Category: Class

B2 – Upper Intermediate

A new report from WHO and UNICEF finds that although over 100 countries are working to upgrade basic services in health care facilities (like water, sanitation, hygiene, waste management, and reliable electricity), billions of people still receive care in facilities lacking these essentials.

Read the article to know why the authors warn that without adequate infrastructure, health workers struggle to prevent infections and deliver safe care.

https://www.who.int/news/item/24-09-2025-countries-making-unprecedented-efforts-but-billions-still-lack-basic-services-in-health-care-facilities—who-unicef-new-report-warns

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “roadmap” mean here, “While there is progress in establishing standards, conducting baseline assessments, and developing national roadmaps, billions are still served by facilities without the basics.” Use it in a sentence.
2. What does “baseline assessment” mean? “More than 80% of countries have implemented at least one national action, such as developing standards or conducting baseline assessments.” Use it in a sentence.
3. What does “scale up” mean? “National action is scaling up.” Use it in a sentence. Give a synonym.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think some hospitals and clinics still don’t have clean water or electricity?
2. How important is sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities?
3. What could happen to patients if these basic services are missing?
4. Who do you think should be responsible for improving health care facilities, governments, communities, or international groups?
5. If you were a health worker, how would you feel working in a place without proper resources?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The drug, called baxdrostat, was tested in people with treatment-resistant hypertension (high blood pressure that doesn’t respond well to existing medicines). In the trial, those taking baxdrostat plus standard medication had their systolic blood pressure fall about 9-10 mmHg more than people on placebo.

Read the article to know more about baxdrostat.

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “resistant hypertension” mean? “The results of a large clinical trial, published August 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that baxdrostat could offer an alternative for people with resistant hypertension.” Use it in a sentence.
2. What does “hyperfiltration” mean? “Kidney effects were minor and may even be beneficial, he says, because they may reduce harmful hyperfiltration.” Use it in a sentence.
3. What does “withdrawal phase” mean in a clinical trial? “The trial also included an eight-week withdrawal phase.” Use it in a sentence.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the potential benefits of baxdrostat? How about the What are the concerns and side effects?
2. Share your thoughts on this, “Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a serious condition where blood pressure is consistently too high, affecting over 1.2 billion adults globally.“
3. Why do you think it is important to keep find new hypertension medicines?
4. What are some ways people can lower their blood pressure without medicine?
5. Do you know anyone who struggles with hypertension? How is it like for them?

B2 – Upper Intermediate 

Another way experts is developing on how to utilize artificial intelligence is for it to be able to predict possible health issues years ahead of time.

Delphi-2M has been learning to spot patterns using anonymous medical records so it can foretell what comes next and when.

However, it won’t be able to say exactly when the date will be of a medical event like a heart attack or stroke. It estimates the probability of 1,231 diseases though.

Read the article about artificial intelligence’s ability to forecast people’s health issues.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2pj502ev6o

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “stack up” mean here, “The model was then tested to see if its predictions stacked up using data from other Biobank participants, and then with 1.9 million people’s medical records in Denmark.” Use the phrase in a sentence. Give a synonym or similar expression.
2. What does “cut back” mean? “This could include medicines or specific lifestyle advice – such as people likely to develop some liver disorders benefitting from cutting back their alcohol intake more than the general population.” Use the phrase in a sentence. Give a synonym or similar expression.
3. What does “scalable” mean? “This research looks to be a significant step towards scalable, interpretable, and – most importantly – ethically responsible form of predictive modelling in medicine.” Use the word in a sentence. Give a synonym or similar expression.

Discussion Questions:

1. Share your thoughts on this technology. What do you think are its promises and pitfalls?
2. Do you see this technology “following a similar path to the use of genomics in healthcare where it took a decade to go from scientists being confident in the technology to healthcare being able to use it routinely“? Why or why not?
3. What can you say about this, “The technology has learned to spot patterns in people’s medical records to calculate their risk of more than 1,000 diseases.”
4. “The researchers say it is like a weather forecast that anticipates a 70% chance of rain – but for human health.” Is this reliable enough? Share your opinion.
5. Do you think this technology can be considered an “ethically responsible form of predictive modelling in medicine“? Share your insights.

B2 – Upper Intermediate 

According to the pharmaceutical giant Novartis, NHS patients will not have the opportunity to gain access to new cutting-edge drugs due to the steep, continuous increase in drug pricing.

Read the article about UK’s NHS losing access to new innovative treatments due to failed drug pricing deals with the pharmaceutical giant Novartis.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzk1p90q1o

Vocabulary Questions:

1. What does “outlier” mean? “Mr Kahlstrom, managing director of Novartis’ UK and Ireland operations, told the BBC’s Today programme that the UK remains an outlier and patients still lose out and I think we have to be honest about that.” Use the word in a sentence. 
2. What does “rebate rate” in healthcare mean? “However, the actual rebate rate has risen to 23.5%, which Novartis said was more than triple the 7% rate in Germany, for example.” Use the term in a sentence. 
3. What does “Qaly” mean? “The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) considers medicines costing between £20,000 and £30,000 per Qaly as good value for money.” Use the term in a sentence. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Share your insights regarding this, “A body assesses whether a new drug is value for money before approving it for use on the NHS, but Novartis said its methods were outdated and made it harder for innovative drugs to be approved and launched.” Is it the same process in your country?
2. Share your opinion on these statements from Novartis boss and UK Health Secretary, “Norvartis’ [sic] UK boss Johan Kahlstrom said costs meant the UK was “largely uninvestable”, but Streeting has vowed he will not allow firms to “rip off” taxpayers.”
3. “Novartis was not considering the UK for major new investments in manufacturing, research, or advanced technology because of systemic barriers.” What might be the effect of this to the UK’s healthcare system?
4. “Another drug company, Gilead Sciences, would not submit its breast cancer drug for assessment by Nice, blaming the UK for undervaluing medicines.” Do you believe the UK is indeed undervaluing medicines? Share your thoughts.
5. What do you make of this, “The UK was under invested on medicines with “only 9% of the healthcare budget in the NHS” being spent on drugs compared to about 14% in France and 15% in Germany.”?