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Michael Head

Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton
Dr Michael Head is a Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, based in the Clinical Informatics Research Unit at the University of Southampton, UK. He has a background in public health research and infectious disease epidemiology, with research links in Ghana, Togo, Ethiopia and Brazil. His main research interests are pneumonia and also Neglected Tropical Diseases, including scabies and onchocerciasis. Michael also analyses portfolios of research, to review levels of funding for different diseases and to provide insight into research strength, knowledge gaps, and future priorities. He has communicated extensively with the written and TV media throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe faces worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data

Mar 18, 2025 15:08 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Europe has had the highest number of measles cases since 1997, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 127,350 cases in 2024 about double the number from 2023. Measles is back, and...

Why is whooping cough surging in the UK? Falling vaccination rates may be answer

May 15, 2024 07:27 am UTC| Health

A large outbreak of pertussis (more commonly known as whooping cough) has been ongoing in the UK since the beginning of 2024. There have been 2,793 confirmed cases so far this year. Sadly, five infant deaths due to...

AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine withdrawn – right to the end it was the victim of misinformation

May 09, 2024 07:10 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was a critical part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. However, on May 7 2024, the European Commission announced the vaccine is no longer authorised for use. This EU announcement was...

Food prices will climb everywhere as temperatures rise due to climate change – new research

Mar 25, 2024 05:09 am UTC| Insights & Views Life Economy

Climate change, and specifically rising temperatures, may cause food prices to increase by 3.2% per year, according to a new study by researchers in Germany. As climate change continues to worsen, this price inflation will...

Scabies: UK facing unusually large outbreaks – and treatment shortages appear mostly to blame

Jan 08, 2024 22:24 pm UTC| Health

Scabies is an unpleasant skin infection thats common all around the world. Outbreaks happen regularly with an estimated 450 million cases occurring globally each year. But since the start of winter, outbreaks in the UK...

Billions is spent on cancer research globally – but is it money well spent?

Jun 03, 2023 03:27 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

In 2020, 19 million people around the world received a cancer diagnosis. By 2040, that number is expected to reach 28 million. Poorer countries will be especially hard hit, with an increasing number of cases and more...

Leprosy, scabies and yaws - Togo's neglected tropical skin diseases need attention

Mar 28, 2023 14:17 pm UTC| Health

Neglected tropical diseases are a group of 20 diseases found mostly in tropical regions that are strongly associated with poverty. Among them are skin diseases like scabies, leprosy and yaws. They are caused by some...

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Economy

Europe EV Demand Surges as Fuel Prices Rise Amid Iran Conflict

Rising fuel prices linked to the Iran conflict are accelerating demand for both new and used electric vehicles (EVs) across Europe, according to industry data shared with Reuters. While automakers are benefiting from...

German Industry Employment Falls to Lowest Level in a Decade

Germanys industrial sector recorded its lowest employment level in 10 years in 2025, with the number of workers dropping to just 6.6 million, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW). The findings...

Japan Signals Readiness to Intervene as USD/JPY Nears 161 Amid Yen Weakness

Japan has reaffirmed its readiness to act against excessive currency volatility as the Japanese yen continues to weaken against the U.S. dollar. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara stated on Thursday that the government...

Asian Currencies Stabilize as Dollar Holds Near Two-Month High After Fed Hawkish Signal

Asian currencies recovered modestly on Thursday after suffering steep losses in the previous session, while the U.S. dollar remained close to a two-month high following the Federal Reserves latest policy announcement. The...

Asian Stocks Rally as Japan and South Korea Reach Record Highs on US-Iran Peace Deal

Asian stock markets mostly advanced on Thursday, led by strong gains in Japan and South Korea after reports emerged that the United States and Iran had signed a framework agreement aimed at ending their nearly four-month...

Politics

Trump’s Iran Strategy: What Has Been Achieved After Three Months of Conflict?

More than three months after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, President Donald Trumps objectives remain under scrutiny as a preliminary peace agreement moves toward finalization....

Russia and Ukraine Exchange Strikes After Zelenskiy-Trump Talks

Russia and Ukraine exchanged fresh attacks overnight, escalating tensions just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and...

South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung Strengthens Ties With Trump at G7 Summit, Discusses North Korea and Future Golf Meeting

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung emerged from the G7 summit with a symbolic gift from U.S. President Donald Trump and renewed momentum in South Korea-U.S. relations, following extensive discussions on North Korea,...

Trump-Iran Interim Agreement Extends Ceasefire as G7 Leaders Welcome Path to Peace

The United States and Iran have released the text of a newly signed interim agreement aimed at ending months of conflict, with U.S. President Donald Trump warning that military action could resume if Tehran fails to comply...

Trump Questions USMCA Renewal as Trade Talks Continue

U.S. President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying the United States could perform better without the North American trade pact, although he remains open...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Google Gemini Co-Lead Noam Shazeer Leaves for OpenAI Amid AI Talent Race

Noam Shazeer, a vice president of engineering at Google and one of the leaders behind the companys Gemini artificial intelligence models, has announced that he is leaving Google to join OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The...

SK Hynix Shares Hit Record High After Shipping Next-Generation HBM4E AI Memory Samples

SK Hynix Inc. saw its shares surge to an all-time high on Thursday after announcing the shipment of samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) product, reinforcing its position as a leading supplier in the rapidly...

Apple Signals Product Price Hikes Amid Rising Memory Chip Costs

Apple may soon increase prices across some of its products as rising memory and storage chip costs continue to pressure the consumer electronics industry. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook...

Chinese Social Media Giant Xiaohongshu Eyes Hong Kong IPO at Over $70 Billion Valuation

Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, internationally known as RedNote, is reportedly preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at more than $70 billion. According to a Wall...

Samsung Gains Interest from BYD, Google, AMD as AI Chip Demand Strains TSMC Capacity

Samsung Electronics is attracting growing attention from major global technology companies as demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing continues to exceed available capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co....