Hannah Bloch Hannah Bloch is lead digital editor on NPR's international desk, overseeing the work of NPR correspondents and freelance journalists around the world.
Stories By

Hannah Bloch

Mike Morgan/NPR
Hannah Bloch, photographed for NPR, 19 September 2019, in Washington DC.
Mike Morgan/NPR

Hannah Bloch

Lead Digital Editor, International Desk

Hannah Bloch is lead digital editor on NPR's international desk, overseeing the work of NPR correspondents and freelance journalists around the world.

Her first contributions to NPR were on the other side of the microphone when, as a writer and editor at National Geographic, she was interviewed by NPR for her reporting from Afghanistan and on the role failure plays in exploration. During her 2004-2014 tenure at National Geographic, she also reported from Easter Island and covered a range of topics including archaeology and global health.

From 2014-2017, Bloch wrote the "Work in Progress" column at The Wall Street Journal, highlighting efforts by social entrepreneurs and problem-solvers to make a measurable difference in the world.

Earlier in her career, she was Time Magazine's first full-time correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, covering the rise and fall of the Taliban regime, Pakistan's nuclear tests, and the regrouping of al-Qaida after Sept. 11. She also established and led CNN's first bureau in Islamabad.

Bloch was part of NPR's Peabody Award-winning team covering the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and was the recipient of a John S. Knight Professional Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University and a Freedom Forum Asia Studies Fellowship at the University of Hawaii.

She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned master's degrees in journalism and international affairs from Columbia University.

Story Archive

Tuesday

A man walks over his collapsed mud house after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province, on Aug. 28. Fida Hussain/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Fida Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

Friday

Bilquis Edhi watched over abandoned children in cradles at the Edhi orphanage in Karachi in 2010. Over the years, thousands of children have been left in the network of cradles outside Edhi centers she set up across Pakistan. Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images

Saturday

Painter Irfan Mohammad works on a truck at a sprawling workshop in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Claire Harbage/NPR

These eye-popping, hand-painted trucks rule Pakistan's roads

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1076102464/1076123116" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Sunday

In Pakistan, big trucks are the perfect canvas for intricate murals

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1075168735/1075168736" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

A man distributes bread outside a bakery in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Dec. 2. According to U.N. figures, some 23 million people in Afghanistan suffer from extreme levels of hunger. Petros Giannakouris/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Petros Giannakouris/AP

For many Afghans, winter is forcing a cruel choice of whether to eat or stay warm

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069872384/1071060094" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Monday

As 2022 starts, most Afghans don't have enough food to eat

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1069837718/1069837719" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Afghan music students, teachers and their families disembark from their flight to Lisbon on Dec. 13. The group of more than 270 evacuees had been staying in Doha, awaiting resettlement in Portugal. Armando Franca/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Armando Franca/AP

Afghan music students escaped the Taliban and are beginning their new lives abroad

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1064510598/1065718690" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaks at a news conference following the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Islamabad on Sunday. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Claire Harbage/NPR

Islamic countries are pledging to launch a humanitarian trust fund for Afghanistan

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1065722944/1065722945" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

After escaping the Taliban, Afghan music students and teachers begin their new lives

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1065083119/1065083120" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Taliban political office spokesman Muhammad Naeem Wardak spoke with NPR in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 11. Fatma Tanis/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Fatma Tanis/NPR

What the Taliban really want from the world, in their own words

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1064001076/1064614685" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Protesters march in Kabul on Wednesday, a day after the Taliban announced their all-male interim government. At left, a protester carries a sign with a photo showing Banu Negar, a pregnant police officer who was killed in front of her relatives early this week in Ghor province. Family members accuse the Taliban of carrying out the killing. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Thursday

Thursday

Left to Right: Tens of billions of locusts descended on Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia; Protesters demonstrate after a U.S. airstrike in Iraq killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani; Riot police detain a man during a protest in Hong Kong; Kangaroos flee a bush fire in Australia. Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images; Ebrahim Noroozi/AP; Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images; Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images; Ebrahim Noroozi/AP; Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images; Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images

Tuesday

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó take part in a march in Caracas in February 2019. Amid Venezuela's isolation and catastrophic economic conditions, Guaidó emerged as a key challenger to Nicolás Maduro's rule, but has had difficulty sustaining his initial mass momentum in support. Cristian Hernandez/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Cristian Hernandez/AFP via Getty Images

Sunday

Fewer than 1 million people live in Amsterdam, but almost 20 million visit each year. The city is working to crack down on "overtourism." Above, bicycles are parked outside the city's Sexyland nightclub. Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images

Monday

A Saudi woman celebrates with her friends as she drives her car in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday. The lifting of the ban on women driving marks a milestone for women in the kingdom who have had to rely on drivers, male relatives, taxis and ride-hailing services to get to work, go shopping and simply move around. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters hide caption

toggle caption
Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

Tuesday

President Trump gestures to reporters as he meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un at the start of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore on Tuesday. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Tuesday

Monday

Monday

Monday

Cross-country skier Iivo Niskanen of Finland celebrates winning the men's 50-kilometer mass start classic race on Feb. 24. His was Finland's first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games. Ian MacNicol/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Sunday

Artists perform near the Olympic flame during the closing ceremony. "Although parting is sad, we will remember Pyeongchang with beautiful memories," said Lee Hee-beom, the Pyeongchang Olympics organizing committee president. Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

Saturday

Friday

More than 1,200 people, including 1,000 residents of Gangwon province, form the shape of a dove out of candlelight during the opening ceremony. Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images