First-ever Ebola vaccine approved by European regulators
The drug, which has already been given to hundreds of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, can now be distributed more widely.
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.
New drugs improve late-stage melanoma survival rate in the U.K. from 5% to 52%
Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK and kills nearly 2,300 people each year. Doctors said this new intervention marked an extraordinary and rapid transformation in care.
Washington state launches statewide standing order for Naloxone
Naloxone (or Narcan) is a medication that can save lives by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose. Now anyone in Washington state who needs naloxone can get it at a pharmacy.
Abortion decriminalized in Sydney after Australian lawmakers overturn 119-year-old law
Women will now be able to get abortions up to 22 weeks into their pregnancy without proving that their health will be impacted if they continue the pregnancy.
Human organs can be stored for three times as long in major breakthrough for transplants
Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed a method to preserve livers for 27 hours, using a super-cooling method which ‘freezes’ the organ at -4C.
Malaria breakthrough as scientists find ‘highly effective’ way to kill parasite
Malaria research has taken a genuinely hopeful turn, with Kenyan scientists at KEMRI identifying a bacterial derivative that kills Plasmodium falciparum through a mechanism the parasite hasn’t yet learned to resist — a critical advantage as drug resistance spreads. Building on earlier trials showing ivermectin-treated patients had blood lethal to mosquitoes, this research opens a new line of attack, originated by African scientists and designed around pregnant women and children from the start. Human trials still lie ahead, and that path is long — but the science points toward tools the world urgently needs.
Scientists in South Africa discover a cure for the deadliest strain of tuberculosis
The new drug regimen tested has shown a 90% success rate against a deadly plague, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Israeli scientists develop novel nano-vaccine for melanoma
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a melanoma vaccine that prevents the development of melanoma and treats primary tumors and metastases in mouse models.
Sri Lanka is measles-free, World Health Organization says
Sri Lanka has defied the global trend in the battle against measles, with the country declared free of the highly infectious disease by the World Health Organization.
AIDS deaths in India plummet by over 70% since 2005
New infections have declined in India by more than 80 per cent from peak of epidemic in 1995 and deaths from the disease have come down by 71 per cent since its peak in 2005.