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Health Check: A drug to prevent breast cancer

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2023/11/08 GMT

A drug to prevent breast cancer

BBC World Service - Health Check, A drug to prevent breast cancer

Anastrozole can halve your chances of developing breast cancer if you are at high risk.

Anastrozole can halve your chances of developing breast cancer; breaking down the stigma around wearing glasses in Pakistan; humility; and do we really need eight hours sleep?

This week it was announced in the United Kingdom that women at high risk of breast cancer will be able to take a drug, Anastrozole, which is usually used to treat breast cancer, as a preventative measure.

Recent trials show the drug can reduce the incidence of breast cancer by almost 50% in post-menopausal women at moderate or high risk of the disease.

Claudia Hammond is joined by medical journalist Clare Wilson from New Scientist to discuss how the drug works and who it will be offered to. 

We also hear from Pakistan where four hundred teachers in Islamabad have been trained to screen their pupils for eye problems. Often families can’t afford for their eyes to be tested, so the classroom is being used to tackle both eye health and the stigma that can surround wearing glasses. 

And do you think you are humble? Well Claudia discusses whether the whole idea of humility is undervalued with Professor Daryl Van Tongeren, the Director of the Frost Center for Social Science Research at Hope College in the United States.

And Clare tries to answer the question: do we really need eight of hours of sleep a night?

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell and Helena Selby
Editor: Holly Squire

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