Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy startups and venture capital news. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I wrote about Zoom and Superhuman’s PR disasters. Before that, I noted the big uptick in VC spending ... Read More »

The index will allow the government to monitor the effects of policies such as housing and transport on health. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian The government is to set up the most comprehensive database yet to measure the health of people in England as part of leaked plans to improve life expectancy and ... Read More »

In a paper on private health insurance, the Grattan Institute is critical of how the sector currently works. Photograph: JohnnyGreig/Getty Images Australia’s health system is unfair and muddled and the prescription for its repair depends on the federal government’s approach to private health insurance. In a paper on private cover, ... Read More »

1) A Mobile Health Unit will be visiting various locations in Ireland over the next few months in a bid to help people mind their hearts. The Irish Heart Foundation, in partnership with Pfizer Bristol-Myers Squibb, is offering free heart health checks to local communities. The Mobile Health Unit provides the ... Read More »

Boston-based Partners HealthCare recently named its first female CEO, Dr. Anne Klibanski, to lead a system that includes world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The American Medical Association continues to place women in its office of the president, including Dr. Barbara McAneny, immediate past president, and Dr. Patrice Harris, current ... Read More »

Coimbatore-based Hani Harrise, 21, was diagnosed with dengue in August 2015. His platelet count dropped to 40,000. Platelet count between 150,000 and 450,000 for every microlitre of blood is considered healthy. “I was hospitalized for 10 days because the situation was severe. I didn’t have health insurance, so we ended ... Read More »

Iraq’s vast oil wealth once paid for some of the best health services in the Middle East. But decades of conflict and political unrest have led to, as the government admits, a crisis in hospitals. Things are particularly bad in Basra province where people have long complained of government neglect. ... Read More »

It is well-accepted that getting outside is good for both physical and mental health. But now scientists have figured out that we should be spending a minimum of 2 hours outside in nature, per week to promote health and wellbeing. The study published today in Scientific Reports and led by researchers at the University of ... Read More »

California is set to become the first US state to extend healthcare benefits to some low-income, undocumented immigrants. Democrats in the state legislature on Sunday agreed to make adults between the ages of 19 and 25 eligible for the state’s Medicaid programme, which provides health insurance to low-income individuals, as well as ... Read More »

Harsh Vardhan had this week written to the chief ministers of Delhi, Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, asking them to join the Jan Aarogya Yojana, a public-funded scheme that provides hospitalisation cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per household per year.Telegraph file picture AddThis Sharing Buttons Union health minister Harsh ... Read More »

The insurance regulator has said genetic disorders, menopause, mental illnesses among several such health issues cannot be excluded from health insurance coverage. As part of an exposure draft on the standardisation of exclusions, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said any disease contracted after taking the policy also ... Read More »

The World Health Organization has reported that one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Around 450 million people currently have such conditions. Considering that mental disorders are among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide, VR is ... Read More »