It's 10am on a stiflingly hot Monday morning and I am in a delivery room with one of the unluckiest mothers on the planet. She is Dahara Laouali, and at the moment she is lying on a narrow, dusty hospital trolley pushing her baby into the world. Although the birth is imminent, Dahara is making no noise at all. This is Niger, where the tradition is that mothers labour in silence.

Blood donated from healthy babies' umbilical cords is being used to treat diseases and it has also helped scientists' further stem cell research.

Can a vegan diet damage your child's health? Social workers in Lewisham, south London believe it can.

Amid a government campaign to persuade the nation's children and their parents that they must stay fit and slim, a new British study shows that girls as young as five are unhappy with their bodies and want to be thinner. According to a recent study of girls aged between five and eight, nearly half (46,9%) wanted to be thinner. Just 11 of these girls (14%) were actually overweight.

Susan Patton, criticised for her advice to female students, has stumbled on a truism ignored by feminism – having a career is not everything.

Billionaire philanthropist Melinda Gates has vowed to dedicate the rest of her life to improving access to contraception across the globe.

Blood donated from healthy babies' umbilical cords is being used to treat diseases and it has also helped scientists' further stem cell research.

It's 10am on a stiflingly hot Monday morning and I am in a delivery room with one of the unluckiest mothers on the planet. She is Dahara Laouali, and at the moment she is lying on a narrow, dusty hospital trolley pushing her baby into the world. Although the birth is imminent, Dahara is making no noise at all. This is Niger, where the tradition is that mothers labour in silence.