Sanitation coverage in India hits 99%, up 60% in 5 years
Three infants die every two minutes in India due to lack of access to adequate water and sanitation services. The Swachh Bharat Mission aims to achieve 100% sanitation by October 2019.
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.
Puerto Rico bans gay and transgender conversion therapy for minors
The governor of Puerto Rico signed an executive order on Wednesday banning so-called conversion therapy for gay or transgender minors on the island.
New Jersey legalizes medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
The bill allows adults with a prognosis of six months or less to live to get a prescription for life-ending medication. Currently, California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Hawaii, Montana and the District of Columbia allow physician-assisted suicide.
Prices of nearly 400 anti-cancer drugs in India slashed by up to 87%
Hundreds of lifesaving cancer medications will now be available to Indian patients at a much cheaper cost, according to the government’s pharmaceutical department.
In ‘world first’, blind people in Scotland have vision restored thanks to stem cells
Thanks to the pioneering tissue transplant, eight patients with a common condition that destroys vision have had the affected area repaired –and two were able to read again after having severe macular degeneration.
United States FDA approves form of ketamine for depression treatment
Esketamine is the first new drug treatment approved for depression in decades. Current drugs target the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, and can take weeks or months to kick in. Ketamine targets a chemical called glutamate that is thought to restore brain connections that help relieve depression.
H.I.V. is reported cured in a second patient, a milestone in the global AIDS epidemic
A second patient clearing HIV after a bone-marrow transplant confirmed the first cure wasn’t an anomaly — and gave researchers something real to build on. The procedure replaced the patient’s immune cells with donor cells carrying a mutation that blocks HIV from entering the body, but it remains risky, expensive, and limited to those already requiring it for cancer. Still, the case is quietly reshaping what scientists believe is possible, pointing gene therapy research toward a future that doesn’t require a transplant at all.
Biotech firm treats first patient in Western world with CRISPR technique for blood disease
A Switzerland-based startup called CRISPR Therapeutics just used gene-editing name to treat someone with the blood disease beta thalassemia. It marks the first time CRISPR gene editing has been used in a Western clinic.
New ‘Trojan Horse’ cancer drug successfully treats patients with 6 different kinds of lethal tumors
A brand new type of cancer drug that acts as a “Trojan horse” to get inside tumor cells has shown promise in patients with advanced, drug-resistant cancers. Patients with six different cancer types have responded positively to the new treatment.
World Health Organization recommends removing cannabis from Schedule IV, the most restrictive category of a 1961 international drug convention
Global health experts at the United Nations are recommending that marijuana and its key components be formally rescheduled under international drug treaties. WHO is also moving to make clear that CBD-focused preparations containing no more than 0.2 percent THC are “not under international control” at all.