Health

Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — The Food and Drug Administration has dropped all restrictions specific to gay and bisexual men donating blood, a move long anticipated by public health experts and gay rights activists. The new guidance, first proposed in January and finalized Thursday, will not restrict donations based on someone’s […]

Isabel Pavia/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Medical and scientific experts advising the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of allowing a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription. The vote could sway the FDA, which ultimately needs to sign off. But if the FDA agrees, the progestin-only pill Opill could be […]

Isabel Pavia/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Medical and scientific experts advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have voted in favor of allowing a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription. “The large body of evidence on the safety and effectiveness is very reassuring,” said one adviser, Dr. Kathryn Curtis. The FDA will […]

Karl Tapales/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — In the first guidance of its kind, the American Psychological Association (APA) has issued sweeping recommendations intended to help teenagers use social media safely. The guidance is primarily directed toward parents and formalizes prior recommendations around social media use, including setting time limits, family discussions about social media and […]

ABC News (BURLINGTON, Vt.) — Jes Kraus was supposed to be going to the University of Vermont Medical Center every day for aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments to fight stage three colorectal cancer, for which he was diagnosed in September 2020. But at the end of October 2022, the hospital called to tell him not […]

Courtesy Jonah Barrow (NEW YORK) — Nine months ago, near the end of August, Jonah Barrow, a high school senior, attempted to take his own life. Now, the 18-year-old from Katy, Texas, is speaking out about his survival to share a message of hope amid a mental health crisis in the United States, particularly among […]

MicroStockHub/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Most women with average risk should start screening for breast cancer at age 40, and they should get screened every other year through age 74, according to new draft guidance Tuesday from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a federally appointed group whose decisions guide insurance policies. Prior task force […]

Isabel Pavia/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Advisory committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are meeting Tuesday and Wednesday to review the first-ever application for an over-the-counter birth control pill. At a joint meeting, the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee will discuss whether pharmaceutical company Perrigo […]

The Good Brigade/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Angelina Jolie paid tribute to her late mother this week, 15 years after her death from cancer, and encouraged other women to “go for mammograms and blood tests or ultrasounds.” Mammograms are the recommended tests to screen for breast cancer in average risk women. Though there are currently […]

Jill Connelly/Bloomberg via Getty Images (ATLANTA) — As the U.S. moves into a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public health emergency ending May 11, it also signals the end of some COVID data sharing. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would be transitioning certain COVID metrics […]