Global Health

Brazilian scientist Sotiris Missailidis heads research and development at his country's premier agency for vaccine development, the Bio-Manguinhos Fiocruz foundation. He's been a key advocate for shifting Brazil's strategy toward inventing its own vaccine

A dire moment in the pandemic ... was the chance he'd been waiting for

9:07pm July 18, 2022

by Nurith Aizenman

How Sotiris Missailidis, head of R&D in Brazil's vaccine agency, used the COVID crisis to push through a game-changing effort for middle-income countries to invent their own mRNA vaccine.

Queue Listen Now

Women in burkas sit outside a bakery in Kabul. Impoverished women from hilltop slums around Kabul have been flocking to bakeries in the city, silently waiting to see if someone will purchase bread for them.

Health & Safety

In Kabul, a new ritual: Hungry women wait for bread outside bakeries

7:26am July 17, 2022

Since the Taliban came to power, food insecurity has risen. Women in blue burqas sit in front of the city's upscale bakeries, silently waiting for charitable passersby to purchase bread for them.

Global vaccination coverage continued to plunge in 2021, according to a new report

5:28pm July 15, 2022

by Tekella Foster

A report from WHO and UNICEF states that last year, 25 million children missed out on one or more "lifesaving vaccines" — for diseases like tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, polio and yellow fever.

What do you do if you catch COVID on a trip?

We asked, you answered: NPR readers share how they handled COVID on vacation

3:03pm July 15, 2022

by Marc Silver

Nearly 5,000 NPR readers told us how they dealt with COVID on a trip. Did they respect the CDC guidance to wait 10 days before flying? Or did they travel anyway? What lessons do they have to share?

Patricia Neves (left) and Ana Paula Ano Bom take a break at the institute in Rio de Janeiro where they work. The two scientists say they've been inseparable since they met in college. Now their friendship has made it possible to launch a remarkable partne

These Brazilian besties are inventing an mRNA vaccine as a gift to the world

6:20pm July 13, 2022

by Nurith Aizenman

Pfizer and Moderna have refused to divulge details of how to make their cutting-edge COVID shots. Here's what two scientists — and longtime best friends — are doing about it.

Queue Listen Now

The visa hurdle: Why conference applicants from the global south can't always clear it

3:31pm July 13, 2022

by Ari Daniel

Global health meetings are often held in the West — and that's an obstacle for scientists, doctors and advocates from lower resource countries. Which means their voices aren't being heard.

As wealthy nations push 4th booster shots, Africa is being left behind

4:29pm July 12, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance, about the ongoing challenges of addressing COVID-19.

A teenage girl wearing a face mask, head scarf and long black robe listens to a math teacher at a tutoring center in Kabul. The center was established by a women's rights activist to circumvent a Taliban ban on girls attending secondary school. The activi

Secret schools enable Afghanistan's teen girls to skirt Taliban's education ban

4:29pm July 12, 2022

The official rule: no secondary school for girls. But behind a veil of secrecy, women are opening small schools so that at least some of these teenagers are able to continue learning

Dr. Atul Gawande delivers a speech in 2015. In January 2022, he became the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development's work in global health.

Faced with COVID and monkeypox, new USAID leader draws strength from African proverb

5:40pm July 11, 2022

by Ailsa Chang

Dr Atul Gawande, the surgeon and bestselling health writer talks, to NPR about the problems he has inherited as the new head of USAID's global health office.

There's a vaccine and decades of research against Monkeypox. So why is it spreading?

4:24pm July 11, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at UCLA about Monkeypox and measures being taken to mitigate the spread.

Queue Listen Now