File on 4 Investigates Folgen

In the first of a new series, Gerry Northam investigates the rising number of so called "green on blue" attacks in which Afghan soldiers and policemen have turned their guns on British and other international troops. With more than 50 NATO troops killed in insider attacks this year, is enough being done to protect those working as mentors? The US has invested over $50 billion on developing independent Afghan security forces but according to a US Government audit, the majority of Afghan troops remain heavily reliant on American help and support. Even widespread illiteracy remains a problem.Meanwhile the impact of the recent attacks is huge - undermining the trust that's needed between the Afghan forces and the coalition troops getting them ready to take over the security in 2014. So how reliable is the screening of new Afghan recruits? And, with continuing questions over their loyalties and capabilities, can there be an effective withdrawal in two years' time?Presenter: Gerry Northam Producer: David Lewis.

World health chiefs have branded diesel exhaust emissions a major cause of cancer. Despite the efforts of car-makers to filter out the most noxious substances, these fumes still play a big part in causing air pollution. Britain has the second worst respiratory death rates in Europe and has long been under notice from Brussels to clean up its act. So why are most UK areas in breach of legal limits? And do ministers have any clear plan to reduce the huge annual total of resulting deaths? Julian O'Halloran investigates. Producer : Rob Cave.

Figures released this month reveal almost 9000 new tuberculosis cases in the United Kingdom last year, the highest level since the 1970s. The disease has risen by more than a third in the past decade. In parts of London, Birmingham and other cities it is already at the level of high-risk countries in the developing world. Yet in most of the rest of Europe TB rates have been steadily falling in recent years. Health experts have found that cases of TB remain static among people of all ethnicities who were born in Britain. They attribute the national rise in cases to migration from some former British colonies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent.Airport screening of migrants, using a chest x-ray, identifies only active cases of the disease in the lungs. It misses the much more numerous cases of latent TB which can progress to become active at any time. An estimated 10,000 cases of latent TB arrive undetected in the UK each year. A nationwide survey of NHS blood-test screening programmes shows that the areas with populations most at risk are also those with least effort put into screening for latent disease. Patients' groups also question the level of GPs' awareness of the many manifestations of tuberculosis, citing cases of repeated missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis which have left patients suffering as the disease advances with sometimes fatal consequences. Gerry Northam investigates the resurgence of a condition once thought to be all-but eliminated from the UK and asks if the NHS is failing to tackle it. Producer: Gail Champion Reporter: Gerry Northam.