Daily Recap: Health — 13 October 2026

Child health dominates the day’s health news, with fresh warnings about the effects of screens, online exposure to graphic violence, and efforts to widen protection against preventable disease. Elsewhere, officials move on tobacco products, possible counterfeit weight-loss drugs,...

WHO vaccine advisers recommend that countries consider routine HPV vaccination for girls from age 4 as a way to raise low coverage and strengthen protection against HPV-related disease. The advice comes from the agency’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, which reviews evidence and guides national vaccine policy.

Doctors warn that heavy screen use in classrooms is harming children’s health and development, with many pupils spending most lessons on digital devices. They say reduced time for non-screen learning and physical activity is contributing to a broader child health problem and call for schools to rethink how technology is used.

Clinicians are also pressing for less classroom screen time, saying children are developing vision problems, including short-sightedness, earlier and more severely than before. They add that excessive device use may also affect speech and wider health, and urge ministers to curb reliance on screens in schools.

Child-safety experts are advising parents to prepare for the possibility that children could encounter coverage of the Pentagon’s planned livestreamed execution of Nidal Malik Hasan. The concern is that graphic images or discussion could spread beyond any restricted stream, exposing children to distressing material and potential psychological harm.

Two deaths have been reported to the FDA as potentially linked to counterfeit retatrutide, an experimental weight-loss drug that is not approved for sale. The reports focus on bootleg supplies circulating online, raising concerns about the dangers of illicit medicines marketed outside regulated channels.

Uttarakhand is imposing a one-year ban on the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutkha, pan masala and other food products containing tobacco or nicotine. The order, issued by the state’s Food Safety and Drug Administration commissioner, takes effect on October 13 and runs for one year.

Call centre lines across NHG Health institutions are temporarily unavailable because of system disruptions, affecting a network that includes four hospitals. The National University Hospital and Singapore General Hospital also report disruptions, while staff work to restore normal operations and service access.

Nigeria’s federal government is calling for the arrest and prosecution of a suspect accused of stabbing a medical laboratory scientist at the Federal Medical Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The case centers on Lawal Toheeb Olasunkanmi, a staff member at the facility, and raises concerns about violence against health workers.