Latin America’s rise in tuberculosis linked to imprisonment rates

High incarceration rates in Latin America – the region with the world’s fastest-growing prison population – are exacerbating tuberculosis in a region that is bucking the global trend for falling incidents of the disease, experts have warned.A study published in The Lancet Public Health journal has estimated that, contrary to previous assumptions, HIV/Aids is not the primary risk factor for tuberculosis in the region – as it remains in Africa, for example – but rather imprisonments.While the global incidence of tuberculosis decreased by 8.7% between 2015 and 2022, it rose by 19% in Latin America. Using mathematical modelling, researchers concluded that this increase was linked to the exponential rise in imprisonment in the region, surpassing other traditional risk factors such as HIV/Aids, smoking, drug use and malnutrition

Labour will tackle ‘scourge of femicide’ to hit manifesto target, says minister

Tackling the “scourge of femicide” in the UK will be a central part of the government’s promise to drastically reduce violence against women and girls, the minister leading the policy has said.Revealing details of one of Labour’s central missions in office for the first time, Jess Phillips said the success of the government’s target to halve violence against women and girls had to include reducing the rate at which women are killed by men.“A woman is killed by a man every three days. This is not just a statistic, these are real lives that have been taken. These are women with names, families, jobs and people who love them,” she said

Guardian and Observer charity appeal donations pass £1m

Generous readers have donated more than £1m in under three weeks to the Guardian and Observer’s 2024 appeal in support of victims of global conflict and war.This year’s appeal is raising money for three charities: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and War Child, which carry out frontline medical work in war zones across the world, and Parallel Histories, which helps schools teach sensitive and controversial histories such as those of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine.The overall total had reached £1,015,000 by mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, the 10th year in a row the Guardian and Observer appeal has raised more than £1m. More than 8,800 readers have donated so far to the appeal, which continues into the new year.Readers who donate online to the appeal are able to leave an email message saying why they gave

Charities warn funding cuts will have ‘dire’ effect on domestic abuse victims

Funding cuts and the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions will have “dire consequences” for victims of domestic and sexual violence, charities have said.On Monday, a group of victims’ and women’s charity leaders wrote to the prime minister warning him that the upcoming moves will put the government’s mission to halve violence against females “in jeopardy”.In the joint letter, Rape Crisis England and Wales, Victim Support, Welsh Women’s Aid, Imkaan and Women’s Aid Federation of England, said the cut to core police and crime commissioner budgets will leave them “no choice” but to make redundancies and reduce “lifeline” support services for victims.Offences related to violence against women currently account for 20% of all police recorded crime and support for survivors is needed “now more than ever”, the organisations said.The open letter states that, according to the Rape Crisis England and Wales survey report, a third of Rape Crisis centres are expecting to issue redundancy notices before the end of the financial year with 30% of directors concerned they will have to close down their centre

NHS to begin world-first trial of AI tool to identify type 2 diabetes risk

The NHS in England is launching a world-first trial of a “gamechanging” artificial intelligence tool that can identify patients at risk of type 2 diabetes more than a decade before they develop the condition.More than 500 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes, and finding new ways to spot people at risk before they develop the condition is a major global health priority. Estimates suggest 1 billion people will have type 2 diabetes by 2050.The condition is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes and lower limb amputation. It is often linked to being overweight or inactive, or having a family history of type 2 diabetes, although not all those diagnosed are in those categories

Devolution will only work if Westminster can let go of power | Letters

Martin Kettle agrees with the government favouring “English counties, not regions, as an essential building block of a modern network” (We now have a plan to make England’s local government work – but I fear party politics will trash it, 19 December). There is a key word and concept that should form the basis of good governance. It is “subsidiarity”, meaning that decisions should be taken at the level to which they apply. It forms the basis for good governance across Europe, which is based on regions.This is because there are key functions and decisions that can only be taken effectively and in an integrated way across regions