Health & Safety

This online learning program is teaching preschoolers in crisis situations

5:07pm February 29, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with reporter Anya Kamenetz about an Arabic-language remote learning program called "Ahlan Simsim." It's a show by the Sesame Workshop, created for Syrian refugees.

Queue Listen Now

Hundreds gather for a protest rally in support of in vitro fertilization legislation on Wednesday in Montgomery, Ala.

Alabama Legislature moves to protect IVF services after state court ruling

4:59pm February 29, 2024

by The Associated Press

Alabama lawmakers rushed to protect in vitro fertilization services after fertility clinics shut down in the wake of a ruling that frozen embryos are children under the state wrongful death law.

Hurricane Irene caused enormous damage in New York state, flooding homes like this one in Prattsville, NY, in 2011. Major weather events like Irene send people to the hospital and can even contribute to deaths for weeks after the storms.

The human cost of climate-related disasters is acutely undercounted, new study says

12:12pm February 29, 2024

by Alejandra Borunda

A new study counts the human health costs from increasingly costly and dangerous extreme weather in the U.S.

Comirnaty, a new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination booster for COVID-19, is displayed at a pharmacy in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

Older US adults should get another COVID-19 shot, health officials recommend

11:44pm February 28, 2024

by The Associated Press

The CDC said Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that became available in September — if at least four months has passed since their last shot.

A dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. When an unvaccinated person is exposed to measles, public health guidance if for them to get vaccinated within three days.

Florida's response to measles outbreak troubles public health experts

3:16pm February 28, 2024

by Pien Huang

The state has at least 10 cases of the illness to date but the state's surgeon general has not called for vaccinations or quarantining of exposed kids. This goes against science-based measures.

Queue Listen Now

Janice Jernigans, 75, of St. Louis' Hyde Park neighborhood, signs a petition for a Missouri constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion up until fetal viability on Feb. 6 at The Pageant in St. Louis.

Missouri advocates gather signatures for abortion legalization, but GOP hurdle looms

12:20pm February 28, 2024

by Jason Rosenbaum

Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S. Abortion rights supporters have until May to gather over 171,000 signatures to have the issue appear before voters this fall.

Queue Listen Now

Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Feb. 24. Lake has softened her stance on abortion as the campaign season moves forward.

In Arizona, abortion politics are already playing out on the Senate campaign trail

11:48am February 28, 2024

by Ben Giles

Abortion proved to be a major issue in the 2022 midterms and again in 2023. This year, the presidential race puts extra attention on the ballot. In Arizona, that means the issue is front and center.

The effort to legalize abortion in Missouri

9:27pm February 27, 2024

by Jason Rosenbaum

Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Abortion rights advocates aim to get a ballot initiative legalizing the procedure in front of voters this year.

Queue Listen Now

How gerontology, the study of aging, came to be

4:55pm February 27, 2024

NPR's history podcast Throughline tells us the story of the scientist who helped launch gerontology, the study of aging, and how we started viewing aging as a disease.

Florida's response to a measles outbreak endangers children, experts say

4:28pm February 27, 2024

by Pien Huang

A measles outbreak in a Florida elementary school flummoxes public health experts, who say the state surgeon general's response contradicts established public health measures to contain the virus.