Nurith Aizenman
Nurith Aizenman, photographed for NPR, 11 March 2020, in Washington DC.
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Nurith Aizenman

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Tuesday

A vendor in a market in Nigeria counts local bills. The country is one of dozens whose devalued currency is fueling a debt crisis. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images

A dilemma for dozens of countries: Fund your schools and hospitals or pay your debt

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Monday

1 in 5 people around the world now live in countries teetering toward debt default

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Friday

WHO announces that COVID-19 is no longer a global emergency

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WHO says COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency

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Sunday

Sixth graders from Habu Primary School in Botswana on a safari. The trip is the high point of a multi-pronged effort by the nonprofit Wild Entrust to resolve a chronic conflict between rural villagers and the wild animals that destroy their crops. Nurith Aizenman/NPR hide caption

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Nurith Aizenman/NPR

Elephants are a menace for these 6th graders. Then they went on a safari ...

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Monday

The conflict between protecting crops and preserving wildlife also affects elephants

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Friday

Even a straightforward cataract surgery may be impossible in many places. These patients underwent surgery as part of a campaign run by Himalayan Cataract Project at the Bisidimo Hospital in Ethiopia. Surgeons performed more than 1,600 cataract surgeries during a six-day event. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

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Jason Beaubien/NPR

How do you get equal health care for all? A huge new database holds clues

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Sunday

For over 20 years, Dr. Daniel Bausch has responded to disease outbreaks, spending months at a time treating patients with diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, Lassa fever and Ebola. Now he's focusing on the importance of diagnostics. It's "one of the key aspects of preparedness," he says. Shuran Huang for NPR hide caption

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Shuran Huang for NPR

Saturday

Monday

Munyaradzi Musvosvi, a researcher who works for the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, in a storage facility at the University of Cape Town that holds in deep freeze the blood samples of people exposed to TB. He's part of a team working to develop a potential mRNA vaccine by looking at the immune cells in the blood samples. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR

Frozen cells reveal a clue for a vaccine to block the deadly TB bug

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Monday

A farmer checks wheat ripeness on a field in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Russian hostilities in Ukraine are preventing grain from leaving the "breadbasket of the world" and making food more expensive across the globe, threatening to worsen shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries. Efrem Lukatsky/AP hide caption

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Efrem Lukatsky/AP

The impact of the Ukraine war on food supplies: 'It could have been so much worse'

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Thursday

A traditional birth attendant massages a pregnant woman before assisting in delivering her baby in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Brian Inganga/AP hide caption

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Brian Inganga/AP

Sunday

The hunt is on to discover a COVID vaccine that wouldn't require freezers for storage

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Thursday

Yeshnee Naidoo prepares a "flow cell" for analysis by one of the center's many genetic sequencing machines. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR

Who's most likely to save us from the next pandemic? The answer may surprise you

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Scientists race to detect new pathogens before they can spark another pandemic

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Wednesday

Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, formulates mRNA for use in a new vaccine against COVID-19. The company — based in Cape Town, South Africa — is the linchpin of a global project to enable low- and middle-income countries to make mRNA vaccines against all manner of diseases. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR

How a scrappy African startup could forever change the world of vaccines

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Wednesday

Dr. Gabriela Kucharski is the secretary of health for Toledo, a city in southwestern Brazil. Amid the worst of the pandemic, she convinced Pfizer to choose Toledo for an experiment that would provide free COVID vaccines for every resident. Ian Cheibub for NPR hide caption

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Ian Cheibub for NPR

How this Brazilian doc got nearly every person in her city to take a COVID vaccine

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Monday

A women holds a child in the alley of a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a country where poverty persists even as average incomes rise. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Tuesday

the Imvanex vaccine, used against monkeypox and often referred to as JYNNEOS, is manufactured by only one company: Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic. Global supplies are limited. Africa, where the current outbreak began, is shut out. Alain Jocard/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Alain Jocard/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Is there enough monkeypox vaccine to go around? Maybe yes, more likely no

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Thursday

Patricia Neves (left) and Ana Paula Ano Bom helped launch a global project to revolutionize access to mRNA technology. Ian Cheibub for NPR hide caption

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Ian Cheibub for NPR

Monday

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 vaccines. Ian Cheibub for NPR hide caption

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Ian Cheibub for NPR

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

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Wednesday

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 partnership to make mRNA vaccines accessible to the world. Ian Cheibub for NPR hide caption

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Ian Cheibub for NPR

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

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Saturday

Romie Perez and Elia Zamarripa at Perez's house. The two are among the many holding impromptu cookouts to make meals for the families of the victims. Nurith Aizenman/NPR hide caption

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Nurith Aizenman/NPR

In Uvalde, tragedy and food bring a community together

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Wednesday

An update on the global COVID-19 vaccination effort

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