Summary of Global Health & Wellbeing Good News During January 2026
- Editor OGN Daily
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
A collection of bite-sized chunks of this year's positive news regarding health and wellbeing around the world.
Junk Food Ad Ban: Junk food adverts are banned on TV and online in the UK as part of a drive to tackle childhood obesity. The UK-wide ban stops food and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar being advertised on TV before 21.00 and at any time online. It applies to all products considered to be the biggest drivers of childhood obesity.
Ozempic vs. Obesity: After rising for years, the American obesity rate fell in 2025, as GLP-1 injectables like Ozempic became popular. The change represents an estimated 7.6 million fewer obese adults compared with three years ago, according to Gallup.
Expert's Advice: Harvard scientist Rudolph Tanzi shares his six recommendations for brain health and making sure you age well.
Canadian Record: No-till farming helps Canada post record grain exports, reports Reuters. Canadian farmers are harvesting record spring wheat and canola crops, driven largely by widespread no-till and zero-till farming that locks in soil moisture and cuts erosion.
Housework Payments: Several Indian states have launched schemes to provide unconditional monthly financial compensation to homemakers - to over 118 million women nationwide - recognising the value of unpaid domestic labour.
Common Shrew: Discovery that this tiny mammal ‘regrows’ its brain may help cure Alzheimer’s.
Acid for Anxiety: Last year brought us the first trial demonstrating that the psychedelic drug LSD could relieve moderate to severe anxiety for up to three months. This year, two major follow-up trials will conclude. If their results are anything like the first’s, LSD may become available in the US as an alternative anxiety treatment to antidepressants and talk therapy sometime in 2027.
MS Discovery: Scientists have discovered two new subtypes of multiple sclerosis with the aid of artificial intelligence, paving the way for personalised treatments and better outcomes for patients. Experts say the “exciting” breakthrough could revolutionise treatment of the disease worldwide.
Remarkable Achievement: The number of people requiring treatment for trachoma - the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, spread via contaminated fingers or flies - has now fallen by 94 percent since 2002, says the World Health Organization.
Eating Beans: British scientists are trying to persuade us to eat more beans, saying that tucking into fibre-rich legumes will lift our mood, increase motivation and lower risk of dementia.
Brain Stimulation: In a major shift for how mental health conditions might be treated, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first at-home brain stimulation device to treat moderate to severe major depressive disorder (MDD). The device, the FL-100 from Sweden's Flow Neuroscience, will be available via clinician for people aged 18 years and older.
PFAS Ban: There are hundreds of ghastly forever chemicals but, in good news for the French, they are now banned from being used in the textile, fashion, and cosmetics industries and should serve to greatly reduce the nation’s population to their exposure. A ban in Denmark along similar lines will come into effect in July.
End of Finger Pricks: People with diabetes may soon have a noninvasive way to check blood glucose levels. MIT scientists developed a device that shines near-infrared light on the skin to obtain glucose measurements - rather than the current method, pricking a finger with a needle.
New Toothpaste: There could be new hope in the fight against gum disease. Scientists have developed a toothpaste that targets only the bacteria that cause periodontitis, leaving the rest of the oral microbiome healthy and intact.
Cancer Treatment: For the first time, 70 percent of US cancer patients now live at least five years post-diagnosis, according to the 2026 statistics report from the American Cancer Society. To put that in perspective, the latest number is up from 50 percent in the 1970s and 63 percent in the 1990s.
Aussie Socials: Social media companies have revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia since the country banned use of the platforms by those under 16, officials say. “Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhoods back.”
Quicker & Cheaper: Today, more than $38 billion in humanitarian aid moves through traditional banking systems, often taking days to cross borders and incurring fees along the way. But the Circle Foundation has announced it will be expanding a blockchain-based financial platform across the United Nations - a venture that could completely reshape how aid reaches people in need. “This partnership allows us to make those transactions in real time, and at a fraction or zero cost compared to … the typical banking sector, which is not really set up to be paying a refugee child on the Sudanese border.”
