Features

Every year, more than a million people around the world lose their lives on the road—a staggering toll that ripples through families, communities, health care systems and entire countries. On the third Sunday of November, the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims inspires countries to pause to acknowledge these losses.

Our work is guided by three core pillars—Promoting Health, Preventing Harm and Protecting Communities. In 2025, these priorities translated evidence into measurable public health impact across countries and communities. Photo: Juan Arredondo.

A new directive from the Royal Government of Cambodia strengthens tobacco control laws to protect children and public health by banning the import, sale, advertising, use and production of all electronic smoking devices.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a Code of Conduct aimed at denormalizing interactions between civil servants and the tobacco industry and preventing industry interference in tobacco control policy development and implementation.

This year’s top blogs reflect our global reach and the urgency of today’s challenges, whether strengthening health systems, reimagining public health language, preventing injuries and NCDs, or advancing gender equity. Here are 10 of our most popular Vital Stories from 2025.

Vital Strategies’ Overdose Prevention Program reflects on a year of meaningful progress, highlighting community-driven partnerships and evidence-based solutions that are helping reduce overdose deaths across the U.S. Explore 12 standout initiatives that advanced equitable, health-centered responses in 2025.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Ministry of Health, with guidance from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative’s Data to Policy Program, have collaborated on a plan for the nationwide expansion of One-Stop Service Units for survivors of gender-based violence.