Photo of health: "Our medical reports concern suffering, money and power" | membership

I I must admit that I brought home the drinks that cause sleep. I thought maybe one of those nights, awake, awake, worried about whether I could incur a defamation suit for the latest salvo against a drug company, could be helpful. But the other things – herbal pills, sugar-free syrups (loaded with artificial sweeteners) and zillion pounds on fad diets and novelty exercise regimens – pile up over the closet next to my desk, for all those who wish. .

I wonder why public relations agencies do not pay for shipping by doing a quick online search to review the stories I write, but I have to admit that the title of my post is not helpful. I am not a publisher and I do not cover health in the sense of well-being. Sorry guys. Instead, I have one of the Guardian's most extraordinary jobs: a mix of investigative journalist, screenwriter and foreign correspondent. That's what has developed over the years, through the kind of stories I've talked about. I did not want to talk about health when it was suggested for the first time, fearing it was too soft, but it is far from it and absolutely fascinating. My biggest headache is finding the time to look at all the interesting and important questions people are telling me, between the latest research under embargo on aspirin, vaping or cancer that the press service also wants. understand.

Lately, the discussions between the American biotechnology company Vertex and the NHS m & # 39; have a lot of concern, about access to its Orkambi drug for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. They are stuck in a six-month standoff right now, with Vertex refusing to bring the price down to a level that the NHS can afford, according to the formula set by Nice, the National Institute of Health and Care. 39 excellence (often referred to in the press, which hates long names and acronyms as "NHS watch dog").

It's a big story on many levels. First and foremost, there are the 10,400 children and young people with cystic fibrosis in the UK, whose stories of this life-shortening disease and their hopes for the future are truly heartbreaking. About 40% could be helped by Orkambi and many others by new drugs on the horizon. We did a podcast with Carlie Pleasant, a 29-year-old woman with her little baby and her husband, who says she thinks about dying and leaving them every day. It's hard to imagine how young people like her can be turned down – yet they lose 2% of their lung function each year while fighting over their arguments. These are damages that can not be repaired.

But the stakes are very high. Access to medicines is a huge global problem. I started writing about it 20 years ago when the battle was over to fight AIDS in Africa. The big pharmaceutical companies did not have glory at that time. Reputational damage has pushed some of the larger companies to work to make more medicines available in low-income countries, but the fundamental problem remains: it now affects not only poor communities but also rich countries like Great Britain and the United States. Drug prices are too high to allow all those who need it to be treated. Many people would say that it is a human rights issue.

Thus, the history of Orkambi is important. It's not a sweet story: it's about human suffering, money and power. There was no shortage of people wanting to talk about it and share information, often with confidence. In turn, we must be extremely careful in writing responsibly and accurately, in order to maintain their trust.

I've written a lot about the big companies that make money at the expense of our health, whether it's drug companies selling drugs at exorbitant prices, tobacco companies trying to make addicted or catering companies that sell sweet drinks to children. It would be easy to see companies automatically as enemies.

But it is not that simple. Covering the growing anti-vaccination movement in Europe and the United States and its links to populism, I find myself on the same side as companies – or at least the scientists who do the research (not the marketers). In my work, I have to get on with the best of science. And this science, in immunization, says they are safe and working.

I was at the press conference held at the Royal Free Hospital in London in 1998 (I had just started talking about health) where Gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield hypothesized that the anti-AIDS movement Worldwide vaccination would be triggered, namely that the vaccine was linked to autism. This has been totally discredited, just like him, and yet it will not go away.

Europe is now grappling with record measles outbreaks – among adults and unvaccinated children. The same thing happened in the United States. But the anti-vaxx movement refuses to recognize the correlation. It's a complicated story, because different groups of people in different countries have different reasons to justify their suspicions and fears. But doubts are widespread on social media, including scary ads on Facebook targeting young moms with pictures of babies falsely presumed dead from vaccination.

I can make happier stories. Last year, I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo to talk to Congolese doctors who did an incredible job of successfully testing a drug that could help eradicate sleeping sickness – a horrible and deadly disease. It was a very positive and optimistic story, which was a fantastic thing to do in a country where everyone is badociated with violence. And the people I met there were adorable.

It's a great job, even though I'm inundated with emails about new shampoos, jewelry ranges, and fashion shows. And even if my head is so buzzing on some nights that I can not fall asleep. Now – where did I put this sleep potion?