Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Health Check

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

Health Check: France to axe homeopathy funding

Magazines & Reviews

Tubes of homeopathic granules at a pharmacy in Lille

2019/07/24 GMT

France to axe homeopathy funding

BBC World Service - Health Check, France to axe homeopathy funding

French plan to end homeopathy funding bitter pill for supporters to swallow

Homeopathy funding to end in France; New wireless monitors for sick newborn babies; Electric or manual - which toothbrush works best

France is to follow Australia and the UK in limiting funding for homeopathy.  Currently 30% of homeopathic prescriptions are refunded but by 2021 this will stop.  But in France these remedies are popular and prescribed by up to a third of family doctors.  Homeopathy supporters have labelled the decision as flawed.  Health specialist at Le Monde newspaper, Paul Benkimoun, describes the reaction within France to the decision by the Health Minister.

Premature and sick babies when neonatal intensive care units are available are usually covered in masses of wires and monitors, which can prevent babies and parents from getting beneficial skin to skin contact.  Amelia Martyn-Hemphill reports on new wireless sensors which weigh just as much as a raindrop, being developed by Northwestern University in Chicago, USA.

Toothbrushes, manual and electric, can vary in price from a few dollars to a few hundred.  But is there any difference when it comes to the long term health of your teeth?  Dr Vinai Pitchika at University Medicine Greifswald in Germany is part of a team which has followed people for over a decade and measured rates of tooth decay and gum disease.  He tells Claudia what they found. 


(Image caption: Tubes of homeopathic granules at a pharmacy in Lille - credit: Getty Images)  


Health Check was presented by Claudia Hammond with comments from BBC Health and Science correspondent, James Gallagher.


Producer: Helena Selby

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Health Check

France to axe homeopathy funding

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service