Headlines on health

The latest report on Closing the Gap Targets, released last month, found just four of the nineteen targets are on track. Among those targets Australia is failing to meet, the country is moving backward when it comes to reducing suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people , which are now more than three times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians. First Nations health advocates and practitioners are urgently calling for investment in new approaches to preventative mental health led by First Nations wisdom and experience.

A WARNING THAT THIS STORY MAY BE DISTRESSING FOR SOME LISTENERS: Scotland's Parliament has rejected legislation that would have made Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives. Members of the Edinburgh-based legislature voted 69 to 57 against a bill that would have let people in Scotland with six months or less to live seek help to end their life. The Scottish vote is part of a wider debate across the UK.

For international students studying in Australia, accessing healthcare is often seen as too expensive - or too confusing to navigate. But a new initiative - designed by international students FOR international students - aims to make services easier to find, while breaking down taboos around sexual and mental health.

A WARNING THAT THIS STORY MAY BE DISTRESSING FOR SOME LISTENERS The New South Wales government is investigating the circumstances surrounding the escape of two patients from the same hospital, who days later were allegedly involved in separate incidents where three people died. Mental health professionals say it's again thrown the state's mental health care crisis into the spotlight.

The rise of antibiotic resistance is threatening millions of lives worldwide, but “unconventional” Australian research could make obsolete medications effective again. Data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that some of the most common illnesses in the world are becoming more resistant to treatment every year. Dr Maud Eijkenboom says the current approach of developing new antibiotics is losing the battle against ever-evolving viruses and bacteria. After her son struggled with a resistant disease, Dr Eijkenboom set on her own path to discover a better way eradicate the rising wave of lethal pathogens. In 2021, she founded Lixa, a Perth-based biotech company receiving international support for its “game-changing” research. In this edition of Weekend One on One, she speaks with SBS's Cameron Carr about the impact of her research, and started by explaining what Lixa is all about.

A lot of people already identify or know the problems from smoking and what it can do for your health, but not a lot of people understand that loneliness or social isolation carries around the same health risks of smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Tyler Prochnow is an assistant professor at Texas A&M at their School of Public Health and an expert in social connectedness, physical activity and mental health.

Fodmap, high protein, gluten-free, lowfat, clean eating - so many diets, so much conflicting advice. Australian experts are warning that following multiple diets at the same time could have unexpected consequences.

As with most years, the health sector has been a constant source of news stories - from outbreaks of illnesses to outstanding medical research, from politics to pandemics, from injuries to infections. SBS news looks back at some of the medical stories that hit the news in 2025.

A new national report has found that Australians are facing an average five-year wait for life-saving medical technologies. The report says that while medical technology is advancing rapidly overseas, Australia's system is still slow to approve and fund the new technologies.

An Australian cancer research centre has been awarded a 2.5 million dollar grant to further their research into one of the country 's deadliest brain cancers. Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne hope to fast-track diagnosis and treatment options.