The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in conversation with

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

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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 Clemente Sanchez, 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 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

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

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

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. Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://twitter.com/thelancet https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal https://linkedIn.com/company/the-lancet https://youtube.com/thelancettv

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. Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://twitter.com/thelancet https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal https://linkedIn.com/company/the-lancet https://youtube.com/thelancettv

Professor Akash Deep joins Josefine Gibson in conversation about paediatric acute liver failure and when a critically ill child is unsuitable for liver transplantation. Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://twitter.com/thelancet https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal https://linkedIn.com/company/the-lancet https://youtube.com/thelancettv