U.S. wind and solar power helped prevent up to 12,700 deaths
The lower carbon emissions were worth billions of dollars as a result of the avoidance of the range of problems caused by fossil fuels.
Public health & disease
U.K. pledges £100m to global efforts to eradicate polio
Money will fund vaccination of 45 million children annually until 2020, when the world could finally be declared polio-free
FDA announces comprehensive regulatory plan to shift trajectory of tobacco-related disease, death
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced a new comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation that will serve as a multi-year roadmap to better protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death.
Scientists report a rare case of H.I.V. remission
For the third time in recent years, a child born with H.I.V. has been found free of the virus for a long period after a high dose of treatment early in life.
World’s first malaria vaccine will be given to thousands of babies in Africa
Last week WHO announced that one of several potential malaria vaccines in development has made it through a crucial phase of trials and is now ready to be tested in the field.
Life expectancy improves for blacks in the U.S., and the racial gap is closing, CDC reports
African Americans have made significant gains in life expectancy, and the mortality gap between white and black Americans has been cut in half since 1999.
World Health Organization hails major progress on tackling tropical diseases
WHO director general says significant strides have been made in fight against sleeping sickness, elephantiasis and other neglected tropical diseases
FDA approves first treatment for severe type of multiple sclerosis
“We’ve been banging on a wall with a bunch of drugs, and we finally put a big crack in the wall,” said Dr. Jerry Wolinsky.
Global life expectancy and health improving
The Global Burden of Disease study, which shows the key drivers of ill health, disability and death in individual countries, found that by 2015, the world population had gained more than a decade of life expectancy since 1980 – rising to 69.0 years in men and 74.8 years in women.
Guatemala becomes fourth country in the world to eliminate onchocerciasis, known as ‘river blindness’
Of the six countries in the Americas where transmission of the debilitating disease was present in the 1990s, Guatemala accounted for about 41% of the 568,000 people at risk.