Last week, we mentioned that child mortality has gone down 50 percent since 1990. Now, new research has found that with sustained international efforts the premature death rate—defined as dying before reaching 50—could go down by 40% by 2030. Between 2000 and 2010 global premature deaths for adults fell by one-sixth. Millennium Development Goals that helped spur efforts to fight AIDS, malaria, and other diseases were critical in reducing premature mortality.