represent the US adult population in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, education, and political affiliation.
In 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, the world came together to endorse the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action1 on gender equality and women's empowerment. On Oct 13–14, 2025, the world gathered once again in Beijing, China, for The Global Leaders' Meeting on Women,2 jointly held by China and UN Women, with representatives from more than 110 countries in attendance.
After months of effectively dismantling the architecture of US global health engagement by closing the US Agency for International Development, reducing its annual global health awards by an estimated 67%, discontinuing support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and withdrawing from WHO, the Trump administration has released its affirmative vision of what comes next.1–3
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the insulin-producing β cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans are destroyed by islet-autoreactive T cells in individuals with genetic predisposition to this disease.1,2 Despite considerable development in technologies improving glycaemic control, insulin replacement treats the symptoms of type 1 diabetes but not its cause, and diabetic complications arise that increase mortality. Therapy to prevent or intervene in the disease process and preserve β-cell function is needed, but immunosuppressive therapies have not led to durable patient benefit so far, with clinical efficacy being restricted to subgroups of patients.
Thrombosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality, with one in four deaths being related to blood clots.1 As a result, anticoagulants have become one of the most prescribed drugs worldwide.1 Anticoagulants are used to reduce risk of hospital-associated thrombosis, an umbrella term used for venous thromboembolism occurring during hospital admission and for up to 90 days post discharge. Hospital-associated thrombosis is responsible for 55–60% of all venous thromboembolism,2 with an estimated global incidence of 10 million cases annually.
Medical News
15th Jan, 2026
phys.org
Medical Journal
Wiley
Surgery
Journal of the American Medical Association
