Time once again for a Good News Dump.
A very long one today.
Yes I am mostly over Covid. Yes I still fatigue easily. But typing this up takes little effort, and might cheers us up.
As usual, you can filter this hashtag out, if you wish to exclusively mire yourself in doom.
UNICEF says there were 16 million fewer stunted children in India in 2022 than in 2012. The prevalence of stunting—the result of poor nutrition in utero and during early childhood—fell from 42% to 32% during the last decade, and India’s share of the global burden declined from 30% to 25%.
Fatal heart disease in the United States dropped about 4% a year between 1990 and 2019. It's still the country's leading cause of death—but during the last three decades, the mortality rate for women has fallen from 210 to 66 per 100,000, and for men from 442 to 156 per 100,000. This is an astonishing decline, and it could have been even greater if not for an increase in obesity.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002870323001175
Lawmakers in Ghana have passed a bill that prohibits the naming, accusing or labelling of another person as a witch, with offenders facing up to five years in jail if found guilty. 'It's going to bring about a serious mind shift, correct a lot of ills in our society and I'm confident that we are building a better society for ourselves.'
https://www.trtafrika.com/africa/ghanas-mps-pass-bill-criminalising-witchcraft-accusation-14238700
Shootings in New York are down 26% this year, and the murder rate has declined by 11%. In fact, the first seven months of 2023 have seen a decrease in five of the seven major crime categories. And yet, in a poll last month, four in ten residents said they’ve 'never been this worried about my personal safety.' Hmmm, any guesses as to why there's such a big perception gap?
https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ICS0623-Crosstabs.pdf
When was the last time you heard any news out of Mexico that wasn't about migrants, drugs or crime? How about this: between 2020 and 2022 the number of people living in poverty in Mexico declined by 8.9 million and average household incomes increased by 11%, thanks to a new national minimum wage and the provision of social programs.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/number-of-mexicans-in-poverty-declined-by-8-9m-from-2020-2022
Air pollution in Europe continues to fall, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency. Between 2005 to 2021, particulate emissions fell by 27%, and emissions of sulphur dioxide fell by 80%, even as GDP increased by almost 50%. Thirteen of the bloc's member states have now met their respective 2020-2029 targets.
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/national-emission-reduction-commitments-directive-2023
In 2012, India introduced a set of rules that restricted tobacco content in movie theaters and on television broadcasts. Now it's become the first country to regulate tobacco on streaming platforms—serving as a model to other countries for adapting advertising regulations in the digital age.
https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/indias-tobacco-industry-regulations
Individual cigarettes in Canada will now carry warnings such as 'poison in every puff.' The measure, the first of its kind in the world, is one of the new regulations coming into effect this week that will see far tighter controls on the tobacco industry. It's good news. Tobacco kills almost 50,000 Canadians every year.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/01/canada-cigarette-health-warnings-tobacco-industry
The recent slowing of deforestation is part of a broader wave of progress in Brazil. Lula’s administration is close to finalizing a major tax reform, FDI and agricultural productivity are rising, grain exports are filling the gap created by Russia's food terrorism, renewable energy investment is increasing, and solar is rapidly growing.
There's a revolution taking place in the understanding of endometriosis, a disease of the reproductive system that affects the same number of women as diabetes, yet receives 5% as much funding. 'Women’s health is starting to get more attention, and that’s about time. It’s slowly coming together.'
Punjab, home to over half of Pakistan's population, has made remarkable strides in education in the 21st century. Between 1998 and 2020, the province doubled school enrollment from 13 million to 26 million students. Initiatives have included making education free and providing conditional cash transfers for girls' education.
Indonesia is expanding its rollout of the rotavirus vaccine to prevent diarrheal diseases in infants nationwide. This will make a big difference—diarrhea causes one in every ten deaths of children under the age of one, and one in every twenty for children under the age of five in the country every year.
https://asianews.network/indonesia-expands-rotavirus-immunisation-nationwide
Last week, Mexico's Supreme Court threw out all federal criminal penalties for abortion, ruling that laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women's rights. The latest Latin American victory for reproductive rights wasn't due to luck or moral arcs, but an ambitious legal strategy that has been in the works for years.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of same-sex relationship recognition in Bulgaria, championing the rights of two women married in 2016. This landmark decision paves the way for greater equality, requiring Bulgaria to ensure the protection of same-sex couples' rights to private and family life.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/08/court-rules-bulgaria-must-recognize-same-sex-relationships
Two big wins for human rights in Asia. A lesbian couple in South Korea have welcomed their first child via IVF in a historic milestone for the country’s LGBTQ+ community; and Hong Kong's top court has ordered its government to legally recognize same-sex relationships, giving it two years to enact a scheme.
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/09/07/south-korea-lesbian-ivf
In the last decade Taiwan has shifted from lax alcohol control to a global exemplar of responsible drinking. Tighter advertising restrictions, revised taxation, and enforced minimum age laws have resulted in an 80% drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths and a 40% decrease in drunk-driving injuries.
https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/successful-battle-against-bottle
For nearly as long as Medicare has existed in the United States, it has alarmed politicians and budget experts. Now, however, something strange has been happening. Instead of growing as it always had before, spending per Medicare beneficiary has nearly leveled off. 'Without a doubt, this is the most important thing that has happened to the federal budget in the last 20 years.'
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/05/upshot/medicare-budget-threat-receded.html
China's aggressive 'war against pollution' over the past decade has led to a 42% drop in pollution levels since 2013. This remarkable progress has added 26 months to the average Chinese citizen's lifespan. Measures include restrictions on car usage, bans on new coal plants in polluted areas, and mandated cuts in emissions.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/30/asia/air-pollution-report-china-south-asia-intl-hnk-scn
Most people assume that unhoused people cannot manage their money. This is not true. Canadian researchers gave 50 people experiencing homelessness a one-time lump sum of $7,500, and the recipients spent it mostly on food, housing, transit, and clothing. They also spent an average of 99 fewer days homeless and spent less time in shelters—'costing' society less by doing so.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21528569/homeless-poverty-cash-transfer-canada-new-leaf-project
Paris has revolutionized its water management, transforming the historic Canal Saint-Martin into a clean, swimmable waterway. Since 2009, the city has set up thousands of water fountains, reduced water prices by 8%, saved a million cubic meters of water a year by fixing leaks, and cut water usage by 10%.
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Scotland is planning to move to a four-day work week for civil servants.
https://fortune.com/2023/09/04/scotland-4-day-work-week-pilot-civil-servants/amp
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In Sierra Leone, four in five births now take place in healthcare facilities, up from half a decade ago.
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In Bangladesh new funding will bring primary healthcare to 2.5 million children.
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In India almost 30,000 more children will survive past their first birthday this year compared to last year.
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in Ghana, immunization rates have skyrocketed thanks to drones.
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Traveling through the world’s most traffic-heavy city just got a lot quicker (and greener).
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Oh, and Chile just became the sixth country—and the first in South America—to implement a feminist foreign policy.
https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/a-spotlight-on-chiles-feminist-foreign-policy
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Oman recently passed a new labour law that increases paid maternity leave from 50 to 98 days, guarantees one hour per day of nursing for one year from the end of maternity leave, and explicitly states that termination of employment due to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding is considered arbitrary.
https://www.migrant-rights.org/2023/08/omans-new-labour-law-an-overview