It’s not an exaggeration to say that hope is in short supply these days in global health. The steep cuts to lifesaving global health programs, the burning of emergency food supplies, the renewed politicization of vaccines are just a few of the bleak developments that have happened since the start of the year.

But that narrow view misses the quiet progress happening around the world.

Just last week, the Maldives — a tiny archipelago in the Arabian Sea — became the first country in the world to eliminate the transmission of hepatitis B, HIV, and syphilis from mother to child. That’s no small feat. Across Southeast Asia, thousands of pregnant women still pass on these infections to their babies each year. Hepatitis B alone affects more than 42 million people in the region, according to the World Health Organization.

This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.

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