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 new U.K. study has found that, compared to 20 years ago, women diagnosed today with early invasive breast cancer and initially treated with surgery are 66% less likely to die from the disease.
Over the last 3 decades, Belize has achieved a dramatic reduction in its malaria burden – from a peak of about 10 000 cases in 1994 to zero indigenous cases in 2019.
Melanoma may quietly build its own escape routes before it ever becomes dangerous, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center. They discovered that while the cancer is still confined to the skin’s outer layer, it releases tiny pigment-carrying vesicles called melanosomes that slip into the deeper dermis and coax lymph vessels to grow — essentially paving roads the tumor will later travel to spread. Because melanoma isn’t life-threatening until it leaves the skin, the team believes a vaccine could train the immune system to intercept those melanosomes first. With about 325,000 people diagnosed worldwide each year, this early-stage target could open a hopeful new chapter in shifting cancer treatment from reactive to preventive.
The trial was so successful the U.S.’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) ordered it be halted early so that the FDA could expedite approval of the therapy to treat stage 3 and 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Minnesota’s new cannabis law will automatically clear tens of thousands of low-level marijuana convictions, pairing legalization with one of the most ambitious record-clearing efforts in the country. Adults 21 and older can now possess cannabis under the law Gov. Tim Walz signed in May 2023, making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize recreational use. What sets it apart is the justice piece: people don’t have to navigate courts to clear their records — the state does it for them, opening doors to jobs, housing, and education long blocked by old convictions. As legalization spreads, Minnesota offers a model that finally asks who bore the costs of prohibition, and who deserves a fresh start.
The Birds and Bees Protection Act bans the neonic pesticides uses that provide no economic benefits to users or are replaceable with safer, effective alternatives.
The finding has the potential to lead to new treatments for not only multiple sclerosis but other autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes.
The Serum Institute of India and Path successfully tested an effective and affordable vaccine for meningitis, a disease that claims the lives of an estimated 250,000 people each year.
PFAS are used in nonstick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, and firefighting foams, and have been linked with higher cholesterol, lower fertility, developmental delays in children, and a greater risk of cancer.
Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem has announced an “unprecedented achievement” in the treatment of multiple myeloma cancer – the second-most common hematological disease.
