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.

Woman receiving mammogram, for article on U.K. cancer mortality drop

Cancer deaths in middle-aged people in the U.K. have plummeted since the 1990s

By / / Good News For Humankind

Cancer deaths among middle-aged adults in the U.K. have dropped by more than a third over 25 years, according to a new Cancer Research U.K. study tracking 23 cancer types. Cervical cancer mortality led the way with a 54% fall, thanks largely to national screening programmes, while lung cancer deaths in men plummeted by 53% as smoking rates declined. Behind the statistics are people like Anne Parmenter, whose bowel cancer was caught through a routine NHS screening kit that arrived in the post — nine years later, she credits it with saving her life. For countries investing in tobacco control, HPV vaccination, or expanded screening, the U.K.’s quarter-century record offers something powerful: evidence that patient, sustained public health work genuinely saves lives.

African girl sleeping on mother's shoulder, for article on global child mortality

‘Historic milestone’ as global child mortality hits record low of 4.9 million in 2022

By / / Good News For Humankind

Child deaths worldwide have fallen to 4.9 million in 2022 — the lowest number ever recorded, and roughly half the toll of the year 2000. Behind that drop is decades of unglamorous, working-everyday care: vaccines, bed nets, oral rehydration, skilled midwives, and community health workers showing up in their own neighborhoods. Rwanda offers a remarkable glimpse of what’s possible, having cut its under-five mortality rate by more than 80% since the aftermath of the 1994 genocide through community-based insurance and a serious investment in primary care. The number is still far too high, and newborns and children in conflict zones remain especially vulnerable. But the trend is one of humanity’s quiet, steady triumphs — proof that coordinated care, sustained over decades, saves millions of lives.

A large french flag fluttering under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, for article on constitutional abortion rights

France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution

By / / Good News For Humankind

Constitutional abortion rights became reality in France on Monday when lawmakers gathered at Versailles voted 780 to 72 to embed the protection in the nation’s founding document — the first country anywhere to do so. The amendment guarantees a “freedom” to abortion, language Prime Minister Gabriel Attal framed as a moral debt owed to generations of women, and a message that “your body belongs to you.” That night, the Eiffel Tower glowed with the words “my body my choice.” The move came as a direct response to the unraveling of Roe v. Wade, and it offers the world a powerful new template: lifting reproductive freedom above the reach of shifting politics, where it becomes structurally harder to take away.

3d illustration of gut and stomach pain, for article on Crohn's disease remission

79% of Crohn’s disease patients in remission after early intervention

By / / Good News For Humankind

Crohn’s disease patients given the drug infliximab right after diagnosis reached sustained remission at a rate of 79% after one year, compared to just 15% for those on the standard step-by-step approach. The Cambridge-led trial of 386 patients also found that only one person in the early-treatment group needed urgent bowel surgery, versus ten in the conventional group. Researchers say the old wisdom of saving the strongest drugs for last lets quiet damage build up while the clock ticks. With cheaper biosimilar versions now widely available, this finding could reshape care for the millions living with Crohn’s worldwide — and it’s a powerful reminder that sometimes the best medicine is simply not waiting.

Dentist's Hand Taking Saliva Test From Woman's Mouth, for article on handheld saliva test for breast cancer

Hand-held test for breast cancer uses your saliva and gives accurate readings in 5 seconds

By / / Good News For Humankind

A handheld breast cancer screener developed by researchers in the U.S. and Taiwan can detect cancer biomarkers from a single drop of saliva in under five seconds — using a reusable circuit board that costs just $5 and paper test strips priced in pennies. Built on the same glucose-strip technology found in home diabetes kits, the device was designed specifically for clinics and communities where mammograms and MRIs aren’t an option. Lead author Hsiao-Hsuan Wan said the goal was to make screening possible where it simply hasn’t been before. Clinical trials and approvals still lie ahead, but if it gets there, early detection — one of medicine’s most powerful tools against breast cancer — could finally reach the millions of women long left out.

A researcher examining lung cancer scans in a clinical setting for an article about mesothelioma survival rates, for article on mesothelioma survival rates

New drug quadruples three-year survival rates for mesothelioma in international trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

Mesothelioma survival rates have quadrupled over three years thanks to a drug that starves tumors of a key nutrient, marking the first successful new treatment combination for the disease in 20 years. The international ATOMIC-meso trial, led by Queen Mary University of London and published in JAMA Oncology, found that patients receiving pegargiminase alongside standard chemotherapy were significantly more likely to be alive three years later. The drug works by depleting arginine in the bloodstream, cutting off a nutrient that mesothelioma cells cannot produce themselves. For a cancer caused by asbestos exposure that has historically offered patients months rather than years, this breakthrough represents a genuine turning point.

Assortment of pills, for article on AI antidepressant prediction

Novel AI model rapidly determines if an antidepressant will work

By / / Good News For Humankind

Antidepressant treatment has long meant weeks of waiting, side effects, and uncertainty — and for around 60% of people with depression, the first medication simply doesn’t work. Dutch researchers developed an AI model that predicts within one week whether sertraline will help a patient by reading brain blood flow patterns and early symptom changes, potentially allowing clinicians to pivot sooner for those unlikely to respond. The model is limited to sertraline and requires further validation before clinical use — but it points toward a future where prescribing depression treatment looks less like guesswork and more like precision medicine.

Depiction of nerve cells, for article on non-opioid compound

Researchers discover an effective non-opioid treatment for nerve pain

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nerve pain affects an estimated one in ten adults in the U.S., and for many, nothing currently available offers real relief. A new compound called FEM-1689 reduced pain hypersensitivity in mice with diabetic and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, working through a receptor entirely separate from opioid pathways and sidestepping addiction risk. The same cellular effect was observed in human neurons in the lab. All results remain pre-clinical, and many promising compounds fail before reaching patients. But the mechanistic clarity here puts a genuinely safer treatment for one of medicine’s most stubborn problems on much firmer ground.

Empty office desk and chairs, for article on four-day workweek trial

Germany launches large four-day workweek trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

Four-day workweek research is gaining serious momentum, and Germany’s new pilot puts it to the test in one of the world’s most productivity-focused economies. Forty-five companies joined a six-month trial, maintaining full pay while cutting hours by 20% — a genuine business bet, not an academic exercise. Earlier U.K. trials showed promising results, though critics note that only companies already suited to compressed schedules tend to volunteer, limiting how broadly findings apply. Still, each new dataset strengthens the global case that working less might mean working better.

Chromosomes, for article on CRISPR gene therapy hereditary angioedema

Gene therapy hailed as ‘medical magic wand’ for hereditary swelling disorder

By / / Good News For Humankind

CRISPR gene editing has freed ten patients with hereditary angioedema from the sudden, sometimes life-threatening swelling attacks that shaped their daily lives, with several remaining attack-free for 18 months and counting after a single infusion. The therapy works by switching off a gene in liver cells, stopping the painful chain reaction at its source rather than just managing symptoms. One participant who used to have attacks every three weeks has needed no medication since. Doctors are now recruiting for a phase-three trial, building on the same Nobel-winning technology that recently produced an approved cure for sickle cell disease. For a rare condition long defined by unpredictability and fear, it’s a glimpse of what gene editing could mean for millions living with inherited illness worldwide.