London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

As the UK prepares to convene a new international coalition to tackle violence against women and girls, announced recently by the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, there is a growing sense that we are at a crossroads. While gender-based violence continues to dominate headlines globally, progress at scale remains out of reach.

The NHS 10 Year Plan aims to transform England’s health service through three key shifts: moving care from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treating sickness to preventing it in the first place. The 'fit for the future' plan, published in July 2025, is ambitious, and achieving its vision is made more complex at a time of tight government budgets.

The speed at which this current Andes hantavirus genome has been shared should be applauded, as it provides a valuable early signal to help with managing the outbreak.

Many experts, including myself, share the recent concerns laid out by the British Pharmacological Society, highlighting the urgent need for clearer guidance on the use of medicines during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I also agree that it’s time to include more women in drug trials, capitalising on the significant advances made in recent years which allow us to do this in a safe and effective way.