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Good News You May Have Missed in 2014
- sillysaurus3 12y agoIt's so cool to see the eradication of a disease. To live through it. You read about such things in history books, but actually being alive while it happens is pretty sweet. Especially such an awful one like polio.
- philwelch 12y agoThey'll have to eradicate it in Pakistan and Afghanistan first, and around there people don't really trust foreigners who come around promising free polio vaccines because that was the CIA's cover when they came looking for Bin Laden.
- danieltillett 12y agoYep. The stupidity involved in this decision is breathtaking.
- barry-cotter 12y agoNot stupid, evil. Those people are evil. Everyone who signed off on that deception should be tried for crimes against humanity.
- danieltillett 12y agoI agree the people who signed off on this decision should be brought to trial, but I am not to sure that they intended the outcome that occurred. This is still no excuse for a decision that will kill 10,000s of innocent children.
- npizzolato 12y agoWe prosecute people for negligence for way less impactful decisions. Whoever signed off on that decision either weighed the consequences of their actions and decided that was worth it or they were so incompetent that they didn't even think about it. Considering they're responsible for one of the premiere spy networks on the planet, I'm going to guess they're pretty intelligent. So that leaves one option.
- danieltillett 12y agoIt is hard to know without a full trial. This is the one thing that should happen, but if torture can be swept under the rug with nobody being held responsible I am not too hopeful :(
- gadders 12y agoThe Taliban/Al Qaeda are evil, not the CIA.
- lmm 12y agoWhy not both?
- gadders 12y agoA fair point. I'm sure they have done some evil stuff. But then I read this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30491435 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30491435
- mikeash 12y agoHundreds of children dead in a school attack versus millions dead because trust in vaccines is destroyed. I don't see the "but."
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- ngcazz 12y agoNo one is exempt from responsibility.
- igravious 12y agoOh, if only things were so black and white what an uncomplicated world we'd be living in. Unfortunately the reality you describe is not the reality we live in.
- gadders 12y agoTrue enough, but I'm not fully on board with moral relativism either. "The West" (if not the CIA) is on the side of good, and AQ/The Taliban/ISIS obviously is not.
- 12y ago
- snowwrestler 12y agoThose areas did not trust foreigners with needles to begin with. The CIA vaccination gambit was undeniably stupid, but it wasn't a root cause, it made a bad problem worse. The root cause is that those are areas with very high levels of tribal paranoia, religious fundamentalism, and outright violence.
- tanzam75 12y agoThere was a polio outbreak in China in 2011 that was traced back to Pakistan. Prior to that outbreak, the last case of polio in China had been in 1999. The outbreak was contained after 21 confirmed infections plus another 23 suspected. The Chinese public health system mobilized 1000 health workers, spent $26 million, and vaccinated 44 million people. If we can't get rid of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, then this will just keep happening. NEJM editorial: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1311591 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1311591
- danieltillett 12y agoThis will keep happening around the world. We came so close to eradicating polio for good and to see it all thrown away is heartbreaking.
- tokenadult 12y agoThey'll have to eradicate it in Pakistan and Afghanistan first, and around there people don't really trust foreigners The same people in those same places don't trust children who go to high school, and are willing to kill the children in large numbers.[1] The simple fact of the matter is that the sole remaining countries in the world with large numbers of cases of endemic polio were mostly countries with backwardness-promoting Islamist movements even long before anyone knew that Bin Laden was hiding out in the same city of Pakistan where the Pakistan Military Academy is located. [1] "Over 120 Pakistanis, mostly children, killed in Taliban high school attack" (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/16/us-pakistan-school-idUSKBN0JU0JO20141216 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/16/us-pakistan-school...
- tokenadult 12y agoThe news about better treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis is huge. If confirmed, that'll be the basis for saving many lives in the next decade, especially in India. Multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis has been an alarming problem there.[1] [1] http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-23/news/40134749_1_stop-tb-department-mario-raviglione-jmm-meeting http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-23/news... http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303444204577460734274201756/ http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230344420457... http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2012/Facing-the-Reality-of-Drug-Resistant-Tuberculosis-Challenges-and-Potential-Solutions-in-India.aspx/ http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2012/Facing-the-Reality-of-Drug-R...
- jsankey 12y agoAgreed. Living in the age of antibiotics we (in the developed world) have quickly forgotten how deadly TB is (it was a leading cause of death just 100 years ago). Given the difficulty in developing new antibiotics (and relative lack of commercial incentive to do so) the news that they've found a more effective new drug combination (including new drugs) is very welcome. The fact that the regimen is shorter will hopefully mean higher completion rates: a big issue at the moment as the treatment can take up to 2 years leading many patients to take incomplete courses (and of course this fuels drug resistance). In Australia we're lucky enough to have the resources to provide free treatment with mandatory monitoring by health care workers (to enforce the full course is taken), but in India, PNG etc they desperately need a cheaper and more practical solution. Edit to add: hopefully new drugs will also help those with sensitivity to the current antibiotics. They have some pretty harsh side effects, e.g. drug-induced hepatitis is a common problem which means many patients can't tolerate the preferred regimen.
- melling 12y agoIsn't the problem of drug resistance made-made? http://www.who.int/tb/challenges/mdr/en/ http://www.who.int/tb/challenges/mdr/en/ In India, in particular, anyone can buy antibiotics, and they do, whether they need them or not. This problem should probably be addressed before we create a problem that we can't solve.
- keyle 12y agoIt's fantastic to see articles that focus on the positives. Most media and the press are all about the daily, the shocking and the hurtful. This is good news.
- InclinedPlane 12y agoThe irony is that the "news" often focuses on exceptional events, which tends to result in having a skewed view of the world.
- protomyth 12y agoIf you haven't read "It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News"[1] by Drew Curtis, then I highly recommend it to explain quite a lot of the process and thinking of the news. It might not be the most serious, and it is funny, but it digs into the truths of the beast. 1) http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-News-Fark-Media/dp/1592403662/ http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-News-Fark-Media/dp/1592403662/
- Sammi 12y agoMy life has become markedly better since I cut out following daily mainstream news. I realized I wasn't gaining anything from it, just loosing.
- spain 12y agoI'm curious as to where you get your news instead. I feel like you do and I've been looking for more thoughtful places to get news.
- JonnieCache 12y agohttp://www.stratfor.com http://www.stratfor.com and the like. Protip: If you abandon your subscription in last stage of the cart and come back later, it knocks 50% off the price. It did for me anyway.
- revscat 12y agoWhat the Gates Foundation is wonderful, laudable, noble, and good. I am disappointed to not see mention of any environmental accomplishments in the list, though. Long term, the threats posed by climate change are far more of a threat than any disease.
- trothamel 12y agoThat doesn't seem to be true. According to the WHO, climate change has the potential to cause 250,000 deaths per year in 2030-2050. When it comes to disease, malaria alone kills between 376,000 and 755,000 people per year - right now. Sources: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/premature-deaths-multiply-as-climate-changes/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/premature-deaths-m... http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/ http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/
- danielharan 12y agoAs one noted in the article ""almost certainly an underestimate", because a number of climate-health relationships are not measurable due to lack of adequate data". Milder winters expand the range of disease-carrying insects, increase risks of wars or famine with less water, mass migrations leading to political instability, more extreme weather events like draughts and flooding leading to failed crops and other natural catastrophes... Meanwhile much of the WHO estimate is for people dying due to heat exposure. Easy to quantify, important to know - but nowhere near the full picture.
- refurb 12y agoSince there is a lot of uncertainty as to what the negative impact of global warming might be, doesn't it make sense to focus on the people who are dying right now?
- kaybe 12y agoNo, not really. Only looking at the present without taking the future into account leads to a lot of problems. We have to tackle both.
- dergachev 12y agoI would add they just came out with a drug to cure hepatitis C. That's amazing news for 3.2 million Americans with the disease, including my dad. http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140729/pill-hepatitis-c http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140729/pill-hepatitis-...
- FunCaptcha_Jim 12y agoOh wow, I had no idea this happened! And it's actually true? This isn't the typical "we've cured this" then "loljk here's why we haven't cured this" news piece?
- refurb 12y agoYes it is true. However, it's not like we couldn't cure hepatitis C before, we could, but just not very well. The old regimen was interferon + ribavirin. You had to take it for months and months and the interferon makes you feel like you have the flu (it also put the patient at risk of depression and suicide). The cure rate was ~50%. With the new drugs you don't need to get interferon injections anymore. You just pop one pill a day and 12 weeks later there is a 95%+ likelihood that you've been cured of HCV. It's a HUGE medical advance.
- ohashi 12y agoThat's quite frankly amazing. I'm really happy to read stuff like this on here.
- refurb 12y agoIt is! In the next 10-20 years hepatitis C will likely be eliminated from developed countries. The company who makes the drug is offering it a very low price to developing countries so the impact will be worldwide.
- kubiiii 12y agoVery low price means 2k/person for Egypt. It is immensely expensive for this country and not sustainable for the egyptian healthcare system. But it's the same for developped countries. There is an inherent conflict of interest in producing a cure that heals a chronic disease. You only get the money once. So you'd better get as much as you can.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- toyg 12y agoI'm surprised not to see the usual contingent of malthusians out in force. We're saving more kids than ever; surely this means we're all doomed, right? BillG should spend all this money on sterilising (poor, non-white) people instead, right? (ok, ok, this is a bit trollish, but my point stands: the world is getting better and the sky is not falling -- deal with it)
- skrebbel 12y agoSoo, you missed a trollish debate so you're trying to start it even though you don't agree with the presumed point which, in fact, nobody is making?
- toyg 12y agoI didn't say malthusians are trollish, I admitted I was being trollish. I am just curious about why they're not trying to spin it in their usual fashion.
- _nedR 12y agoWell, The average intelligence of the Hacker News commenter is a tad above that of Youtube or the Daily mail. Bill Gates himself has repeatedly stated that reducing mortality and improving quality of life has consistently proven to reduce population growth : http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/#myth-three http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/#myth-three Everybody here already knows this of course. ;)
- cbd1984 12y agoSadly for you, we're second-order contrarians around here! Non-contrarian: "Saving kids is good!" First-order contrarian: "Malthusianism! Overpopulation! Blargh!" Second-order contrarian: "Education leads to reduced population. People have fewer kids when they know child death is very rare." Third-order contrarian: "Population collapse! End of growth! Blargh!" Fourth-order contrarian: "We've dealt with worse and survived. Maybe space colonization will provide a positive impetus for population growth and a new engine for economic growth."
- DodgyEggplant 12y agoThis is a huge case, maybe rare, how money is better used than a tax payment. Non of this would happen if sunk into the government
- gldalmaso 12y agoNot sure I understand your point. These are all state tier achievements. If anything it's where the state is either disorganized, broke, utterly corrupt, or all that make it difficult to achieve those goals in the first place. You are saying we shouldn't have to pay taxes so the state can plan and execute vaccine campaigns and offer chronic disease treatment without cost to the patients that need it? This is the case in Brazil (for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_Brazil) and I happily pay my due to make it happen. Not all tax money is actually put to good use, but the greater part is and I certainly wouldn't advocate against that. Of course some countries have weird priorities IMO (yes, US) and may not share this view.
- jc123 12y agoYes dodgy's point is probably that this tax money sent to US govt will not result in such achievements like medicine in developing countries.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- tim_hutton 12y agoThe numbers in the polio graph doesn't match the positions! Comparison: http://i.imgur.com/3kGXyRA.png http://i.imgur.com/3kGXyRA.png Not a massive problem in this case but worrying.
- sp332 12y agoAll I'm seeing from the comparison is that your circles are a bit smaller than the original.
- tim_hutton 12y agoThe 122 in particular should be almost halfway between 100 and 150 but theirs is much lower.
- LukeFitzpatrick 12y agoHi Bill, Just wanted to let you know you have a 'bug' on the 'contact us' section, I assume only for iOS devices. It comes up with a gray area blocking the forms, with the text out of place. Great site, and it's good you're giving so much back to the world to fight worthy causes.
- queeerkopf 12y agoCurious side note/question: What makes you think Bill Gates or someone involved with the website reads the comments on this HN submission?
- LukeFitzpatrick 12y agoYeah, I thought the site posted was his official blog. I naturally thought he would check this to see how the HN community responded. I've cold emailed a lot of well known people before and most of them responded. I guess it was 'positivity' that skewed my thoughts. But, your right, a Lotto chance of Bill Gates coming on here.
- jc123 12y agoRay Ozzie had a #1 comment here recently and I wouldn't be surprised if BillG also reads HN. He's a voracious reader and it would be interesting to see what online sites he reads daily.
- malloreon 12y agoThese are wonderful trends that are keeping more people alive and for that we should both be grateful and thankful to those who work on keeping them moving in that direction. What effects do these trends have on poverty and food insecurity?
- billpg 12y agoMy mind added an exclamation point to that headline. Good News! You May Have Missed 2014!