Woman's Hour

Fertility rates around the world are declining. It's partly through choice, as couples decide to have smaller families. But it's also the case that sperm levels among men in Western countries have halved in the past 40 years. . So what's going on? Shanna Swan, a Professor of Environmental Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York thinks we should be paying much more attention to the chemicals in our environment that come from everyday products - as her research is showing consistent effects on sperm counts, sperm quality and overall male fertility. She joins Emma to talk the chemicals we should be aware of, the effect they're having, and what we can do about it. World leaders have been warned that unless they act with extreme urgency, the pandemic will overwhelm health services in many nations in South America, Asia, and Africa over the next few weeks. It's argued that failure to achieve so-called global 'vaccine equity' will hit women hardest, because they dominate the informal sectors that have been worst