Bipolar disorder affects almost 40 million people worldwide, but finding the right treatment is complex, and nearly half of patients struggle to follow their prescribed treatment plans.

In the first part of this episode, we discuss new research which aims to help patients and their doctors identify the right treatment. Michele De Prisco, psychiatrist and researcher at the Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona-Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques, joins us to discuss his team's comprehensive umbrella analysis of bipolar disorder treatment options.

Also this week, with the malaria vaccines RTS,S and R21 passing regulatory hurdles, and becoming available for populations around the world, the fight against malaria is shifting. Gillian Turner, Principal Research Associate at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, explains the logistical challenges of the malaria vaccine rollout and what steps are needed next to control the disease.

Evidence based interventions for bipolar disorder across phases and age groups

Scaling up Malaria Vaccines in Africa

This week we focus on the external forces that shape medicine and healthcare. 

Global health is changing, after the reduction in financing from wealthy nations, the global community are beginning to implement reforms to improve the situation. However, any change will be unsuccessful until we tackle the fundamental structures that govern outcomes, argue Daniel Bernal-Serrano and Omar Gabriel Torres Valencia from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. They join us to explain how economic forces, wealth distribution, and market dynamics undermine health outcomes.

We also learn about the rapid rise in private equity financing of healthcare in the UK, and the dangers that poses to healthcare quality. Bernd Rechel is a researcher at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, and explains how different countries are handling this drive for healthcare profit extraction.

Reading list:

In this week's podcast - the Sensitivity of Patient Questionnaires: If you've ever asked a patient to fill out a Patient Health Questionnaire (like the PHQ-9) to assess their mental health and wondered exactly how much of a change it can actually detect, new research just published on bmj.com sets out to answer that question. We're joined by Brett Thombs, Professor in the department of Psychiatry at McGill University

Also this week, Are Doctors Scared of Death? BMJ Careers Editor Abi Rimmer sits down in the studio with Richard Coker, Emeritus Professor of Public Health at LSHTM. Drawing from his early days as an HIV doctor during the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and later with infectious disease outbreaks in South East Asia. Professor Coker discusses the profound experiences of the end of his patients lives that shaped his new book, Timor Mortis: How We Live with Death.

Reading list:

Minimal detectable change of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-8, and Patient Health Questionnaire-2`

Known for his use of devolved powers, during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham now has the opportunity to bring his local blueprint to the national stage. But what does this mean for the future of health and social care?

Our panel explore the deeply rooted health inequalities tied to the social determinants of health, the disconnect between local decision-making and national infrastructure, and the urgent need to extend the ability to access social care to more of England's population.

We're joined by

Michael Marmot: Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (UCL) and author of the landmark Marmot Review.

Sarah Woolnough: Chief Executive of the health think tank, The King's Fund.

Matt Sutton: Professor of Health Economics at the University of Manchester.

Devolution can create new opportunities for better health

Will devolving powers to mayors close England’s health gap?

Andy Burnham’s goal of good growth could be a health-creating mission that supports environmental action

Discrimination in NHS Hiring: We examine the troubling success rates of Black and Asian doctors when applying for NHS jobs. Deputy news editor, Gareth Iacobucci speaks to Anthony Emmanushares his analysis on why discrimination persists in the medical workforce and what recent reports reveal.

The Ethnicity Data Gap in Research: While sex and gender are reported in 99% of trials, ethnicity is reported in only 48%. Bianca Brijnath, Professor of Health Communication in Society at La Trobe University, joins us to discuss a newly published framework aimed at standardizing the capture and reporting of ethnicity data in clinical trials.

The Evidence Revolution: We celebrate how evidence-based medicine (EBM) has set the gold standard for other areas of science. Mun-Keat Looi, The BMJ’s International News and Features Editor, speaks with Nature editor and science journalist Helen Pearson about her new book, Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.

Black and Asian doctors are up to 30 times less likely to be offered medical training posts in some specialties, data show 

Measurement of ethnicity in clinical trials: Delphi survey and consensus statement 

Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson

Two NHS maternity reviews have been published over the past few weeks. The biggest ever conducted, involving nearly 2500 families, investigated services at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust. It was led by senior midwife, Donna Ockenden, and its findings on poor and avoidable harm to babies and mothers have reverberated throughout UK healthcare.

This was followed immediately by publication of an independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England, conducted by Valerie Amos, which states that the UK's poor maternity care is "on a scale that shames our society".

We speak to  Kate Duhig, clinical senior lecturer at  Kings College London, and Marian Knight, professor of of maternal and child population health at the University of Oxford, about why we keep having reports saying the same thing, but little action to solve the problem.

As many wealthy nations have stepped back from previous aid promises, a new force has emerged to fill the gaps: private finance. David McCoy is professor of global public health at the United Nations University, and explains why turning to investment banks, wealth funds, and private equity in the pursuit of universal health coverage might cause more problems than it solves.

Reading list:

Dangers of finance capital in healthcare

Amos maternity review: Doctors must work differently as units “no longer fit for purpose,” but report is dogged by controversy

Nottingham maternity review: 520 mothers and babies were seriously harmed on “toxic” ward, damning inquiry finds

Australia has been in the vanguard of legislation to try and reduce the influence of social media on children and young people - their ban for under 16s was introduced on the 10th of December 2025, to great fanfare, and a lot of interest around the world.

But how effective are these bans at keeping children away from social media?

New research just published on BMJ.com has looked at that question of efficacy - finding that children are using the most simple tactics to evade the ban.

To dicuss what that means, we're joined by two of the authors of that research Courtney Barnes and Luke Wolfenden from the University of Newcastle, Australia.

We’re also joined by Amrit Purba, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Louise Holly, from the Digital Transformations for Health Lab, in Geneva, who have written commentaries to go with that research.

Reading list

Assessing early effects of Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Act on adolescents’ social media use 

Learning from Australia’s social media age restriction policy  

Early data from Australia indicate that social media companies can’t be relied on to protect children 

The US military’s Operation “Epic Fury” highlighted the devastating cost of using artificial intelligence for rapid military planning. Thomas Adamkiewicz, associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Zulfiqar Bhutta, Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, to discuss why international humanitarian law is lagging dangerously behind technology, and why we urgently need a new era of legal frameworks to govern AI use in war.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medicines is strictly illegal everywhere in the world except for the United States and New Zealand. Deborah Cohen, investigative journalist, joins us to explain how global social media platforms are making borders porous, allowing Hollywood celebrities and high-profile influencers to broadcast drug endorsements directly into the feeds of UK citizens.

Finally, Between 2020 and 2023, the UK government allocated £1.7 billion specifically intended for frontline doctor training. However, a deep-dive investigation has revealed that a staggering £400 million of that funding is completely unaccounted for - David Hutchison, paediatrics registrar, and Jonathan De Oliveira, GP trainee, join us to describe what they found.

The heated debate on prostate cancer screening boils down to one question: should men be routinely screened?

Two recent position statements from the UK’s national screening committee published in the BMJ show that screening decisions are steeped in complexity. 

The benefits of screening may be easier to grasp, but the harms of overdiagnosis and overtreatment are given less attention. Can we close the divide between the public and academic discourse?

Guest: Sian Taylor-Phillips is professor of population health at the University of Warwick and a member of the UK national screening committee.

Further Reading:

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