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.

A school cafeteria serving hot lunch to children for an article about free school meals expansion — 12 words

England to extend free school meals to 500,000 more children from low-income families

By / / Good News For Humankind

Free school meals expansion in England will reach 500,000 additional children starting September 2026, the U.K. government has announced. The change scraps the existing £7,400 income cap for Universal Credit households, meaning any family receiving the benefit qualifies regardless of earnings. This matters because the old threshold excluded hundreds of thousands of working families who earned just enough to be locked out but not enough to pay comfortably. The expansion is projected to lift around 100,000 children out of poverty and save eligible families approximately £500 per year.

A surgical team performing a complex organ procedure for an article about bladder transplant surgery, for article on bladder transplant

California surgeons perform the world’s first successful bladder transplant

By / / Good News For Humankind

Bladder transplant surgery has been successfully performed on a human patient for the first time in medical history. Oscar Larrainzar, a 41-year-old California father of four, received a donor bladder and kidney simultaneously in early May 2025, after cancer treatment left him without either organ. He has since been taken off dialysis entirely. The procedure was developed over four years by surgeons at USC and UCLA, who now plan a formal clinical trial to refine the technique. For patients who have lost bladder function, transplantation is no longer theoretical.

A child sleeping under a mosquito net in a tropical setting for an article about malaria prevention saving 14 million lives

Global malaria prevention has saved 14 million lives since 2000 C.E.

By / / Good News For Humankind

Malaria prevention programs have saved an estimated 14 million lives and averted 2.3 billion cases of the disease since 2000, according to the WHO World Malaria Report. In 2024 alone, more than 170 million cases and 1 million deaths were prevented, while the number of countries reporting fewer than 1,000 annual cases nearly tripled to 37. Twenty-four countries have now introduced WHO-approved malaria vaccines into routine childhood immunization, a rollout achieved in under four years. Serious challenges remain, including rising drug resistance and a global funding gap that reached 58% in 2024, leaving the gains fragile but undeniable.

A surgeon performing minimally invasive robotic surgery for an article about NeuroSafe prostate surgery, for article on NeuroSafe prostate cancer surgery

NeuroSafe prostate surgery nearly doubles odds of keeping erectile function after cancer treatment

By / / Good News For Humankind

NeuroSafe prostate surgery nearly doubles the chances of men retaining erectile function after prostate cancer treatment, according to the first large-scale clinical trial of the technique. Published in Lancet Oncology and presented at the 2025 European Association of Urology congress, the trial found 39% of NeuroSafe patients reported no or mild erectile dysfunction one year after surgery, compared to just 23% receiving standard care. The procedure works by freezing and examining prostate tissue mid-operation, letting surgeons spare surrounding nerves when it is safe to do so. For the 50,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in England each year, this advance offers a meaningful path forward without forcing a choice between cure and quality of life.

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Paris residents vote to make 500 more streets pedestrian

By / / Good News For Humankind

Paris just took a big step toward becoming a walkable city: voters approved a plan to pedestrianize 500 streets, with around 25 per arrondissement and up to 10,000 parking spaces set to disappear. Consultations begin in the coming weeks to decide which streets get the green treatment, with many likely transformed into plazas, bike lanes, or pocket parks. It’s the latest move in Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s “15-minute city” vision, where daily life happens within a short walk or ride from home. As cities from Oslo to Bogotá rethink space once given over to cars, Paris is offering a closely watched blueprint for what cleaner air, quieter streets, and more human-scaled urban life can actually look like.

A medical professional preparing an injectable syringe for an article about lenacapavir HIV prevention, for article on annual HIV injection

Annual jab for HIV protection passes trial hurdle

By / / Good News For Humankind

A once-yearly HIV prevention shot has just cleared its first safety trial, with the drug lenacapavir still detectable in participants’ bodies a full 56 weeks after a single injection. That’s a hopeful sign for people who find daily prevention pills hard to maintain — whether because of stigma, unstable housing, or simply the grind of remembering. Earlier trials of twice-yearly lenacapavir already showed striking results, and researchers are now testing whether one shot a year could work just as well. With nearly 40 million people living with HIV globally, a prevention tool this simple could reshape what protection looks like — especially for communities where daily medication has never been realistic.

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U.S. approves “milestone” Parkinson’s treatment for 2025 release

By / / Good News For Humankind

Onapgo, a new wearable approved by the FDA, will give Americans with Parkinson’s a continuous, non-surgical way to manage their symptoms when it launches in late 2025. The small device delivers a steady infusion of apomorphine under the skin, bypassing the digestive system entirely — a real advantage for a disease that often slows digestion and makes pills unpredictable. In trials, patients cut their daily “off” episodes — those rough stretches when medication wears off and tremors return — by nearly two and a half hours on average. The therapy has quietly helped European patients for about three decades, and its U.S. arrival opens a gentler path for the roughly one million Americans living with Parkinson’s, part of a growing global push toward more humane, individualized care.

A doctor reviewing a prescription pad in a clinical setting for an article about non-opioid pain drug approval

FDA approves first non-opioid pain drug in more than 20 years

By / / Good News For Humankind

The FDA’s approval of Journavx (suzetrigine), a first-in-class non-opioid pain drug, marks the most significant shift in acute pain treatment in over two decades. Developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the drug blocks a specific sodium channel in the peripheral nervous system, stopping pain signals before they reach the brain without engaging the opioid pathways linked to addiction and overdose. Two rigorous clinical trials confirmed its effectiveness for moderate to severe acute pain. With more than 500,000 opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. since 1999, this approval offers patients and doctors a genuinely new choice — one that treats real pain without the shadow of dependence.

A medical researcher reviewing cancer treatment data in a laboratory, for an article about breast cancer immunotherapy

Australian researchers nearly double cure rates for the most common breast cancer

By / / Good News For Humankind

Breast cancer immunotherapy has achieved a breakthrough in Australia, with researchers nearly doubling cure rates for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer — the most common form of the disease, representing roughly 70% of all diagnoses worldwide. A combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy produced pathological complete responses, meaning no detectable cancer remained at surgery, at rates far exceeding historical norms below 20%. Because HR+ tumors have long resisted immunotherapy, this result marks a significant turning point. With over 2.3 million breast cancer cases diagnosed globally each year, most of them HR+, the potential scale of impact is enormous.

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Thailand bans imports of plastic waste to curb toxic pollution

By / / Good News For Humankind

Thailand’s plastic waste ban took effect in January 2025, closing the door on a trade that brought more than 1.1 million tonnes of foreign plastic scrap into the country between 2018 and 2021. Much of that waste was never recycled — factories often burned it instead, sending toxic fumes into nearby communities and contributing to risks of stroke, heart attack, and dementia. The ban is the hard-won result of years of organizing by Thai activists who documented the harm and refused to let it continue. With global treaty talks still stalled by oil-producing nations, Thailand’s move offers a hopeful blueprint: when communities push and governments listen, the tide on plastic pollution can begin to turn.