Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday told a summit of mayors driven to act after President Donald Trump rejected the Paris climate accord that cities and states are the “new face of American leadership” on climate change. Obama, who did not mention Trump by name, made a quick appearance at …

The white-tailed prairie dog will not be declared an endangered or threatened species after the U.S. government deemed on Tuesday there was no danger despite declines in its population from human development and disease. The decision was a victory for energy companies and ranchers who could have seen increased restrictions …

Our knees handle more stress than any of other joints.  So it’s no wonder that knee pain affects so many of us.  If you go to any sporting event, you’ll notice that the athletes’ knees really get a workout. But it’s not only athletes who suffer knee injury. People of all …

Paraguay’s Congress passed a bill Tuesday creating a state-sponsored system to import marijuana seeds and grow the plant for medical uses, a decision that followed other countries in Latin America. The landlocked South American nation had authorized the importing of cannabis oil in May, under control of the health ministry, …

Market research estimates the U.S. baby food industry took in $53 billion in 2015. That market is expected to reach $75 billion by 2050. But baby food has not changed much in the past few decades, leading a small California startup to enter the market with what they say is …

The opioid crisis in the U.S. has destroyed the lives of thousands of people, tearing apart families and communities. For addicts, the road to recovery is long and hard and often fraught with many setbacks. It is estimated just three percent of substance abusers manage to stay clean for a …

Doctors across the U..S could soon be prescribing formerly illegal drugs as therapy for two hard-to-treat diseases – childhood epilepsy and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A growing body of scientific evidence is leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take a closer look at cannabidiol, an extract of marijuana, and …

NASA has nailed an engine test on a spacecraft 13 billion miles away. Last week, ground controllers sent commands to fire backup thrusters on Voyager 1, our most distant spacecraft. The thrusters had been idle for 37 years, since Voyager 1 flew past Saturn. To NASA’s delight, the four dormant …

Governments must do far more to include the needs of young people in the global fight against HIV and AIDS, according to a new report. Despite progress in tackling the disease, it is estimated that 1,700 new HIV infections occur every day among young people around the world, and the …

A growing body of scientific evidence is leading the U-S Food and Drug Administration to take a closer look at two illegal drugs that the federal government deems to have “no currently accepted medical use.” Now both are nearing the finish line for potential approval, as legal prescriptions for the …

Anthony walks the streets of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood looking for two competing things: His next heroin fix – and help in what he says is his struggle to end addiction. He traces the habit to one fateful day. “I shattered my leg and I was on oxycodone pain medication prescribed …

President Trump’s opioid commission is calling for more federal funding to battle addiction and deadly opioid drug-related overdoses in the United States. More than 175 Americans are dying every day and the Trump administration has declared the opioid crisis a “public health emergency”. VOA’s Chris Simkins takes us to a …

The World Health Organization reports the Saudi-led blockade of Yemen’s sea ports is hampering efforts to contain a diphtheria outbreak that, so far, has caused 197 cases of the disease, including 22 deaths. Diphtheria has spread to 13 of Yemen’s 22 governorates, including the capital Sana’a, since the first case …

Physical therapists can be a vital part of getting injured people back on their feet. But the therapy they recommend can sometimes be less than precise. Some new technology now being used in Italy could be a valuable tool for helping people recover from their injuries. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

The U.S. city of San Diego has opened the first of three large tents that together will house 700 homeless people in an effort to contain an outbreak of hepatitis A that is being spread among the homeless population. About 20 people made the tent their temporary home Friday. The …

TC Bell knows what life is like without health insurance after growing up with a mother who cobbled together care from a public health clinic, emergency room visits and off-the-books visits to a doctor they knew. That memory makes Bell, of Denver, grateful for the coverage his two daughters have …

The first birth as a result of a womb transplant in the United States has occurred in Texas, a milestone for the U.S. but one achieved several years ago in Sweden. A woman who had been born without a uterus gave birth to the baby at Baylor University Medical Center …

A dazzling discovery in northwestern China of hundreds of fossilized pterosaur eggs is providing fresh understanding of these flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs, including evidence that their babies were born flightless and needed parental care. Scientists said Thursday that they had unearthed 215 eggs of the fish-eating Hamipterus …

The recent calving of a large iceberg from a southern Chilean glacier threatens local ship navigation and could result in flooding for costal communities, experts said. An iceberg measuring some 350 by 380 meters (1,150 by 1,250 feet) broke from the Grey glacier in far southern Chile in late November. …

U.S. regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind test that looks for mutations in hundreds of cancer genes at once, giving a more complete picture of what’s driving a patient’s tumor and aiding efforts to match treatments to those flaws. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Foundation Medicine’s test for patients …

A new report issued on World AIDS Day finds more men than women are dying from AIDS because fewer men get tested for the fatal disease or have access to treatment. The report finds men have, what it calls, a blind spot when it comes to getting tested for HIV, …

President Donald Trump is donating his third-quarter salary to the Department of Health and Human Services to help fight the opioid epidemic. The White House did not immediately announce the amount of the check that acting Health Secretary Eric Hargan accepted Thursday. Trump previously donated salary in the amounts of …

Eighteen children every hour were infected with HIV last year, a sign of scant progress in protecting the world’s young from the deadly AIDS-causing virus, the United Nations’ children’s agency said Friday. At the current rate of infection, there will be 3.5 million new cases of HIV among adolescents by …

Friday marks World AIDS Day, and the World Health Organization is promoting a campaign of universal health coverage to help the 36.7 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS. Gabrielle Weiss reports for VOA on the efforts of a Washington, D.C., clinic, Whitman Walker Health. …

A fast color-changing test that detects fluoride in drinking water could help prevent the crippling bone disease skeletal fluorosis in developing countries. Faith Lapidus has details. …