Exclusive: Analysis by Royal Society for Public Health suggests obesity rates will rise in 90% of the country

The majority of children will be overweight or obese in nine areas of England by 2035, according to “deeply concerning” projections showing child obesity rates are set to worsen across 90% of the country.

More than a third of primary school children (36%) are already overweight or obese, figures from the government’s national child measurement programme show.

About 220,000 patients expected to receive Mounjaro over three years as GPs can prescribe the drugs for the first time

Thousands of patients in England will be able to access weight-loss jabs via their GP from Monday for the first time.

The mass rollout on the NHS means family doctors will be allowed to prescribe the drugs for the first time. About 220,000 people with “greatest need” are expected to receive Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide and made by Eli Lilly, on the NHS over the next three years.

Exclusive: Analysis finds domestic abuse training for staff in England and Wales ‘sporadic and inconsistent’

Domestic abuse is a public health emergency, experts have claimed, after a report concluded that the NHS is failing victims by not training staff to spot and respond to the signs of domestic violence.

About one in four people (21.6%) in England and Wales aged 16 years and over have experienced domestic abuse, affecting 12.6 million people, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Visitors staying at ‘healing retreats’ bring vital income to the diverse cultures of the region, writes Enrico Malatesta, while Emily Webster says there is no need to leave the UK to find shamanic healing. Plus, a letter by John Lowrie

Your article (‘Ayahuasca tourism’ is a blight on Indigenous peoples and our environment, 17 June) brings up important concerns but it looks at a complicated issue too narrowly. It is worth remembering that the word “ayahuasca” itself is not a modern invention, but a Quechua term meaning “vine of the soul”. It is just one of many names used for the ceremonial medicine across different Indigenous cultures – others include yagé, kamarampi, caapi, oasca and daime. Suggesting that only “hayakwaska” is “correct” erases the diversity of ancestral traditions across the Amazon basin.

The claim that ayahuasca is marketed as a “mystical shortcut” overlooks the reality: real work with this medicine is neither quick nor easy. True healing through ayahuasca involves deep inner effort, often accompanied by discomfort, surrender and courage – whether one is Indigenous or not.

From medically unqualified influencers pushing expensive supplements online, to nurses peddling myths about pregnancy, I had to find out all I could about my condition myself. This is what I’ve learned

I suspected I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) long before it was confirmed. The signs were there: the acne scars that littered my back, the irregular periods, the hair in places on my body that I didn’t see on many of my friends. I suspected it from the moment that one of my best friends, who as a girl taught me about bleaching my body hair and waxing my legs, was diagnosed with it as a teenager.

Admitting all this publicly feels like an unburdening, but also an invitation to more shame. But I write this because my experience is far from unique. As many as one in 10 women have PCOS, a condition associated with hormonal disturbances that can range from weight gain, “unwanted” body hair and hair loss, to irregular periods and struggles to conceive children (including an increased risk of miscarriage). It can leave women more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. It is not clear what causes PCOS, but it is known to be passed down generational lines and can be influenced by lifestyle.

‘There isn’t a budget for this,’ health secretary says after MPs vote to legalise procedure in England and Wales

Wes Streeting has voiced doubts over whether the NHS can afford to establish an assisted dying service, after MPs passed a bill to legalise the procedure last week.

The health secretary was previously a supporter of assisted dying but switched sides last year, expressing concerns about the ethics of offering such a service before significant improvements could be made to the NHS.

The Maha campaign seeks to warn Americans of the dangers of ultra-processed foods

Federal health officials are seeking to launch a “bold, edgy” public service campaign to warn Americans of the dangers of ultra-processed foods in social media, transit ads, billboards and even text messages.

And they potentially stand to profit off the results.

More of us are turning to products containing mushroom extracts, with the medicinal fungi market now worth billions of pounds. Promises of benefits to mental and physical health have seen its popularity spill over from wellness influencers to the shelves of Marks & Spencer – but is there any scientific evidence behind these claims?

Ian Sample chats to Madeleine Finlay about the appeal of mushroom drinks and supplements, and hears from the mycologist Prof Nik Money on what we really know about how fungi can affect our minds and bodies

Study commissioned by NHS finds that sickle cell disease care lags behind that for conditions such as cystic fibrosis

People living with sickle cell disease face substandard care as its treatment significantly lags behind advances relating to other genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, a report has found.

The study, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory and carried out by researchers at Imperial College London, analysed various measures of care for sickle cell disease between 2010 and 2024, including clinical trials, approved drugs and reviews of existing studies.

Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

The Department of Veterans Affairs has imposed new guidelines on VA hospitals nationwide that remove language that explicitly prohibited doctors from discriminating against patients based on their political beliefs or marital status.

The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Two years after the devastating fires, many lack access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare

Mental health problems and economic hardship remain widespread among survivors of the Maui wildfire, as access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare remains a struggle for many, according to a study tracking 2,000 survivors.

Two in every five (41%) adults report declining overall health since the August 2023 fire, with the burden falling heaviest on those still exposed to ash, smoke and debris, according to the latest findings of the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES), a pioneering longitudinal research initiative by the University of Hawaii (UH) and local community groups.

Supreme court ruled that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming treatment did not discriminate on basis of sex

The US supreme court on Wednesday ruled to uphold a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors – a decision, legal analysts say, that is sure to have a sweeping impact not only on transgender and non-binary individuals across the US, but on anybody who wants to argue that they have been discriminated against on the basis of their sex.

Forty per cent of trans people between the ages of 13 and 17 live in the 27 states that have so far enacted bans or policies that restrict youths’ access to gender-affirming care. Although advocates have launched more than a dozen lawsuits over the bans, most remain in effect. Wednesday’s decision in the case, United States v Skrmetti, may pave the way for the rest to take effect.

My friend Ondine Sherwood, who has died from lung cancer aged 65, was one of the earliest campaigners for the recognition of Long Covid. Having failed to recover fully from Covid-19 in March 2020, she discovered that others were suffering similarly and GPs did not seem to know how to diagnose them. Ondine rapidly became the main spokesperson for the patient-created term “Long Covid”. She founded the group Long Covid SOS that June and secured charitable status and trustees.

Ondine lobbied politicians, doctors and civil servants for recognition of the illness. She stressed that the narrative of Covid being mild and flu-like unless the patient was vulnerable was not true.

Tooth extraction and root canal work among procedures offered by self-taught 22-year-old and two family members

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A fake dentist and two assistants who treated dozens of patients after learning the trade on the internet have been charged in the Czech Republic.

The three family members opened a fully equipped dental practice, without a licence or the necessary expertise, in the central Czech town of Havlíčkův Brod in 2023, police said on Wednesday.

Anger is rarely thought of as positive – but the emotion itself exists to protect us, says author of Good Anger, Sam Parker

My friends and I sometimes rank the seven deadly sins in order of personal relevance. For me, “wrath” always comes last. (I shan’t say what’s first – too revealing.)

Anger doesn’t feature in my day-to-day life. I even struggle to feel wrathful when it’s appropriate. World events make me fatalistic and depressed; when my gym instructor says to “let loose” on the ski machine, my effort remains constant. The time I visited a rage room, my main takeaway was that the Metallica song I selected as the soundtrack sounded fantastic on big speakers.

Readers respond to an article by Gordon Brown in which he urged MPs to reject the assisted dying bill in the vote on Friday and called for better end-of-life care

I do not disagree with Gordon Brown that palliative care should be better funded, but to present palliative care as the alternative to assisted dying is to present a false equivalence, since the principles behind the two are quite different (MPs have personal beliefs, but also solemn duties: that’s why they must reject the assisted dying bill this week, 16 June).

The principle behind the entitlement to good palliative care is that one should be entitled to good medical care – in this instance, as death approaches. The principle behind the right to an assisted death is that one should be entitled to determine the time and manner of one’s passing.

Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley, had contact with stray animal while on holiday, UK Health Security Agency says

A woman from Yorkshire has died from rabies after contact with a stray dog while on holiday in Morocco, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, was diagnosed in Yorkshire and Humber after returning from the north African country in February.

Experts find link between compulsive use of social media, phones and video games and mental health problems

Teenagers who show signs of being addicted to social media, mobile phones or video games are at greater risk of suicidal behaviour and emotional problems, according to research.

A study, which tracked more than 4,000 adolescents for four years, found that nearly one in three reported increasingly addictive use of social media or mobile phones. Those whose use followed an increasingly addictive trajectory had roughly double the risk of suicidal behaviour at the end of the study.

Withdrawal from event follows string of appearances as Catherine seeks right balance after cancer treatment

The Princess of Wales has pulled out of attending Royal Ascot as she continues to seek the right balance of public engagements after her treatment for cancer.

Catherine was said to be disappointed not to attend the race meeting on Wednesday with her husband and King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Tuesday’s vote in parliament was a missed opportunity – and proof that progressives are allowing the right to shape the key debates

Around the world, the antis are joining forces. Whether anti-abortion, anti-transgender, anti-immigrant, anti-human rights or just anti anyone who doesn’t look like them, they are collaborating; amplifying one another and sharing their political and cultural successes. Their rhetoric now dominates our discussions, and increasingly our ballot boxes. In response, some argue caution or even capitulation – as if we can stop the public being dragged to the extremes if we speak in hushed tones or water down our ambitions for social justice. As we witness the consequences of this, it is time to speak up for those values that drive us to show that another future is possible.

On Tuesday, parliament had the opportunity to set abortion in England and Wales on the same modern, regulated footing as it is in Northern Ireland: as a human right. Instead, a vote on this was explicitly blocked by the providers of this service and their supporters, telling MPs to back another amendment, to get a single exemption from prosecution for women “over the line” instead. That is what happened. In contrast, my proposed amendment would have gone further, offering “protection to all those involved in ensuring that women can access safe and legal abortions”.