Health Check

The committee that advises on vaccinations in the UK has recommended that chickenpox is added to the standard list of childhood vaccinations; something which the USA and many European countries have been doing for some time. So why do some countries vaccinate children against chickenpox and others choose not to? Claudia Hammond is joined by family doctor Ann Robinson. They also hear from conversation analyst Charlotte Albury, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, about how doctors communicate with patients with obesity can have a significant impact on their weight loss success. And with shortages of doctors in many parts of the world, are shared appointments the answer, where a group of patients with the same condition all see the doctor at once? Also discussed, high blood pressure and how reducing your salt intake can be just as effective as medication in some cases. Image: Little girl receiving chickenpox vaccination in clinic Credit: Liudmila Chernetska Presenter: Claudia Hammond