Chickens on a chicken farm in Lichtenburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 23, 2023. Denis Farrell/AP hide caption
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A Kenyan child receives the world's first malaria vaccine, approved nearly two years ago. This week, the World Health Organization approved a second vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease. It's called R21/Matrix-M and is intended for children between 5 and 36 months, who are among the most vulnerable to the disease. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A 'dream' come true: Now there are 2 vaccines to slash the frightful toll of malaria
Kiran Joshi fills a copper vessel with water from Ashwanaula, a groundwater spring in the village of Raushil, where she lives with her family Viraj Nayar for NPR hide caption
As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs
Teresa Butler visits Trish and Glen Johnston at their home in Christchurch, New Zealand, to support Trish, 79, who gave up smoking four years ago. Trish is Māori and Glen is pākehā — a white New Zealander. Jinki Cambronero for NPR hide caption
Curfew (Likoni March 27 2020) by Kenyan-British painter Michael Armitage, was inspired by an attack on ferry passengers by paramilitary police in Nairobi. The painting hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Jonathan Muzikar/The Museum of Modern Art, New York hide caption
PEPFAR, the U.S. multibillion dollar effort to fight HIV/AIDS, funds organizations such as the Coptic hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Brent Stirton/Getty Images hide caption
When Florence Nightingale was recruiting nurses, an accomplished nurse from Jamaica named Mary Seacole traveled to London but was repeatedly rejected. Seacole wrote: "Did these ladies shrink from accepting my aid because my blood flowed beneath a somewhat duskier skin than theirs? " Her experience is part of the new book Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and its Power to Change the World. Universal History Archive/Getty Images hide caption
In 2019, NPR covered the story of Renee Bach, an American missionary who said she was called by God to serve the children of Uganda. Now HBO is presenting her story in the documentary series White Savior. Julia Rendleman for NPR hide caption
Long-time collaborators Pardis Sabeti (right) of the Broad Institute and Christian Happi of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria, are developing an early-warning system that could flag an emerging pandemic . Jodi Hilton for NPR hide caption
Ekemeni Riley is the managing director of Aligning Science Across Parkinson's, a research initiative that worked on an effort to bring a more diverse population into a study on genes that carry a greater risk for the disease. A team that included scientists from Lagos, London and the U.S. found a previously unknown gene variant that can nearly quadruple the risk for people of African ancestry. Anna Rose Layden for NPR hide caption
Archaeologists dug into a riverbank in Zambia and uncovered what they call the earliest known wood construction by humans. The half-million year-old artifacts could change how we see Stone-Age people. Larry Barham and Geoff Duller/University of Liverpool hide caption
To woo a cockatoo, scientists find having your own drumsticks and rhythm is key
The world hopes to enact a pandemic treaty by May 2024. Will it succeed or flail?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve by 2030. United Nations hide caption
Bulbul Aktar, a shasthya kormi, or community health worker, with the malaria elimination program in Bangladesh, goes door to door to treat malaria patients. "This is my job, my duty," says Aktar. "Every single home, I have to know about them and visit them." Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR hide caption
Kwame Alexander (left) and Jerry Craft have each won a Newbery Medal for their children's books. Alexander invited Craft on a trip to Kenya this summer to speak to schoolkids about reading. The kids were impressed. So were the authors. Brian Otieno for NPR hide caption
A field researcher holds a male bat that was trapped in an overhead net as part of an effort to find out how the animals pass Nipah virus to humans. The animal will be tested for the virus, examined and ultimately released. Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR hide caption
Baby babble isn't just goo goo! And hearing 2 languages is better than one
Laila Aseel, 24, holds her 1-year-old daughter, Aram. Aseel came to the hospital from an internally displaced persons camp, where she was living with her husband and four children after fleeing fighting in the north. She says she is unable to feed her kids more than one meal a day; when she arrived at the hospital, her daughter was near death from malnutrition. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, formulates mRNA for use in a 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
John Chiti is a Zambian musician and police commissioner. He also has albinism, a pigmentation condition that has shaped his life. His story inspired the film "Can You See Us?" — now streaming on Netflix. Jason Milikita/Sightsavers hide caption
He's a singer, a cop and the inspiration for a Netflix film about albinism in Africa
Kame Ogito, 89, gathers seaweed at low tide in Motobu, Okinawa, Japan. Seaweed is part of the plant-based, low-calorie diet that makes Okinawans some of the longest-lived people in the world. David McLain/Dan Buettner hide caption
7 habits to live a healthier life, inspired by the world's longest-lived communities
Natasha Poonawalla, executive director of the vaccine-manufacturing Serum Institute of India, donned an haute couture sari for the 2022 Met Gala. The garment is on display at the museum show '"The Offbeat Sari" (pictured, right). The designer is Sabyasachi Mukherjee and the metal corset is by Schiaparelli. Mike Coppola/Getty Images (l), Andy Stagg. Courtesy of the Design Museum hide caption