We’re closing out the week at Squirrel News talking about how Uzbekistan managed to lower their nationwide poverty rate by 10% in just four years, a new gene therapy that slowed the progress of Huntington’s disease in 75% of patients, and the East London coffee shop that’s teaching customers sign language.
Thanks to a nationwide programme focused on social protection, careers, and mahalla-level action, including €30 billion invested in 2024 alone, the Central Asian country has seen poverty levels plummet.
The first symptoms of Huntington’s disease generally appear in a patient’s 30s or 40s, and are normally fatal within two decades. A new gene therapy has slowed the progress of the disease down by 75%, meaning that the decline you would usually expect in one year would actually take four years after treatment.
From 2027, generic versions of an injectable treatment to prevent HIV will be made available at roughly $40 a year – approximately €35 – in more than 100 low and middle-income countries.
The Tropical Forests Forever Facility is a multilateral funding mechanism designed to support the conservation of endangered forests across the globe. Policymakers envision the TFFF as a $125 billion fund managed like an endowment, which pays countries annual stipends based on how much of their tropical forests remain standing.
Italy has become the first country in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the use of artificial intelligence, including imposing prison terms on those who use the technology to cause harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access.
Instead of stocking snacks, a growing number of vending machines across the US state are holding essential products free of charge including socks, soap, wound care supplies, hygiene kits, drug-testing strips, and naloxone: a medication also known as Narcan that is used to reverse opioid overdoses.
Copenhagen’s green wave is a system started by the city authorities 16 years ago: in order to encourage bike travel, they synchronised traffic lights on several key roads so that a rush-hour cyclist travelling at about 20km/h could catch green lights all the way.
Govandi is one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Mumbai and has long been associated with poverty and poor health outcomes. Thanks to a partnership with a grassroots nonprofit, the community has now built a host of shared local spaces with the needs of women and children in mind, including libraries, workshops and leisure zones.
For many neurodivergent children, traditional play areas can be noisy and stress-inducing environments – but We Rock The Spectrum’s spaces across the US, Canada, and Australia have been designed with calming and therapeutic effects in mind.
Run entirely by deaf and hard-of-hearing staff, the Dialogue Express Café in East London hopes to increase visibility and inclusion for the deaf community.
