The good folk at goodnewsnetwork.org want to share that while we may sometimes feel like we’re surrounded by negative news, there are plenty of positive trends to convince you many things are actually improving.
With advancements in medicine, along with better safety practices, fewer and fewer people are dying of common diseases, accidents, and problematic lifestyles.
Don’t believe us? Here is the list of declining death rates:
9) Breast cancer
According to new research by the American Cancer Society, breast cancer deaths in the USA have dropped by almost 40 per cent since 1989. It’s not just breast cancer, either – a steady decline over more than two decades has resulted in a 25 per cent drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States. Keep on doing those checks folks – it’s working.
8) Malaria
Thanks to the world’s most effective malaria vaccine, global efforts in the last 15 years have led to a 62 per cent reduction in malaria deaths between 2000 and 2015. While there is still an excess of malaria cases in Africa, development of the vaccine is expected to stop infections throughout Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi in 2018.
7) Measles
In 2014, deaths from measles plunged by 78 per cent since 2000 as global vaccination campaigns curbed outbreaks of the disease.
6) Child deaths from disease
An article from the Global Burden of Disease Child and Adolescent Health Collaboration says that mortality among children and adolescents decreased worldwide from nearly 14.2 million deaths in 1990 to just over 7.2 million deaths in 2015.
5) Child deaths from car collisions
In 2014, a government report showed that the rate of American children dying in car accidents declined by 43 per cent over the course of a decade. This is largely credited to enforcing seat belt use and proper safety procedures for children.
4) Maternal deaths
In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established by the United Nations to drive maternal and child deaths down by 2015, and indeed the pace of improvement accelerated, resulting in maternal deaths falling significantly between 1990 and 2013.
3) HIV/AIDS
Thanks to the tireless efforts devoted to education and treatment of the disease, a new report says that HIV/AIDS is no longer the leading cause of death in Africa. The data reflects a continuous downward trend in AIDS/HIV mortality, with 760,000 people dying from the virus and its complications in 2015, compared to 1 million in 2010 and 1.5 million in 2005.
2) Stroke
Fewer Americans are having strokes and those who do have a lower risk of dying from them finds a new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins.
1) Smoking-related deaths
While it may not technically be a decline in actual deaths, smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable diseases in the U.S.A. – and thankfully, more and more American smokers are quitting the harmful habit every year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last year stating that the amount of American adult smokers dropped by 27.7 per cent since 2005 – that’s 8.5 million adults. This decline in smoking is credited to increased tobacco prices, comprehensive smoke-free laws, anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, and barrier-free access to tobacco cessation counseling and medications.
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