“A team led by Google scientists has developed a machine-learning tool that can help to detect and monitor health conditions by evaluating noises such as coughing and breathing. The artificial intelligence (AI) system, trained on millions of audio clips of human sounds, might one day be used by physicians to diagnose diseases including COVID-19 and tuberculosis and to assess how well a person’s lungs are functioning.”
From Nature.
“Today [6/30/25], Suriname became the first country in the Amazon region to receive malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization…
Certification of malaria elimination is granted by WHO when a country has proven, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chain of indigenous transmission has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years.”
“‘What we’re seeing is a massive reduction in [fatal] overdose risk, among Gen Z in particular,’ said Nabarun Dasgupta, an addiction researcher at the University of North Carolina. ‘Ages 20 to 29 lowered the risk by 47%, cut it right in half.’
This stunning drop in drug deaths among people in the U.S. is being tracked in data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies.
The latest available records found fentanyl and other drugs killed more than 31,000 people (see chart) under the age of 35 in 2021. By last year, that number had plummeted to roughly 16,690 fatal overdoses, according to provisional CDC data.”
From NPR.
“Rwanda has reduced the estimated prevalence of chronic hepatitis B from 3% in 2015, to 0.25% in 2024.”
From Gavi.
“In the early 1980s, Nepal’s children suffered from some of the highest death rates from pneumonia in the world, with over 1,400 deaths for every 100,000 children under five. That meant around 39,000 children died from pneumonia each year, more than from any other cause.
Since then, Nepal has made huge progress. The death rate has fallen almost 20-fold. This improvement is due to various measures, including pneumococcal and Hib vaccines, better access to healthcare and antibiotics, and improved nutrition.”
From Our World in Data.
