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February 28, 2013 Three years after an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's capital, it's clear that only a fraction of the $9 billion pledged in international relief reached the country. Most of what did arrive went to short-term relief, instead of rebuilding people's homes.

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February 22, 2013 Treating people for HIV isn't just beneficial for those infected but also helps the entire community. Two studies show that where HIV drugs are widely available, the risk for new HIV infections drops dramatically and overall life expectancy increases by more than a decade.

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February 14, 2013 International aid agencies are pouring millions of dollars into a large industrial park on Haiti's north coast. The Caracol Industrial Park is intended to create 60,000 jobs and encourage people to move out of the overcrowded capital Port-au-Prince.

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February 12, 2013 The world is close to wiping out polio, as the number of new cases is at an all-time low. But recent violence against polio vaccinators threatens to reverse this progress. Recently, gunmen killed nine polio vaccinators in Nigeria, mirroring attacks in Pakistan in December.

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February 6, 2013 Thousands of kids have been exposed to toxic levels of lead around illegal gold mines in northern Nigeria. After months of delay, the Nigerian government has released money to clean up the lead in these areas.

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February 1, 2013 Drug-resistant tuberculosis is on the rise worldwide, but identifying the disease has been difficult and time-consuming. Touted as a "game changer" in the fight against TB, a new tool cuts diagnostic times from weeks to hours and doesn't require a lab.

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January 29, 2013 Haiti is trying to sell itself as an international vacation hub in a bid to revive its once-vibrant tourism industry. Officials say tourism could be a major driver of economic growth and help lift Haitians out of poverty.

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January 11, 2013 Three years ago, a massive earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's capital city. Aid agencies from around the world pledged billions of dollars to help Haiti rebuild. But since then, many of the grand plans have fizzled, and some 350,000 Haitians still live in makeshift camps.

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January 2, 2013 A scientist in Thailand raises mosquito colonies so she can study a new malaria drug. The insects are quite spoiled — they'll eat only live human blood. So she feeds them "breakfast" each day from her right arm.

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December 27, 2012 NPR Global Health and Development Correspondent Jason Beaubien travels the world reporting on famines and wars, interviewing Nobel laureates and preachers, and covering the world's most prevalent and troublesome health issues. But on Sundays, he's on pancake duty.

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December 19, 2012 With publicity campaigns, radio jingles and pinups, the government helped eliminate the parasitic disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still fighting malaria at home and abroad.

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December 19, 2012 Myanmar and other parts of Southeast Asia are awash with shoddy and phony malaria drugs. Some fakes are almost indistinguishable from authentic drugs. The counterfeits can be deadly for patients, but they also threaten to undermine major weapons against the disease.

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December 18, 2012 Global deaths from malaria have dropped sharply in the past decade, thanks in part to powerful drugs called artemisinins. But on the border between Thailand and Myanmar, doctors are starting to see cracks in artemisinin's armor. The medicine is working more slowly, and sometimes not at all.

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December 6, 2012 Last spring, the Nigerian government pledged millions of dollars to decontaminate a region where hundreds of kids have died from severe lead poisoning. So far, none of the money has been released. The delay in the cleanup puts thousands of kids at risk of getting sick, public health advocates say.

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December 4, 2012 The appearance of an unusual type of poliovirus in Pakistan exposed gaps in vaccination campaigns. When a community isn't well immunized against polio, the weakened virus used in the oral vaccine can mutate and then infect unvaccinated people.

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