Area health departments are putting the finishing touches on plans to keep residents and travelers healthy during the FIFA World Cup. Officials are hopeful increased wastewater surveillance and unified messaging will help prevent outbreaks.

A growing partnership between a Kansas organization and an Oklahoma breast milk bank is expanding access to donated milk and donation drop off locations in Kansas. Breast milk is critical in situations like premature birth.

Doctors at Missouri and Kansas birthing hospitals have noticed an uptick in families turning down an inexpensive vitamin K shot, driven by unfounded fears of vaccines. But babies who don't get the shot are significantly more likely to die or suffer severe brain damage.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway was taking particular aim at the more potent 7-OH products, which she argues are “hazardous opioids” banned by state and federal law.

The most recent data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment show more than 70% of abortions in 2024 used the drug mifepristone. There’s a court battle over mailing the medication to patients.

The University of Kansas Health System says the pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU, only serves about 150 patients a year. KU faculty say closing the PICU creates a cascading series of problems.

The survey of Missourians ages 18 to 35 found widespread support for birth control, with 85% of those polled in favor of "access to all methods."

Although Missouri voters restored abortion rights in 2024, multiple legal, political and court battles over the common abortion medication mifepristone continue to run through the state. Hawley is taking aim at the drug through proposed legislation and calling for federal investigations.

The expansion at the hospital’s downtown campus would increase capacity by 25-30%, Children’s Mercy leaders say. The investment will help make more room for pediatric and neonatal intensive care units, increasingly complex surgical procedures and more.

At issue is whether states like Missouri are barred from requiring products like Roundup to include warning labels indicating a cancer risk.

About half of all Missouri enrollees chose bronze plans in 2026 — the lowest-premium option with the highest deductibles — a significant shift from last year. One reason for the shift is the lapse of Biden-era subsidies that made costs lower for buyers.

Jefferson City-based Beacon Reproductive Health Network called Hawley’s accusation that they are an abortion provider "intentionally misleading." The nonprofit distributes grants to 65 Missouri health centers, including city and county health departments and hospital-based clinics.