News & Comment

Gastroenterology as a specialty can make a substantial contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of the health-care system. Concrete actions are needed to increase awareness, education and evidence-based knowledge on eco-sustainable diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to digestive diseases.

Guidelines currently recommend organ-specific management of obesity-related complications. Agents that agonize glucagon-like peptide 1 receptors, including those that co-agonize other anorexigenic hormone receptors, lead to substantial weight loss and benefits in people with varying obesity-related complications, with further trials underway. These medications enable cause-specific management of obesity complications.

Bathroom ban legislation is increasing throughout the United States, and little is known about the effect on transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals with chronic gastrointestinal conditions. Efforts should be made to raise awareness and address the knowledge gaps.

Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus remains a mode of transmission in high-burden regions where there are gaps in antenatal screening, limited hepatitis B virus birth-dose vaccination and variable access to antiviral prophylaxis. Policymakers, governments and relevant stakeholders must ensure equitable access to necessary interventions to achieve elimination targets.

The countdown to the 2030 viral hepatitis elimination goal continues, but time is running out and progress is not keeping pace. Viral hepatitis remains a major public health challenge; we need to take action now to mobilize resources and focus efforts.

Western lifestyles cause a low-grade but chronic and metabolic inflammation (or metaflammation), which might prime committed cell lineages to initiate colon tumorigenesis. At-risk individuals might include cases of early-onset colon cancer, the incidence of which has risen dramatically in the past few decades.

Globally, one in six people have a disability, and individuals with disabilities often experience a narrow margin of health, less financial security and health disparities. We call for action to improve access to health care for people with disabilities and show how this plan might be achieved.

After decades of institutional deceit, deflection, defensiveness and delay, publication of the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry lays bare the failings of the British state and its National Health Service. Now, it is time for justice, accountability and a change in patient safety culture.