Obesity affected nearly a third of adults in England in 2025, new research suggests. The study by researchers from the University of Cambridge, the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK and The George Institute for Global Health also revealed the most disadvantaged groups are bearing a disproportionate burden of the obesity crisis, and this gap has widened in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 A study of more than 60 countries shows those with faster declines in the social acceptability of intimate partner violence against women also tend to have had faster reductions in rates of such violence, as well as faster human development improvements. Irina Vartanova of the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Global Health. 

 Different digital communication tools are associated with mental health in different ways among older adults in Canada, according to a new study published June 24, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Hossam Ali-Hassan of York University, Canada, and colleagues.

 In this cross-sectional study of high school students, implementation of total abortion bans was associated with increased suicidal ideation among female students, with similar but less precise estimates observed for suicide attempts. These findings suggest that the policies in these states may adversely influence female adolescents’ mental health and underscore the importance of accessible suicide prevention and mental health services in affected states.