public-health

40% of cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes. Tobacco causes 30% of all cancer deaths. Obesity is the second leading preventable cause. Here is what the evidence actually shows about reducing cancer risk.

Vaccines taught the immune system to beat smallpox, polio, and measles, and a 2024 Lancet study estimated they averted 154 million deaths in 50 years. Yet hesitancy persists. Here is the immunology, the safety evidence, and the psychology behind refusal.

What decides how fast a disease spreads, how many people it kills, and which defenses work? The epidemiology of pandemics, from reproduction numbers to vaccines, with the 1918 flu and COVID-19 as test cases.

Spain has the world's highest deceased organ donation rate — 49 donors per million people — and has held that position for more than three decades. The secret is not Spanish generosity but a system redesign: opt-out consent, transplant coordinators in every hospital, and a culture of medical trust. Here's what the data shows.

Country alcohol comparisons depend on pure-alcohol units, the age range, and estimates of unrecorded drinking. Learn what a per-capita figure can tell you and what it cannot.

Iceland records just 0.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births — virtually eliminating what was once a universal threat to human families. Monaco, Japan, and Finland follow closely. Meanwhile, the Central African Republic loses 79 infants per 1,000. The gap between the best and worst is among the starkest in global health.

Nauru has a 61% obesity rate — the highest in the world. Pacific Island nations dominate the top of the global obesity rankings. More than 1 billion people worldwide are now classified as obese, and rates are rising fastest in low- and middle-income countries. Here are the data and the reasons.

Bacteria are evolving faster than we can fight them. No major new antibiotic class has been discovered since 1987, 700,000 people die from drug-resistant infections every year, and the clock is ticking. Here is the science behind antimicrobial resistance — and what might save us.

Loneliness is now a public health crisis. More people than ever report feeling profoundly alone — even surrounded by others. Here's what the science of loneliness reveals, and why it matters more than you think.

Vaccine safety is one of the most studied topics in medicine. Here's a clear, science-based examination of what the evidence really shows.

Fluoride in drinking water has been called everything from a public health triumph to a covert poisoning. Here is what Cochrane, the CDC, and the National Toxicology Program found, and where the evidence is genuinely thin.