Global Health

Health & Safety

Australia's Pandemic Rules Kept People Safe, But At A Price

7:57am June 20, 2021

by Diaa Hadid

Australia's tough quarantine rules have kept the country largely covid free, but it's also left dozens of kids stranded abroad without parents. They're among the thousands struggling to return.

Jeff Nelligan (center left) stands with his three sons in December 2019.

Health & Safety

Dad Draws On Maori Roots To Raise 3 Resilient Sons. Step 1: Send Them On A Milk Run

11:32am June 19, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Jeff Nelligan, whose Maori great-grandmother left New Zealand and settled in the U.S., explains his parenting strategies in his book Four Lessons From My Three Sons: How You Can Raise Resilient Kids.

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during the Feb. 3 visit of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that triggered a pandemic.

The Investigation Of The Pandemic's Origins Is At An Impasse

5:37pm June 17, 2021

by Will Stone

In the wake of heated debate over the unproven lab leak theory, the world is calling on China to cooperate with investigations. But efforts to delve into this matter seem to be stalling.

COVID-19 Is Igniting A Public Health Emergency In Haiti, Despite Low Case Numbers

4:30pm June 17, 2021

by Carrie Kahn

Despite Haiti's relatively low COVID-19 infection rate, its poverty and inadequate health care system are creating a public health emergency. The first vaccines arrived only this week.

Sahr Tarawaly, 14, works several jobs to earn money to support his mom and two siblings. "I used to like mathematics," the round-faced teenager says. "Now I go down to the beach to fish, to have fish to eat."

Health & Safety

This 14-Year-Old Family Breadwinner Is Part Of The Rise In Child Labor

4:28pm June 17, 2021

by Jason Beaubien

His father left with their savings, and the mother isn't able to work. A new report points to an increase in child labor, with millions of kids working. And COVID has likely made matters worse.

Did COVID-19 Leak From A Lab? A Reporter Investigates — And Finds Roadblocks

1:54pm June 17, 2021

by Terry Gross

President Biden has asked the intelligence community to investigate whether or not the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Vanity Fair reporter Katherine Eban shares her findings.

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COVID-19 Cases Falling In India, But Disrupted Health System Still Causing Deaths

4:35pm June 15, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

Even as India's caseload declines, families and doctors say cancer patients and others in need of dialysis or chemotherapy are dying prematurely because India's health system has ground to a halt.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro holds up a box of chloroquine, an antimalarial medicine that his administration endorsed as part of an "early treatment" strategy for COVID-19. There is no evidence the drug can prevent the coronavirus or reduce the seve

Health & Safety

Brazil's Main COVID Strategy Is A Cocktail Of Unproven Drugs

4:21pm June 15, 2021

In one of the hardest hit countries in the world, the main strategy is a so-called early treatment combo of unproven medications — endorsed by President Jair Bolsonaro.

The infectious and contagious rabies virus, shown here in a colorized micrograph, can be transmitted to humans through the bite or saliva of an infected animal. Thanks to protective vaccination of pets, rabies was eliminated from the U.S. dog population i

Health & Safety

The U.S. Bans Importing Dogs From 113 Countries After Rise In False Rabies Records

7:20pm June 14, 2021

by Rob Stein

A surge in pet adoptions has increased demand for dogs imported from around the world. Most are fine, but federal officials turned up 450 dogs in 2020 with false records — 50% more than in 2019.

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Health & Safety

How Novavax Compares To Other COVID-19 Vaccines

4:27pm June 14, 2021

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Heath, about how the new COVID-19 vaccine, Novavax, plays into global vaccination rates.