Devi Sridhar

Devi Sridhar argues that England’s privatised water system prioritises shareholders and executive pay over customers, infrastructure and public health. She highlights rising bills, sewage pollution, foreign ownership, large shareholder dividends and the financial distress of companies such as Thames Water. Scotland’s publicly owned Scottish Water is presented as a practical alternative, having invested more per household, charged less and reinvested profits rather than paying dividends. Sridhar concludes that water and sanitation are essential public infrastructure with little scope for meaningful consumer choice and should be provided through public ownership.

A rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has caused at least 4,900 cases and more than 2,300 deaths, with children and pregnant women especially affected and routine healthcare severely disrupted. The outbreak is difficult to contain because it involves the Bundibugyo virus species, possible viral mutation, delayed diagnosis, community transmission and conflict in Ituri province. The response has also been weakened by mistrust rooted in colonial-era interventions and by declining international support, including US withdrawal from multilateral health efforts and cuts to foreign aid by Britain. Vaccine trials at Oxford University and WHO-backed trials of antiviral therapies offer hope, but the crisis underscores the consequences of underfunding public health, education and research.

The US faces substantially shorter life expectancy and more preventable mortality than Europe despite its wealth and high healthcare spending. Devi Sridhar argues that the Make America Healthy Again movement's focus on personal discipline, wellness influencers and unproven health practices cannot address major structural risks such as gun violence, unsafe roads and unaffordable healthcare. She recommends policies modeled on the UK and other European countries, including universal healthcare, stronger gun regulation, safer transport infrastructure and tighter food standards, while criticizing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for weakening US public-health agencies and distancing the country from the World Health Organization.

Evidence shows that Black, Asian and mixed-ethnicity patients can receive less or lower-dose pain relief than white patients, including during childbirth and cancer treatment, even after other clinical and socioeconomic factors are controlled. Stereotypes about pain tolerance contribute to an ethnicity pain gap. Sridhar recommends routinely collecting and publishing disparity data, bias-awareness training, standardized clinical pathways and strong leadership accountability, arguing that equal treatment is a matter of sound medical practice rather than political correctness.

Devi Sridhar argues that headlines claiming five minutes of daily exercise is enough to stay fit overstate the findings of a Lancet study. The research modelled associations between existing activity levels and later mortality using data from large cohorts in the US, Norway, Sweden and the UK; it did not test sedentary people who began exercising for five minutes a day. She says the findings support the principle that some movement is better than none, particularly for inactive people, but do not justify a five-minute workout routine. Maintaining health also requires cardio, strength and flexibility, and she endorses the World Health Organization’s recommendation of roughly 20–40 minutes of moderate activity daily.landais

A hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship was contained at 13 cases, all among passengers, avoiding a potentially multinational outbreak. Spain, the WHO and the UK Health Security Agency are credited with rapid coordination, isolation, repatriation, monitoring and contact tracing, while the virus’s limited transmissibility also helped. The response demonstrates that public-health success often consists of outbreaks that do not spread, and a 21-country research programme may improve future treatments, vaccines and preparedness.

Cancer is not a single disease, so a universal cure is unlikely, but advances in targeted therapies, immunotherapy, vaccines, precision medicine and survival are producing substantial progress for specific cancers. Daraxonrasib has doubled survival time in a pancreatic-cancer trial, while amivantamab has reduced tumours in some head and neck cancer patients. Progress is constrained by global shortages of cancer-care workers, late diagnoses and treatment delays, including severe NHS performance gaps. Rising cancer rates among people under 50, potentially linked to environmental and lifestyle factors, are a major setback. Despite these problems, continued scientific investment means the overall outlook remains cautiously hopeful.

A rare Bundibugyo-strain Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has prompted the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern. Several hundred suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths have been reported, with possible spread into Uganda. The strain lacks specific vaccines, therapeutics and reliable rapid diagnostics, while conflict, distrust, cross-border mobility and shortages of staff, protective equipment and laboratory capacity complicate containment. Cuts to US and UK foreign aid and WHO emergency funding have further weakened preparedness. The article argues that governments and international agencies must urgently provide resources to protect health workers, trace contacts and prevent wider regional devastation.

The hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius currently poses a low risk to the general public, but the situation remains uncertain because passengers disembarked and flew home before the outbreak was detected. The Andes strain is especially concerning because it can spread between people, has an incubation period of up to eight weeks, and lacks an approved vaccine, specific treatment or rapid diagnostic test. Authorities are relying on isolation, quarantine, N95 masks, testing and contact tracing, with returning passengers urged to complete the WHO-recommended 42-day quarantine. The WHO and UK Health Security Agency are coordinating the response across 23 countries, although the absence of U.S. CDC cruise inspectors complicates international outbreak management. More cases may emerge in the coming days and secondary infections could appear weeks later, while researchers accelerate work on vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.

Research reviewing 41 randomized controlled trials suggests that eating earlier in the day—particularly finishing meals before 5pm or 7pm—may improve body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and metabolic markers, sometimes without reducing total calorie intake. The findings indicate that the body processes food and regulates blood sugar more effectively earlier in the day, challenging a sole focus on calories. However, early eating can be difficult to reconcile with work schedules, shift work and social or family meals, so the practical advice is to choose earlier timing when possible rather than pursue rigid dietary rules.

The UK Parliament has passed a phased tobacco ban applying to people born on or after 1 January 2009, with the legal smoking age rising by one year annually from 2027. The policy targets retailers rather than criminalizing smoking and is intended to gradually create a smoke-free generation without provoking the backlash associated with an outright ban. It has attracted unusually broad cross-party support, including substantial backing from smokers, many of whom regret becoming addicted when young. The article argues that the policy protects freedom from addiction, reduces smoking-related deaths and eases an estimated £2.6bn annual burden on the NHS, while tighter regulations will govern vaping. The UK’s approach, along with a similar policy in the Maldives, is presented as a model other countries may study.

Constant digital communication through phones, email, messaging and workplace platforms can create an “always on” state even without social media. Notifications, read receipts and delayed replies generate stress, feelings of rejection and pressure to remain continuously available, while frequent multitasking contributes to cognitive fatigue and emotional exhaustion. Research cited in the column suggests that text-based communication is more stressful and less emotionally beneficial than in-person interaction, highlighting the mental-health costs of replacing contextual, face-to-face contact with screen-based exchanges.