Global Health

Young women listen to a talk on domestic violence and HIV prevention near Lome, Togo, in April. Abused women in sub-Saharan Africa and India are at higher risk for HIV than women who haven't experienced violence.

Health & Safety

WHO Finds Violence Against Women Is 'Shockingly' Common

9:15am June 24, 2013

The first comprehensive global study to be conducted finds that domestic violence kills many women and leaves others with long-standing physical and mental health problems, including sexually transmitted diseases and depression.

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Maria Smolnitcaia, 52, is a singer living on a TB ward in Balti, Moldova. Smolnitcaia says "When we take the pills, we feel worse. I'm losing my hearing a little. I feel pain in my bones, in my whole body."

Faces Of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

11:25am June 12, 2013

by Jason Beaubien

New types of tuberculosis are emerging around the world that take years and thousands of dollars to cure. Patients fighting this disease are often isolated from their communities and suffer devastating drug side effects, such as permanent hearing loss and dizziness.

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Men outside a hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, wear surgical masks as a precaution against infection with a coronavirus.

Triple Threat: Middle East Respiratory Virus And 2 Bird Flus

8:11am June 11, 2013

by Richard Knox

Is the world on the verge of a pandemic? There are three reasons to think so. Two flu viruses are active, and a virus that bears a resemblance to SARS has cropped up in the Middle East. Each has devastating potential, but many early warnings of past pandemics have failed to materialize.

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Oxana and Pavel Rucsineanu walk to the tuberculosis hospital in Balti, Moldova. Oxana and their new baby live in an apartment, but Pavel still has to stay at the TB ward, fighting for his life.

Health & Safety

Love In The Time Of TB: A Young Family Fights An Ancient Foe

10:33am June 04, 2013

by Jason Beaubien

Oxana and Pavel Rucsineanu fell in love while living in a Moldovan hospital's tuberculosis ward. Now, several years later, Oxana has recovered, and she and the couple's new baby live in an apartment. But Pavel's infection has evolved into a deadly form of TB, which keeps him from joining his new son and wife.

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Michelle Williams (center) and two daughters visit the grave of her mother, Judy Williams, at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park, Mass., on May 11. Judy died in 2011.

A Boston Family's Struggle With TB Reveals A Stubborn Foe

9:10am June 04, 2013

by Richard Knox

Tuberculosis is much less of a health threat in the United States than it is in other countries. But a family in Boston discovered that even here, no one is immune from this ancient foe. More than a dozen family members were infected with TB, and matriarch Judy Williams died at age 59.

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Grace Aber stands in the shade of a mango tree with her children in the remote village of Tumangu in northern Uganda. Four of Aber's nine children have been diagnosed with nodding syndrome, starting with Partick (front), who first showed symptoms in 2002.

After Years Of War, Ugandan Children Face New Deadly Threat

8:27am June 01, 2013

by Matthew Kielty

Uganda has lost one generation to a brutal, decades-long war. Now, a second generation is jeopardized by a strange disease known as nodding syndrome, which affects only children in parts of Africa and has no known cause.

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There's no better deal than getting polio cases down to zero, philanthropist Bill Gates says.

Why Bill Gates Thinks Ending Polio Is Worth It

4:28pm May 09, 2013

by Michaeleen Doucleff

The Microsoft founder and philanthropist is putting his money and time where his passion is: eradicating polio. Gates talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about why it makes sense to spend an estimated $5.5 billion to wipe out the disease once and for all.

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Doctors at a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, treat a boy injured in what the government said was a chemical weapons attack on March 19. Syria's government and rebels accused each other of firing a rocket loaded with chemical agents outside of Aleppo.

How Doctors Would Know If Syrians Were Hit With Nerve Gas

12:02pm May 01, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

An international team of doctors is helping Syrian health workers recognize the signs of a chemical attack. They're also teaching them how to collect and preserve tissues as potential evidence if war crimes charges are brought.

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Deadly Strain Of Bird Flu Is 'Most Lethal' Flu Virus Yet

2:34pm April 24, 2013

At a briefing in Beijing Wednesday, World Health Organization officials called the H7N9 bird flu that's emerged in China one of the "most lethal" flu viruses so far. NPR science correspondent Richard Knox talks about what we know, and the questions that remain about the deadly strain.

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A cockerel walks on a bridge in a residential area of Beijing. The Chinese are beginning to destroy thousands of birds in an effort to stamp out the presumed source of H7N9 infection.

Health & Safety

Human Cases Of Bird Flu In China Draw Scrutiny

6:09pm April 08, 2013

by Richard Knox

Sixteen cases of a new flu in China have touched off a major effort to determine what kind of threat it might be. Flu experts want to know where the H7N9 virus is coming from and how it gets around.

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