Public health & disease milestones | Good News for Humankind

MRI scan, for article on accessible medical equipment

U.S. now requires medical equipment to be accessible for people with disabilities

By Peter Schulte / September 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Accessible medical equipment rules now give Americans with disabilities a federal guarantee that hospitals and clinics must actually have the tools to examine them — something existing anti-discrimination law never fully delivered. General facilities must meet a 10% accessibility threshold, rising to 20% at practices specializing in mobility conditions. The gap this closes is stark: some patients had to visit a veterinary office just to be weighed, traveling dozens of miles because no doctor’s office nearby could accommodate them. Real change now depends on consistent enforcement, since most exam rooms remain inaccessible today even as the rules take effect.

Cancer cells, for article on pancreatic cancer drug

U.S. FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug that doubles survival

By Peter Schulte / August 28, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Pancreatic cancer has long been one of medicine’s most stubborn opponents, with a five-year survival rate of just 13 percent and few good options once chemotherapy stops working. The newly approved drug daraxonrasib offers patients a targeted second chance — blocking a specific protein that drives cancer cell growth rather than flooding the body with toxic agents. Clinical trial results showed a meaningful survival advantage over standard chemotherapy, though pricing remains unannounced and cost could limit who actually benefits. Still, the KRAS-targeting science behind this drug may eventually open new doors for other hard-to-treat cancers too.

Food packaging, for article on PFAS ban in food packaging, for article on PFAS food packaging

E.U. forever chemical ban in food packaging now in effect across 27 member states

By Peter Schulte / August 20, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

PFAS restrictions on food-contact packaging are now enforceable across every E.U. member state — one of the most sweeping coordinated measures of its kind. Pizza boxes, paper bakery bags, and wrapping paper have long relied on PFAS — compounds linked to liver damage, immune suppression, and certain cancers — leaving manufacturers to reformulate or forfeit E.U. market access. The rules apply at strict concentration thresholds, and PFAS in cookware, textiles, and firefighting foam remain largely unaddressed. Still, harmonizing standards across 27 countries at once offers a replicable model for the world.

Batur Mountain, Indonesia, for article on Indonesia universal health coverage

Indonesia achieves universal health coverage for 98% of its population

By Peter Schulte / July 30, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Universal health coverage reaching 280 million people is one of the most ambitious public health achievements of the past decade — and Indonesia just pulled it off. A decade ago, the country had more than 300 fragmented insurance schemes; today one unified program covers nearly the entire population, built on reforms to primary care, diagnostics, and provider payment. Yet enrollment and access aren’t the same thing — utilization remains uneven, with remote eastern provinces lagging far behind Java. For lower-income countries building their own paths to universal coverage, Indonesia’s decade of evidence is exactly the roadmap the world needs.

Portable electric stove, for article on clean cooking investment

Africa’s clean cooking investment tops $3 billion since 2024 summit

By Peter Schulte / July 23, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Clean cooking investment in Africa has crossed $3.1 billion in commitments since 2024, representing a genuine shift in how seriously the world is treating a crisis that kills an estimated 850,000 people a year — more than malaria. Funding has reached communities across dozens of countries, and new policies now cover governments responsible for the majority of Africans without clean cooking access. Yet pledges and deployment remain different things, and the funding still falls well short of what universal access requires. This momentum shows that a health crisis long treated as invisible is finally being treated as solvable.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility test., for article on antibiotic resistance

U.S. scientists restore a last-resort antibiotic’s power over superbugs

By Peter Schulte / July 23, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Drug-resistant infections already kill more than a million people a year worldwide and contribute to nearly 5 million deaths — a toll projected to climb toward 10 million annually by 2050 if nothing changes. Now researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and Scripps Research and in California have found a way to fight back without inventing new drugs: a small companion molecule, pghi-4, that disables a key bacterial defense and lets vancomycin kill resistant bacteria again in lab tests. The approach is years from clinical use, but restoring the antibiotics medicine already has could eventually save millions of lives.

Close up of brown eye, for article on trachoma elimination

El Salvador becomes first Central American country to eliminate trachoma, WHO says

By Peter Schulte / July 20, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

El Salvador’s trachoma elimination shows what’s possible when basic health infrastructure finally reaches the communities most often left behind. Trachoma — the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness — thrives where clean water and health care are scarce, so clearing it signals those foundations have genuinely taken hold. The achievement came through three years of community outreach, expanded sanitation, and trained health workers catching cases early. Global elimination by 2030 remains ambitious, with several neighboring countries still mapping where the disease even exists. But El Salvador’s path from suspected cases to full certification offers a credible model for the region.

Water falling on hand, for article on clean water access

Nearly a billion people gained clean water and 1.2 billion gained sanitation since 2015

By Peter Schulte / July 12, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Clean water access for nearly a billion people and sanitation for 1.2 billion are among the headline achievements of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals decade — part of a broader surge that also includes a 30 percent drop in new HIV infections and internet access nearly doubling. These gains reflect what sustained international cooperation and targeted investment can actually deliver. Yet only 36 percent of trackable SDG targets are on or near schedule, and gender equality goals remain entirely off track. The window to finish what this decade started is still open — but narrowing fast.

Infant foot, for article on infant mortality rate, for article on India infant mortality rate

India cuts infant mortality by 20% in five years to its lowest rate on record

By Peter Schulte / July 9, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

India’s infant mortality progress represents one of the most significant public health achievements in the developing world right now. A dramatic rise in hospital births — from 83% to more than 95% of all deliveries between 2019 and 2024 — is the clearest engine behind the gains, giving newborns immediate access to trained staff. Yet states like Chhattisgarh reveal that access alone isn’t enough, as the hardest remaining work centers on neonatal care quality in those critical first weeks of life. When frontline healthcare reaches the most vulnerable, the whole world gets closer to the goal.

Filling vaccine syringe, for article on HPV vaccine

England records zero cervical cancer deaths in young women, crediting HPV vaccine

By Peter Schulte / June 18, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

HPV vaccination is proving it can do something remarkable: wipe out a cancer entirely in a generation. England’s school-based program, now nearly two decades old, has driven cervical cancer deaths to zero among women in their early twenties — a cohort where dozens of deaths would otherwise have been expected. Researchers say this is only the beginning, with far greater impact ahead as vaccinated generations age. It’s a powerful reminder that a single vaccine, delivered early enough, can make a whole category of suffering disappear — and that other countries have a clear, proven path to follow.