Hundreds of people dispersed through the streets of Washington on Friday during the inauguration of Donald Trump to hand out thousands of free joints and raise public awareness about cannabis consumption.

DCMJ, the organizing group, said it was distributing some 8,500 marijuana cigarettes -- double the originally planned number, following an "overwhelming public response." 

Britain's NHS public health service has been the country's pride since 1948, but is currently gripped by a "humanitarian crisis" due to "third world" conditions that are piling pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May.

The stark image of 22-month-old Jack Harwood, wearing only a nappy, stretched across two plastic chairs while waiting to see a doctor in Accident and Emergency dominated the front-page of the Daily Mirror on Friday, laying bare the depth of the winter crisis.

The US House of Representatives on Friday joined the Senate in passing a critical measure that marks the first major step toward repealing outgoing President Barack Obama's landmark but controversial health care reforms.

The House's near party-line vote of 227 to 198 approved a budget blueprint which provides Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, with a framework for dismantling the Affordable Care Act.

Women's rights groups on Thursday applauded Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's vow to deliver free contraceptives to six million women in a bid to salvage the government's floundering family planning program.

Brazil's 2015-2016 zika scare has largely dropped out of the headlines, but one year on, thousands of parents are struggling as they learn to care for brain-damaged babies.

Brenda Pereira, 23, weeps in dismay as she leaves the doctor's room with her four-month-old daughter Maria Fernanda in her arms.

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked the pharmaceutical industry for high drug prices and for manufacturing overseas, saying he will create new procedures for bidding on drugs.

The industry is "getting away with murder," Trump said in his first press conference since he was elected, sending pharma stocks plunging.

People living near major roads have a higher chance of developing dementia, according to a large-scale study published in British medical journal The Lancet on Thursday.

France has moved to suspend sales of a vitamin D medication following the death of a 10-day-old baby in December who had being given the supplement, health officials said Wednesday.

The decision was taken as a precaution by France's ANSM agency that oversees the safety of medicines and health products, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said in a statement.

A Pakistani health official says a special five-day anti-polio drive is being launched in the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province after traces of polio virus were found in the sewer system.

Syed Faisal Ahmed, the coordinator for Emergency Operation Centre in Quetta, said Monday that some 400,000 children under age five will be immunized against the deadly virus.

The cholera outbreak that hit Haiti after Hurricane Matthew slammed the island has been contained but persists due to lack of funding, according to the United Nations.