Public health & disease

From disease eradication efforts to advances in vaccination and maternal health, this archive tracks real progress in public health. Stories here focus on what’s working — policies, interventions, and research that are improving and extending lives around the world.

A worker replacing a corroded lead pipe in a residential street for an article about Flint lead pipe replacement, for article on lead pipe removal

U.S. announces 10-year deadline to remove all lead pipes nationwide

By / / Good News For Humankind

Lead pipes in roughly nine million American homes are now on a federal clock: the EPA’s new rule requires every utility to find and replace them within 10 years. Backed by $2.6 billion in fresh funding, the policy marks a dramatic shift from previous timelines that stretched 40 or even 50 years out. Nearly half the money is directed to disadvantaged communities, where decades of disinvestment left lead lines in place long after wealthier neighborhoods got upgrades. Milwaukee mother and advocate Deanna Branch, whose son was poisoned by lead, said the shorter timeline finally gives her hope she’ll live to see the pipes pulled from her city. For a country where clean water has long depended on your zip code, a hard deadline is itself a milestone.

Virus up close, for article on lenacapavir HIV prevention

‘Gamechanger’ HIV prevention drug to be made available cheaply in 120 countries

By / / Good News For Humankind

Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention shot with near-perfect results in clinical trials, is about to become far more affordable for millions of people. Gilead Sciences has licensed six generic manufacturers across India, Egypt, Pakistan, and the U.S. to produce the drug for 120 lower-income countries, where researchers estimate it could eventually be made for as little as $40 per patient per year. In trials among cisgender women in South Africa and Uganda, not a single participant who received the injection contracted HIV. Advocates are urging wider access, since much of Latin America was left out of the deal. Still, it’s a hopeful signal that breakthrough prevention tools can reach the people who need them most — fast.

image for article on mpox diagnostic test

World Health Organization approves first mpox diagnostic test for emergency use

By / / Good News For Humankind

The first mpox diagnostic test has been cleared through the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing, opening a faster procurement route for the countries hit hardest by the outbreak. Abbott’s Alinity m MPXV assay detects both clades of the virus from rash samples, and UN agencies can now order it directly for places where national approval pathways would otherwise take months. That speed matters: in 2024, only 37% of suspected mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were confirmed by testing, leaving outbreaks harder to trace. Three more tests are already under WHO review, with more manufacturers in talks. It’s a hopeful signal that the world is learning from past pandemics — building diverse, quality-assured tools before bottlenecks become catastrophes.

image for article on ovarian cancer prevention vaccine

Scientists in the U.K. developing world’s first vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer

By / / Good News For Humankind

OvarianVax, in development at the University of Oxford, has just received up to £600,000 from Cancer Research U.K. to pursue the world’s first vaccine designed to prevent ovarian cancer before it begins. The idea is to train the immune system to recognize over 100 proteins found on early-stage ovarian cancer cells, then destroy those cells before they can spread. For women carrying BRCA gene mutations, who currently face the wrenching choice of preventive surgery that ends fertility and triggers early menopause, a vaccine could transform what’s possible. It’s still early days, with lab work and clinical trials ahead, but the project signals a real shift in cancer research: moving from treatment toward prevention, and giving high-risk women better options worldwide.

A close-up of a medical syringe and insulin vial for an article about stem cell therapy for type 1 diabetes, for article on stem cell therapy type 1 diabetes

Chinese researchers reverse type 1 diabetes using a patient’s own stem cells

By / / Good News For Humankind

Type 1 diabetes reversal using a patient’s own stem cells marks a historic milestone in medicine. A 25-year-old woman in China received a transplant of insulin-producing cells reprogrammed from her own body, and within three months was generating insulin naturally — eventually eliminating her need for external injections entirely. Published in Cell in 2024, the research is significant because it bypasses donor tissue and immunosuppressant drugs entirely, dramatically reducing rejection risk. For the roughly 8.4 million people worldwide living with type 1 diabetes, this proof of concept offers a genuinely new direction for treatment.

Closeup hands of old woman suffering from leprosy, for article on leprosy elimination

Jordan becomes first country to receive WHO verification for eliminating leprosy

By / / Good News For Humankind

Leprosy has officially been eliminated in a country for the first time, with the World Health Organization verifying that Jordan has gone more than 20 years without a single locally transmitted case. Reaching that milestone took decades of coordination between Jordan’s Ministry of Health and WHO, plus surveillance systems sharp enough to catch cases arriving from abroad before they could spark local spread. Health leaders are quick to note that this was also a fight against stigma, which has shadowed the disease for millennia. With over 200,000 new cases still diagnosed worldwide each year, mostly in lower-income regions, Jordan offers something the global effort hasn’t had before: living proof that the finish line is reachable.

Person filling syringe with vaccine, for article on mpox vaccines for Africa

Global alliance buys half a million mpox vaccines for Africa

By / / Good News For Humankind

Gavi has tapped its emergency First Response Fund for the very first time, committing up to $50 million to send 500,000 mpox vaccines to African countries hit hardest by the outbreak. The fund was built precisely for moments like this — letting the alliance move within days of a health emergency rather than waiting on slower funding cycles. The doses, from manufacturer Bavarian Nordic, will head to places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has carried the heaviest burden of the new Clade 1b strain. It’s a real start, even as experts estimate Africa needs around 10 million doses overall. If the tool keeps getting used and funded, it could reshape how quickly the world responds to outbreaks in lower-income regions.

Anchorage, for article on Alaska abortion access

Nurse practitioners can provide abortions in Alaska, judge rules

By / / Good News For Humankind

Reproductive healthcare in Alaska took a meaningful step forward when a Superior Court ruling allowed nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide medication abortion, and the change has reshaped daily life at clinics. Planned Parenthood’s Anchorage and Fairbanks locations went from offering abortion services one day a week to every day of the week, a shift that matters enormously in a state where reaching a provider can mean flying hundreds of miles. The Alaska Supreme Court is now weighing whether to reinstate the older physician-only rule, with justices openly questioning how geography shapes what counts as a burden. However the court rules, the case is a powerful reminder that healthcare access depends on who’s allowed to help — and where they live.

South Korean flags, for article on catch-up vaccination

‘Major milestone’ immunization campaign begins in North Korea with support of UNICEF

By / / Good News For Humankind

North Korea’s vaccination comeback is reaching every corner of the country — all 210 counties at once, with pregnant women included alongside children for the first time. Backed by UNICEF, more than four million doses arrived in July 2024 to jumpstart the effort, covering everything from measles to polio to hepatitis B. Over 7,200 health workers have been trained to deliver shots and respond to any reactions, and new freezers and cold boxes are keeping vaccines viable in remote areas. Before the pandemic, immunization coverage topped 96%, rivaling wealthy nations — a reminder that rebuilding what’s been lost is possible. Stories like this one show how patient, coordinated global health work can quietly restore protection for an entire generation.

Medical researcher in a lab examining vials related to asthma and COPD treatment and mRNA vaccine development, for article on benralizumab injection, for article on mRNA lung cancer vaccine

World’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine enters human trials in seven countries

By / / Good News For Humankind

A landmark mRNA lung cancer vaccine is now being tested in human patients for the first time, marking a historic milestone in cancer treatment. BNT116, developed by BioNTech, uses the same messenger RNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to train the immune system to recognize and destroy non-small cell lung cancer cells. The phase 1 trial spans 34 sites across seven countries, with roughly 130 patients enrolled. Unlike chemotherapy, this approach targets only tumor cells, potentially offering a more precise and lasting defense against the world’s deadliest cancer, which kills 1.8 million people annually.