Promising flu vaccine derived from tobacco plant passes clinical trials
The recent development, promises to be a huge boost to the annual fight against the seasonal flu, as plants can be engineered to produce viral proteins and cultivated at scale.
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.
Childhood Hepatitis B cases drop 80% worldwide in last three decades
Due to a highly effective global vaccine program, the proportion of children under five who are chronically infected with Hepatitis B has plummeted significantly—to just under 1%. This is down from around 5% in the pre-vaccine era (the period between the 1980s and the early 2000s), according to new estimates from the World Health Organization.
Tuberculosis deaths have fallen by 14% in five years, saving 60 million in the last two decades
In the World Health Organization’s annual global tuberculosis report, the UN agency responsible for international public health forecasts hundreds of thousands of people recovering from, or avoiding the disease of TB altogether. Since 2000, TB treatment has averted the deaths of 60 million people, the disease itself being treatable with the right medicine.
Toxic sulfur dioxide emissions fell across India, Russia, and China last year– dropping 6% globally
In 2019, the levels of anthropogenic SO2 emissions fell worldwide by 6%. In only the second time ever, SO2 emissions fell in all three of the countries most responsible for emitting it: China, India, and Russia.
“Canapp” enables women to detect breast cancer early
This app is available in 4 languages, Hindi, Garhwali, English and Avadhi. Canapp is the first medical app in Gharwali language.
Performing acts of kindness can boost both physical health and happiness, study finds
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong performed a meta-analysis of 201 independent studies, comprising 198,213 total participants, that looked at the connection between prosocial behavior and well-being.
Myanmar eradicates trachoma
The World Health Organization has validated that the disease has been eliminated from the country: This is extra impressive, because in 2005, trachoma was responsible for 4% of all cases of blindness there. The nation joins Nepal in the WHO South-East Asia Region and 12 countries globally to achieve this feat.
Cancer breath test detects 80% of cases in early trial
The team from Australia’s Flinders University has developed a breath test that can detect exhaled breath profiles associated with head and neck cancers, with the tool demonstrating a high degree of accuracy in early trials.
California to produce its own generic drugs to take down big pharma
“Our bill will help inject competition back into the generic drug marketplace—taking pricing power away from big pharmaceutical companies and returning it to consumers,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Older people today are smarter, stronger and faster than 30 years ago
A compelling new study from researchers in Finland has compared the physical and cognitive performance of a group of older people in 2017 with a similarly aged group three decades earlier. Improvements were seen in almost every test.