Editor’s Note:
This is an annual summary published by legendary Bill Gates on his personal website gatesnotes.com ten days ago. Just like at the end of 2013, he used this method to make the year-end summary. What good news do we have this year?
I have written something slightly special to end 2013: a list of good news that you may have missed.
I think it is a great way to end the year in that way, and people seem willing to see our world get better day by day.
This year, I will do so again.
There is no denying that 2014 was a turbulent year in the United States and other countries. But there is still good news to celebrate: more children have survived than before; Facing the world’s deadliest disease, we are making continuous progress.
There are several important ways to measure whether the world is progressing. Through these methods, we can see that 2014 is another year of progress.
1. More children are celebrating their 5th birthday
For me, the best way to judge whether the world is progressing is to see how many children’s deaths can actually be avoided. Today, more children can live to be 5 years old than ever before.
So far this year, it has been 42 consecutive years, and the child mortality rate has been declining continuously. This figure is not only declining continuously, but also falling at an unexpectedly rapid rate.
We have saved the lives of 13. 6 million children since 2001, according to an article published in the Economist in September. It is not hard to imagine that this is a sign of progress in the world.
2. Milestones: the fight against AIDS
We have achieved very good results in the treatment of people infected with HIV virus. However, in the past few years, we have to say that we have lagged behind HIV: although more and more HIV carriers begin to receive treatment, there are always more people infected with HIV virus.
However, this is not what it used to be. New data reports released this month show that in 2013, the number of patients receiving treatment exceeded the number of new infections for the first time.
Why is this happening?
Treatment can not only keep the virus carriers alive, but also greatly reduce the possibility of virus transmission.
As epidemiologists say, this is a turning point. Although there is still a long way to go before AIDS is eliminated. However, this is a milestone year.
3. More children are vaccinated against rotavirus
In the late 1990s, I read an article, Hundreds of thousands of children die every year from diarrhea caused by rotavirus. I can’t believe it. There is such a terrible disease that can take the lives of so many children, and I know nothing about this disease. However, rotavirus is not widely reported, because in developed countries, it is not a fatal disease, and the world always ignores diseases that only the poor can get.
In many ways, rotavirus is the catalyst for my commitment to global health. In fact, this is one of the earliest projects invested by our foundation.
Since then, the number of children killed by rotavirus has been reduced by nearly half thanks to the development of cheap and effective vaccines. Today, the vaccine has benefited more children. In India, for example, rotavirus kills 80,000 children every year. This year, the Indian government decided to give children the vaccine free of charge.
At the same time, pharmaceutical companies are also trying to make cheaper vaccines in order to make the cost of vaccination affordable to more families.
4. TB treatment has finally made a breakthrough,
We have been lagging behind in the research on tuberculosis treatment.
Tuberculosis has always been a major cause of human death. Unfortunately, the current treatment plan is not perfect-especially drug-resistant tuberculosis. In recent decades, it has been stagnant.
Therefore, in the first half of this year, a new plan to treat tuberculosis has achieved good results in the preliminary tests. The news is very exciting.
Now, the program has entered the stage of large-scale clinical trials. If the new treatment plan can be promoted, the treatment time for drug-resistant tuberculosis will be greatly shortened and billions of health care expenditures in poor areas can be saved.
5. Experience in fighting polio led Nigeria to expel Ebola virus.
This year, the news media have covered Nigeria with a lot of coverage, focusing on two things: Ebola and terrorist attacks.
Two terrible things conceal the fact that Nigeria’s 2014 is actually a good year from the perspective of global health.
There are three countries in the world that have not yet eradicated polio: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but I think Nigeria is about to disappear from the list.
Nigeria reported only six polio cases this year, compared with more than 50 last year. What’s more, Nigeria has completed a lot of infrastructure to fight polio, which makes it faster and easier for them to control Ebola virus.
In fact, Nigeria’s successful expulsion of Ebola virus is an excellent example of other countries dealing with this sudden disease.
6. Looking ahead to our bright future
One more thing: Melinda and I will issue our next annual letter in January. This time, we are looking to 2030. We will set foot in several fields, from health to agriculture to banking, especially in particularly poor areas, where real upheaval will take place.
Author: Bill Gates
Article Compiling: Doctor Clove Editorial Department
Pictures in Chinese: Peanuts
Bill Gates’ original blog (please click)
图片来源: 站酷海洛(https://plus.hellorf.com)