Ibrahim Songne, an immigrant from Burkina Faso, opened a pizza spot called IBRIS in the Italian town of Trento. He overcame local prejudices — and now has been named to a list of the world's top 50 pizzerias. Marilena Umuhoza Delli for NPR hide caption
A Hong Kong hamster that evaded the cull. Bertha Wang/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A scene from Midwives: A baby whose face is adorned with thanaka — a kind of sunscreen made from wood bark. POV/EyeSteelFilm hide caption
A student washes her hands before entering a classroom at a school in Blantyre, Malawi, in March 2021. Top scientists say that many African countries, including Malawi, appear to have already arrived at a substantially less threatening stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Joseph Mizere/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images hide caption
A health worker wearing protective clothing shows people lining up at a testing center in Beijing, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images hide caption
A computer-generated image of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Uma Shankar Sharma/Getty Images hide caption
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu is the head of the World Health Organization's newly created Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. "We have to get better at convincing leaders to use the data we provide and not their political instinct or whatever else their decisions are based on. And that's not easy," he says. Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters hide caption
In this photo taken on Jan. 20, a beach resort in Tonga, on the outskirts of the capital of Nuku'alofa, shows the impact of the tsunami that hit the island nation in the wake of an underwater volcanic eruption. Aid efforts have been complicated by the pandemic — with only one case of COVID on record, Tonga is wary of outsiders who might bring the virus. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images hide caption
In the main Olympic media center, a promotional image anticipates the Beijing Games. Throughout the Olympic venues, organizers anticipate the threat of COVID-19. David J. Phillip/AP hide caption
This German snowman wears a protective mask over its banana nose and mouth, but experts say the risk of catching COVID outdoors is slim. Peter Kneffel hide caption
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), depicted above in yellow and surrounded by cellular debris, is a staph bacterium that resists treatment by many common antibiotics. The image is from a scanning electron micrograph. NIH/NAID/IMAGE.FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
A resident receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a health center in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Jan. 13. This week, Indonesia started a program to give booster shots to the elderly and people at risk of severe disease. Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
A woman wearing a protective mask walks past a sign in a cosmetic shop window on March 17, 2020 in London, England. Leon Neal/Getty Images hide caption