Listening to music can be a welcome distraction. But for people suffering from a wide range of medical conditions, its effects go much deeper.

To combat high HIV rates, the Wise Up Campaign is meeting young people where they are: at the raucous Calabar Festival and Carnival.

Seeking to combat the root causes of health disparities, an innovative initiative focuses on access to food, transportation and housing.

A growing movement seeks to make communities more physically accessible for the more than 55 million people worldwide living with dementia.

From physical activity to access to medical care, how people get around is interconnected with their physical and mental health.

The simple act of cash distribution can alleviate poverty and improve health — including families’ health and early childhood development.

Not only are these strategically designed areas friendly to pedestrians and recreation, but they make communities healthier, too.

As the negative effects of noise pollution become increasingly clear, communities are working together to turn down the volume.

Thanks to the city’s growing network, nearly all Barcelonans now live within a 10-minute walk of a free, comfortable, accessible climate shelter.

A visual exploration of how virtually every aspect of our lives is intertwined with our health.

Until recently, few resources were available for seniors on their own. Now, groups, conferences and more are springing up across the US.

Groundbreaking science is unearthing all sorts of surprising ways gardening is good for your health, mood and quality of life.

With the help of objects and prompts from the past, those with dementia are able to focus on what remains rather than what’s been lost.

Across more than 100 villages, in-depth education about nutrition and natural farming has vastly improved the health of vulnerable residents.

Women are still underrepresented in medical research. But thanks to trailblazers like cardiologist Marianne Legato and patient advocate Carolyn Thomas, that’s starting to change.

Positive developments in health are unfolding all around us, from the staying power of telemedicine to life-saving naloxone access.

The simple skin-to-skin practice known as kangaroo mother care is proven to help babies survive and thrive. So why hasn’t it gone mainstream?

So much of managing diabetes takes place outside the doctor’s office. That’s where peer coaches — who can give advice based on experience — step in.

Our diet impacts our health, as both health care and anti-hunger organizations have long understood. Now, they’re beginning to collaborate.

For people experiencing homelessness, recuperating after a hospitalization is difficult. Medical respite care programs can help bridge the gap.

In Denmark, prescriptions for group-based experiences, like concerts or library read-alouds, are helping people reconnect with themselves.

As awareness of rural mental health issues grows, so too does a mosaic of efforts to help: teletherapy, hotlines, “resiliency circles” and more.

Walking therapy — simply walking and talking with intention — has been shown to relieve stress, loneliness, burnout and more.

In a city where housing is scarce, one group is helping patients get healthy enough to live stable, independent lives.

Helping vulnerable people to live in comfortable temperatures through the cold winter months can help them stay in better health, too.

Maanasi’s innovative, women-focused strategy has been so successful that it has already been copied in Kenya, Lithuania and elsewhere.

A new series about how whole-person health is transforming the patient journey.

In hard-to-reach areas, the fast-moving tech is streamlining emergency deliveries, from blood for transfusions to snakebite antivenom.

Just like birth doulas, gender doulas serve as coaches and mentors, supporting people at all stages of their gender journey.

Health care nonprofits are sharing new screening and treatment methods, aiming to one day eradicate this preventable disease completely.

In places with few mental health professionals, volunteer-led group therapy sends positive ripples through families and communities.

A unique collaboration pairs a recovery group and an EMS team to help those with alcohol and substance abuse disorders find long-term care.

Artificial intelligence tools have the potential to prevent thousands of heart attacks every year — if researchers can meet the technology’s challenges.

Over half of Stockton, California’s residents are diabetic or prediabetic. A prescribed meal program aims to change that.

Amid the ongoing mental health crisis among young people, telehealth can offer a lifeline.

Around the world, people and organizations are starting to recognize the role family planning can play in climate adaptation and resilience.

The machines — and the rural entrepreneurs who run them — are helping more people in India access safe drinking water.

Naloxone, the pocket-sized drug that can save the life of someone overdosing on opioids, is within arm’s reach in bars, libraries and vending machines.

Deep in the mountains of North Carolina, internet access is helping workers get care — and keep in touch with loved ones.

When it comes to sexual health, students across the US are stepping in to help and educate their peers.

FoodCycle’s pop-up cafes are tackling not just hunger and food waste, but loneliness, too.

People of color are half as likely as white people to get a diagnosis or treatment for an eating disorder — but that’s changing.

In the Indian state of Assam, solar-powered boats serve as mobile hospitals for the remote communities along the Brahmaputra River.

In rural Montana, peer support doulas help patients and their babies make it through pregnancy healthy, sober and together.

When one woman pasted her father’s brief biography on the walls, his caregivers became his champions. Now, more patients are sharing their stories.

Despite persistent stigma, agricultural workers are learning to treat their emotional well-being with as much care as their soil health.

Small group discussions among fathers about breastfeeding and maternal nutrition have a big impact when it comes to preventing child deaths.

Every student in the city will engage in two to five minutes of daily mindfulness, a tactic that has shown positive effects in schools around the world.

Workplaces are getting deeply involved with their employees’ mental health, in ways both positive and dubious.

“Indigenous worldviews look at the land as an extension of the self, so can you argue that land is body?”

Remote psychotherapy sessions aren’t just more convenient than lengthy round-trips for in-person appointments. They reduce unnecessary prescriptions, too.

To prevent a mental health crisis, a multinational effort is bringing therapy to the war-torn country from thousands of miles away.

At a retreat deep in the hills, hikikomori come together to cook, farm and, after years of isolation, gingerly step back into the world.

Surf therapy is being embraced — from the US Navy to the British health service — as a surprisingly effective treatment for depression, anxiety and trauma.

In the absence of legal protections, one nurse-researcher is educating workers on how to stay safe amid punishing heat waves.

For families with neurodiverse children, travel can be tough. In Mesa, locals have learned how to make it much easier.

“Solving homelessness is not simply putting individuals in housing; it’s putting them in housing that meets their unique needs.”

At peer respite facilities, patients who don’t need immediate medical care can get help without feeling judged.

As the city gets pricier, a health system custom-built for musicians makes sure the “Live Music Capital of the World” keeps its title.

These clinics — sometimes the only care option for vulnerable students — are getting increasing attention as mental health challenges mount.

Recognizing that “men will talk shoulder to shoulder, but not necessarily face to face,” Men’s Sheds give guys a space to tinker while they open up — and heal.

When an experiment in Ohio gave moms-to-be a stable place to call home, their babies thrived.

From “forest bathing” to clinically prescribed time in national parks, a growing medical movement is sending patients back to nature, with remarkable results.

With their heightened sense of touch, visually impaired women are detecting breast cancer in communities where access to health care is sparse.

The free Advanced Illness Care Program helps people with serious illnesses and their caregivers navigate “living wills.”

“Recovery schools” blend typical high school curriculums with addiction treatment, leading to higher rates of attendance, graduation and sobriety.

Covid transformed cities, jobs, even entertainment in ways that seem to be ever more permanent — and in some cases, made the world a better place.

With “gratitude necklaces” and “gardens of emotions,” mental wellbeing classes help young people with anxiety and confidence.

As housing for senior citizens moves onto college campuses, two generations separated by 50 years are connecting in profound ways that benefit both.

Abuse survivors can call helplines to stop the violence. Now abusers can, too.

From hotlines to home visits, these organizations offer a helping hand when overwhelmed parents need it most.

For nearly a month, 30 strangers locked down together to test the first major update to the polio vaccines in decades.

Utah, Virginia and Washington allow people to ban themselves from impulsively buying a gun. Many more states could follow their lead.

Hospitals sell their patients’ debt to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar. RIP Medical Debt buys it up — just to forget all about it.

While other cities wait for their newly planted trees to grow, the Israeli city is updating an age-old cooling method for the 21st century.

As much of Nigeria struggles to contain a polio outbreak, traditional leaders in Cross River have made sure their local constituents embrace the vaccine.

Health care employees face higher rates of violence than any other type of worker. Now, a wearable button that summons help is stopping attacks before they happen.

Inside the incredible science of using music to restore the memories of people with dementia.

As wildfires increase in intensity and frequency, a Canadian initiative is protecting the mental health of those on the front lines.

Society has come a long way in expecting men to share reproductive responsibility, but those who could benefit most might not get access.

A Black skin health company is giving dermatologists and patients the medical information they need. Their next step? Training the bias out of medical AI.

As alcohol consumption surges, groundbreaking new experiments are showing the vast potential of psilocybin to treat addiction.

New technology is intervening in the moments where speed matters more than anything. Welcome to the future of emergency medicine.

How a science that now saves countless lives started with dairymaids who never got smallpox.

As days get hotter, new forms of architecture are ensuring home-based workers can stay comfortably productive.

The same A.I. technology that runs Jason Barnes’ prosthetic arm can teach people how to read Braille or play the piano in a matter of hours.

Your pet’s “carbon paw print” is bigger than you think. Cutting animal products from their diet may be the quickest way to change that.

India has saved the eyesight of thousands of infants by creating a system that allows non-physicians to screen for a rare eye disease.

If you have a phone, you can be one of the 5.4 million volunteers who help the visually impaired with their daily tasks.

High vaccination rates, broad health coverage and bipartisan cooperation protected a city that initially looked vulnerable.

New Zealand is offering paid leave to women who miscarry — not just to grieve, but to fight discrimination.

Some patients are undergoing difficult procedures while surrounded by fluffy bouncing bears and winter wonderlands.

Ice-chilled, powered by the sun and cold for weeks without electricity, the future of refrigeration is here — and just in time.

After a 70-year effort China has eradicated malaria. Could other countries replicate their success?

A nonprofit is making sure that when patients get discharged, those caring for them know what they’re doing.

“I call it a ‘do-what-you-can day’ — stay at home, take it easy, cancel all your appointments, or come in and work as usual.”

When musician Yoko Sen ended up in the hospital, she was overwhelmed by the cacophony of noise. What if all those beeps and alarms could sound like music instead?

By minimizing wasted time, companies are increasing productivity — and workers are going home before lunch.

In India, an elegantly simple system ensures pills don’t get flushed when others can use them.

In an era of decriminalization, a proposal to phase in a total ban has some harm-reduction advocates scratching their heads.

The rarely discussed condition that forces women to scale back their careers is finally getting the equity treatment.

When an affluent California city erected temporary shelters in a public parking lot, angry residents revolted — and then they got involved.

Where isolation is an official policy, alleviating it is becoming one, too.

A full-service facility run by the people who need it offers hot water, laundry, medical care — and legitimization.

From veterinarian vaccinators to pop-up sites at mosques, here are some of the methods making the vaccine campaign more effective and equitable.

Not every call to the police requires an armed response. Now, a more compassionate alternative is catching on.

Facing racial violence and Covid-19, some congregations are putting their faith in psychology.

A no-waste, no-cost solution — endorsed by everyone from hunters to PETA — is finally going mainstream.

In “small house” elder-care facilities, family-sized groups of residents are thriving. The virus is not.

An industry that often celebrates pushing through the pain is turning its focus to mental health.

In our latest “Bridging Divides” video, a crash course in reaching out to those who feel furthest away.

As the pandemic makes supermarkets a no-go zone for some, cities are writing prescriptions for free fruits and vegetables, delivered right to residents’ doors.

The city is pinpointing residents who are on the verge of losing their homes and getting them help before it happens.

Patients involved in violence may find a pink-shirted “Navigator” at their bedside, gently asking what led to the incident — and how they can help.

Populated by seasonal laborers, Oregon’s Willamette Valley could have been devastated by the coronavirus. Instead, it’s become a model for how to keep workers safe.

In an effort to make its prisons more than punitive, Washington D.C. has begun offering cognitive behavioral therapy to incarcerated individuals.

After we featured a list of places beating the coronavirus, many of you wrote in with your own countries’ success stories. Here are five you said we shouldn’t miss.

While success stories like Germany and South Korea are rightly hailed, some of the most effective responses are in countries that haven’t been making the news.

With the fewest infections of any state, Alaska proves contact tracing can work — even in America.

Covid-19 is showing us what ending mass incarceration could look like. Some judges and prosecutors like what they see.

As farms and restaurants close, organizers are mobilizing to make sure the food left behind gets to where it’s needed most.

As people’s homes become bulwarks against the pandemic, funding for health care is being spent on housing. Maybe they were the same thing all along.

Chile is banning cereal mascots and slapping warning labels on unhealthy foods. Now even the kids won’t touch them.

From transgender clinics to big wins in the fight against HIV, the landscape for LGBT health is nearly unrecognizable from just 10 years ago.

In country after country, one of the world’s deadliest diseases is being eradicated. In many cases, it’s women leading the fight.

They’re the medical system’s eyes and ears, yet they’re treated as crisis managers. Now some cities are letting their paramedics get to know their patients, with remarkable results.

What would happen if our first step towards solving homelessness was to actually give people someplace to live?

By decriminalizing even “hard” drugs like heroin and cocaine, Portugal drove down HIV rates and overdose deaths—and proved beyond a doubt that harm reduction works.

How a once-radical idea is becoming the norm in country after country.

A doctor in Denver is blending the Medicaid model with a capitalist profit motive, offering high-quality health care without the frills.