The HIV ward, the scene of graphically ill patients when I was training, is long closed because it's no longer needed in most rich countries. When my young neighbour had a stroke, doctors cleverly retrieved the clot suffocating his artery, not just saving his life but also returning it to its full potential.
Resident doctors and interns at the Children's Medical Center have been pooling their own money with some donations to organise activities for the children suffering from underlying health conditions.
Safety is never guaranteed, says Khun Sue Reh, 23, who on Monday was among the group graduating with the specially designed three-year nursing qualification. Alongside the usual coursework and exams, the students face airstrikes on the hospitals where they are training, government spy drones overhead, roadblocks and internet blackouts.
"It really works, and I think it would work in other wars," said Rina Reznik, a medic from eastern Ukraine. She studied neurobiology at university, and currently serves as the head of medical supplies in the Azov Brigade. "It's cutting-edge technology."
"Hello, how are you doing? Good to see you," says Honor Cousens, as she pushes a trolley loaded with cold drinks, sweets, biscuits, toiletries, newspapers and magazines. The volunteer at the Royal London Hospital is a familiar face on the wards, and has been supporting staff and patients for many years. She is part of the Friends of the Royal London Hospital, a charity that has been running at the Whitechapel site since 1979.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
In 2025, the administration of US President Donald Trump ordered the US Agency for International Development to be closed; this year, it withdrew the country from 66 international organizations. Other Western nations that are plagued with high levels of debt and pressure to prioritize domestic challenges have slashed their foreign aid, too. According to projections, official development assistance dropped by 9-17% in 2025, amounting to some US$55 billion.
In the full glare of the world's media spotlight, Israel has been conducting its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza while the mass killing of civilians in Sudan has not stopped since the outbreak of that country's war in 2023. Violence is ongoing elsewhere from Myanmar's civil war to conflict in Nigeria. Drone attacks targeting noncombatants have become commonplace in Ukraine while massacres of civilians across multiple conflicts continue, including in Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Yemen all with apparent impunity.
Like thousands of other sick and wounded Palestinians, I am slowly dying, trapped between a devastated health system and a heavily restricted border. As I write these lines, I am receiving treatment at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for kidney disease. Actually, I don't know whether what I am receiving can actually be termed treatment or if it is only an attempt to postpone the inevitable.
Since October's ceasefire, which meant Israel would allow some - but not nearly enough - aid trucks to enter our besieged Strip, people in Gaza have desperately been eating, whenever possible, what they had been deprived of previously. Yet, as a result, many have developed " refeeding syndrome," which is a serious medical condition. Refeeding syndrome occurs when food is suddenly reintroduced after a prolonged period of starvation - and Israel has subjected those of us in Gaza to such periods on multiple occasions.
