The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in conversation with

Maria-Belén Tarrafeta-Sayas and Hazel M Gutiérrez on children’s access to controlled medicines

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Controlled medicines are essential in paediatric care yet children everywhere—and especially in low- and middle-income countries—face challenges in accessing controlled medicines for their medical needs and to alleviate serious health-related suffering.

In this episode, Belén Tarrafeta and Hazel Gutiérrez join Josefine Gibson to discuss misconceptions that have led to children’s access being overlooked in research and policy efforts. Together, they highlight the imperative of generating child-specific evidence on access, safety, and use, and they explore what it will take to move from global resolutions to real change for children's equitable access to controlled medicines.

Click here to read the full articles:

Review: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00374-8/fulltext

Health Policy: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00375-X/fulltext

Ami Baba and Martin Offringa on SPIRIT-C and CONSORT-C child and adolescent extensions

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Those working in clinical trials will recall that in 2025 updates were published for the SPIRIT standard clinical trial protocol items and the CONSORT guideline for reporting randomised clinical trials.

The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health will be co-publishing the first child and adolescent extensions to the SPIRIT and CONSORT reporting guidelines, along with the BMJ and JAMA Paediatrics. In this conversation with the SPIRIT and CONSORT child and adolescent project leads, Ami Baba and Martin Offringa, we discuss the need for child and adolescent specific reporting standards, the importance and value of engaging caregivers and young people in the process of developing the standards, and the potential for the SPIRIT-C and CONSORT-C reporting standards to positively impact the quality and inclusivity of paediatric clinical trials across all disciplines caring for neonates, infants, children, and adolescents.

CONSORT-C https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(26)00004-0/fulltext

SPIRIT-C https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(26)00005-2/fulltext

Continue this conversation on social!
Follow us today at...
https://thelancet.bsky.social/
https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup
https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal
https://www.linkedin.com/company/lanchi/
https://youtube.com/thelancettv

Thao Ha on adolescent digital intimate partner violence

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 23:00:00 +0000

In this episode, co-hosted by our Senior Editor Amy Slogrove and our Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Youth Advisory Panel member, Matea Canizares, we discuss adolescent digital intimate partner violence.

*Intimate partner violence might be a difficult topic for some, please take care if this is so for you, and do step away from this episode if you feel the need.*

Amy and Matea are in conversation with Dr Thao Ha, Associate Professor of psychology and director of the HEART (Healthy Experiences Across Relationships and Transitions) Lab, from Arizona State University. Dr Ha along with her co-author Dr Taren McGray, have shone a spotlight on the complexity of adolescent relationships in digital and AI-influenced spaces in a Comment titled “No safe place: ending adolescent digital intimate partner violence”. We discuss what digital intimate partner violence is and the nuances in adolescent relationships, the co-occurrence with offline intimate partner violence, the sometimes shifting relationship between victims and victimizers, the central importance of young peoples perspectives in understanding these dynamics and supporting healthy intimate relationships, and the opportunities for us all to contribute and advocate for a world where technology does good instead of harm in supporting healthy relationships.

Links for the Comment and associated content in our journal:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00372-4/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00311-6/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00343-8/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00145-7/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00329-8/fulltext

Jason Nagata on muscle dysmorphia

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Dr Jason Nagata discusses his Review on muscle dysmorphia, a pathological preoccupation with being insufficiently muscular, and how paediatricians can help young people navigate body image concerns.

Click here to read the full review: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00283-4/fulltext

Paige Church on Ableism

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Ableism is a type of discriminatory bias, like racism and sexism for example, that speaks particularly to the idea that there is one standard human norm that exists and any ways of being human that don't meet this standard are considered inferior. In this episode with neonatologist and developmental paediatrician Dr Paige Church we discuss the presence of ableism in paediatrics, and child and adolescent health at large. We consider how, despite the best intentions of paediatricians and other practitioners, we quickly assign value judgements and assume an inherently less meaningful life for children with disabilities or differences that do not meet normative standards or expected developmental milestones.

Dr Church share's her own journey of reckoning with the invisible bias of ableism in her clinical practice in counselling parents in the NICU, shares tangible examples of how ableism plays out in neonatal and paediatric clinical care, and we discuss how children and families with disability often face multiple intersecting discriminatory biases-along race, gender, socioeconomic, neuro-normative and other lines-leading to a concentration of marginalisation and othering. Dr Church shares practical individual mindset and language shifts we can all make, that are of no cost to the healthcare system, to start to overcome ableist biases and support children, young people and their families to reach their unique optimal developmental potential.

Click here to read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00222-6/fulltext

Rachel Reid-McCann on the association between dysmenorrhoea in adolescence and chronic pain in adulthood

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Dr Rachel Reid-McCann (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK) speaks with Acting Editor-in-Chief Ali Landman about her recent paper "Longitudinal association between dysmenorrhoea in adolescence and chronic pain in adulthood: a UK population-based study".

Read the full article:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00213-5/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_October_25_lanchi

Zulfiqar Bhutta, Georgia Dominguez, and Naeha Sharma on protecting the children and women of Sudan

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta, Georgia Dominguez, and Naeha Sharma join acting Editor-in-Chief Ali Landman to discuss their Health Policy paper "Who protects the children and women of Sudan?", analysing the scale and severity of the grave violations of war against children and women in Sudan and proposing immediate and long-term strategic actions to respond to the humanitarian crisis and ensure long-term recovery and accountability.

Read the Health Policy paper:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00237-8/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_September_25_lanchi

Ann Yeh on paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis before the age of 18 years, although uncommon, is associated with a higher disease burden than adult onset MS, early and progressive motor and cognitive disability, and high levels of depression and fatigue. In this episode Ann Yeh, Professor of Paediatrics and neurologist in Toronto, Canada, highlights the global considerations in preventing MS disease progression in young people with MS, including achieving global equity in access to diagnostics, specialist services, and highly-effective disease modifying therapies for adolescents and young adults with MS.

Read the Review in this month's issue here:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00133-6/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_August_25_lanchi

Disease-modifying therapies in managing disability worsening in paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis: a longitudinal analysis of global and national registries https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00047-6/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_August_25_lanchi

Real-life benefits of high-efficacy therapies for children with multiple sclerosis https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00074-9/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_August_25_lanchi

Neena Modi, Steven Abman, and Daniele De Luca on the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Commission on the future of neonatology

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 22:00:00 +0000

June 25, 2025, saw the publication of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Commission on the future of neonatology. The product of 3 years of dedicated international and interdisciplinary collaboration, the Commission builds on perspectives and experiences of clinical professionals who provide specialised care for neonates and are driven to develop evidence-based and equitable neonatal medicine that better serves newborn babies.

In this episode, Deputy Editor Josefine Gibson speaks to three commissioners about advancing neonatal medicine and the importance of interdisciplinary, inclusive research that centres on the health rights and care needs of newborn children to improve their health and wellbeing through childhood.

Read the Commission here:

https://www.thelancet.com/commissions-do/future-neonatology?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_lanchineonatalrd25_lanchi

Thora Halldórsdóttir and Kristín Sigurdardottir on autism, ADHD, and autism-ADHD

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Autism and ADHD continue to be the subjects of much debate and misunderstanding and until 2013 diagnostic manuals did not allow for the co-occurrence of autism and ADHD.

In this episode Thora Halldórsdóttir and Kristín Sigurdardottir, clinical psychologists and researchers from Iceland, join us to talk about the key findings from the study they led in Iceland that provides the first nationwide, population-based estimate of incidence and prevalence of autism, ADHD, and co-occurring autism-ADHD in young people without intellectual impairment between 2013 and 2021 assessed using gold-standard clinical methods.

They highlight that autism more often occurs in combination with ADHD than without, that the prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric conditions is high but not universal, and that the sex differences are not as large as previously thought.

Read the full article here:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00132-4/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_Jun_25_lanchi

Other articles mentioned in this discussion:

Improving autism identification and support for individuals assigned female at birth: clinical suggestions and research priorities https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(23)00221-3/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_Jun_25_lanchi

Evidence-based kindness and empathy for autistic children https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00080-4/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_Jun_25_lanchi

Kyeng Mercy and Nuria Sanchez Clemente on mpox in children in Africa

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Mpox continues to spread in Africa and young children are experiencing the highest mpox burden and mortality of all ages.

In this episode Kyeng Mercy, epidemiologist at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention takes us through the continental response to mpox, the Africa CDC data on mpox in children younger than 15 years, and African priorities in response to the mpox public health emergency.

Alongside her, Nuria Sanchez Clemente, paediatric infectious disease specialist at City St George's, University of London shares what paediatricians and clinicians need to know about how mpox presents and the latest information on mpox vaccine and therapeutic trials.

Mpox among children in Africa https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00064-1/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Hidden in plain sight: the threat of mpox to children and adolescents https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00298-0/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Paediatric, maternal, and congenital mpox: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(23)00607-1/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Naïm Ouldali and Anna Giolito on dexamethasone for paediatric pneumococcal meningitis

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Dr Anna Giolito and Professor Naïm Ouldali join Josefine Gibson to discuss their latest research on dexamethasone for paediatric pneumococcal meningitis.

Read the full article:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(25)00029-X/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Deborah Fry on Online Childhood Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Deborah Fry from Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute talks with Amy Slogrove about the first global prevalence study of Online Childhood Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

Read the full article here:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00329-8/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Content warning: This conversation is about child sexual abuse. Please consider your own emotional and psychological safety do whatever you feel is needed to safeguard yourself. Behind every number is a child. If you or someone you know needs support for child sexual exploitation and abuse, or if you are concerned that you might hurt a child, please visit Child Helpline International (https://childhelplineinternational.org) or Stop It Now (https://www.stopitnow.org).

Kathy Pritchard-Jones on the international benchmarking of stage at diagnosis for six childhood solid tumours (the BENCHISTA project)

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Kathy Pritchard-Jones (University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK) joins Ali Landman in conversation about tumour staging in childhood cancer, international standardisation of health data collection, and how to improve childhood cancer survival.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00302-X/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Aisha Yousafzai and Saima Siyal on early childhood care and education

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Amy Slogrove, Senior Editor for The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health delves into the groundbreaking LEAPS trial with Dr. Saima Siyal from Aga Khan University and Dr. Aisha Yousafzai from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Discover how this innovative program trained young women to deliver early childhood care and education in rural Pakistan, significantly improving school readiness and cognitive flexibility among children, learn about the dual benefits for both young children and youth, and explore the implications for global health and education systems.

Akash Deep on paediatric acute liver failure

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Professor Akash Deep joins Josefine Gibson in conversation about paediatric acute liver failure and when a critically ill child is unsuitable for liver transplantation.

Sabrina Eliason and Nancy Lanphear on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 22:00:00 +0000

In this conversation we grapple with the complexity of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and discuss the Viewpoint published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health on "Asking difficult questions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, in the context of the child, the mother, and the systems in which they live".

Read the full Viewpoint:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(24)00188-3/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Nelson Sánchez-Pinto and Luregn Schlapbach on paediatric sepsis

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 22:00:00 +0000

Paediatric Sepsis Series contributors Nelson Sánchez-Pinto and Luregn Schlapbach join Josefine Gibson to mark World Sepsis Day 2024.

Read the full Series:
https://www.thelancet.com/series/paediatric-sepsis?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Marisa Stahl and Edwin Liu on coeliac disease in children

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Marisa Stahl and Edwin Liu join Amy Slogrove in conversation about their Review in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health on coeliac disease, the commonest autoimmune disease in children, and what we can learn from prospective longitudinal studies.

Read the full Review:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(23)00232-8/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Marie Claire van Hout on children living in prison with a primary caregiver

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Prof Marie Claire van Hout joins Dr Josefine Gibson to discuss the rights to health of children living in prison with their primary caregiver.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(23)00190-6/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Miriam Beauchamp on paediatric concussion

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Miriam Beauchamp discusses the Review she lead in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health on improving outcome after concussion in children and adolescents, how to prevent it, how to optimise outcomes when concussion events do occur and future research directions.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(23)00193-1/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanchi

Erik Melén on climate change and allergic diseases in children

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 22:00:00 +0000

Prof Erik Melén joins Jack Williamson to discuss the links between climate change and allergic diseases in children and adolescents.

Read the full article:
Allergies to food and airborne allergens in children and adolescents: role of epigenetics in a changing environment

Youth voices on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young lives

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 22:00:00 +0000

Our Youth Advisory Panel members join Jane Godsland to discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young lives.

Bridget Bould, Tariro Kambeu, and Chiamaka Nwachukwu on nutrition in children and young people

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 22:00:00 +0000

Our Youth Advisory Panel members Bridget Bould, Tariro Kambeu, and Chiamaka Nwachukwu join Esther Lau to discuss nutrition in children and young people.

Hamaiyal Sana and Egle Janusonyte on gender equity in young people’s SRHR

Tue, 10 May 2022 22:00:00 +0000

Our Youth Advisory Panel members Hamaiyal Sana and Egle Janusonyte join Sophia Davis to discuss gender equity in young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Ilan Cerna-Turoff and Zuyi Fang on violence against children with disabilities

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 23:00:00 +0000

Dr Zuyi Fang and Dr Ilan Cerna-Turoff join Sophia Davis to discuss the new prevalence estimates of violence against children with disabilities.

Read the full article:
Global estimates of violence against children with disabilities

Mariesa Cay and Jaymin Upadhyay on childhood maltreatment

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Mariesa Cay and Jaymin Upadhyay join Soph Davis to discuss childhood maltreatment and its effects on chronic pain and psychopathology, through a neurobehavioural model.

Read the full review:
Childhood maltreatment and its role in the development of pain and psychopathology

John Leddy on activity as a concussion treatment in adolescents

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 22:00:00 +0000

John Leddy joins Soph Davis to discuss using light aerobic activity in the treatment of sports-related concussion in adolescents.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00267-4/fulltext

Ana Cristina Simões e Silva on COVID-19 in Brazilian children

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Ana Cristina Simões e Silva joins Esther Lau to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on children and adolescents in Brazil.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00134-6/fulltext

Susan Walker & Ramya Srinivasan on involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation in children

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Susan Walker & Ramya Srinivasan join Jane Godsland to discuss the clinical and social risk factors for involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation in children and adolescents.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00089-4/fulltext

Didier Jourdan & Nicola Gray on healthy lives in school

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Didier Jourdan & Nicola Gray join The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Editor-in-chief Jane Godsland to discuss how and why child health professionals should be supporting schools to become the foundation of a healthy life.

Read the full article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30316-3/fulltext

Youth voices in the COVID-19 pandemic

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Four young people from the UK share their experiences of life during the pandemic: the challenges they are facing, their worries, and their hopes for the future.