Global Health

Health & Safety

How Mistakes, Missed Opportunities Allowed COVID-19 To Ravage The U.S.

1:22pm January 07, 2021

by Terry Gross

The U.S. has only four percent of the world's population — and yet it accounts for 20 percent of all COVID deaths. New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright discusses America's pandemic year.

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Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference Thursday in Tokyo, where he declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and neighboring prefectures amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases.

Japan Issues COVID-19 State Of Emergency For Tokyo As Infections Rise

9:44am January 07, 2021

by Anthony Kuhn

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces new voluntary restrictions amid alarm at rapidly increasing coronavirus case numbers.

A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Dr. Jean-Christophe Richard in La Croix-Rousse hospital, in Lyon, France, on Wednesday. Amid public outcry, France's health minister promised Tuesday an "exponential" acceleration of h

After Slow Start, Europeans Call For Quicker Vaccines Against COVID-19

6:51pm January 06, 2021

by Eleanor Beardsley

From France to Germany to The Netherlands, citizens are venting frustration over the pace of the mass vaccination program.

A bottle of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is shown before being used last month in Topeka, Kan. The European Medicines Agency has recommended authorizing the drug on a conditional basis.

EU Authorizes Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Saying It Has 160 Million Doses

1:52pm January 06, 2021

by Bill Chappell

"Now we are working at full speed to approve it & make it available in the EU," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It is be the second vaccine to get EU authorization.

Shaista sits in her tiny home on the outskirts of Kabul. Her youngest, a 3-year-old girl, sits on her lap; some of her other seven children sit beside her. Behind them, she is boiling a pot of water on the wood-burning stove. But she's told the children i

'I Cry At Night': Afghan Mothers Struggle To Feed Their Children In The Pandemic

1:43pm January 06, 2021

by Diaa Hadid

The U.N. finds that nearly half of all children younger than 5 in Afghanistan, some 3.1 million, are facing acute malnutrition. Mothers share their plight to provide the children sustenance.

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Volunteers and health officials hold a dry run for the coronavirus vaccine at a hospital in Allahabad, India. There's concern that drug patents will keep lower income countries from getting the doses they need in a timely fashion.

Health & Safety

What Will It Take To End The COVID-19 Pandemic?

5:38pm January 05, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Health experts are hopeful that vaccines will stop the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. But what will it take to make the 12 to 15 billion doses to cover the entire globe?

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Students rehearse a poem that they will recite at an event advocating against female genital mutilation at the Imbirikani Girls High School in Kenya.

Is The Pandemic Causing A Surge In Female Genital Mutilation?

11:55am January 05, 2021

by Maria Godoy

Kenya's president pledged to stamp out the practice by 2022. But since the pandemic began, activists say more girls are being cut — and married off afterward.

Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding, by Daniel E. Lieberman

'Exercised' Explains Why It Can Be Hard To Commit To Working Out — And Why We Should

10:29am January 05, 2021

by Barbara J. King

Harvard University's Daniel Lieberman looks at exercise from an evolutionary point of view, concluding that we evolved to limit our physical activity where possible, saving it for survival activities.

A staff member checks the packaging quality of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products at a packaging plant of the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co. in Beijing last month.

Beijing Reports Tens Of Thousands Inoculated In 1st Days Of COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign

9:57am January 04, 2021

by Emily Feng

Beijing says it has vaccinated more than 73,000 people in the two days since China's first domestic coronavirus vaccine was approved for commercial use.

Infectious Diseases Expert: No Evidence New Coronavirus Variant Is Any Deadlier

5:27pm January 02, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin discusses coronavirus mutations with physician Matt McCarthy, author of Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic.

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