Global Health

Democratic Republic of the Congo - vector map pavalena/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption

Clockwise from upper left: Chicken-sizing will keep you fit. Educator Mo Pandiarajan excitedly shows his students a view of the specimen in a foldscope — a microscope made of paper. Bolivian skateboarders show off their moves at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., in June. A couple holding hands on Pocitos Beach in Montevideo, Uruguay, captivated the photographer. Clockwise from upper left: Andy Rementer for NPR; Viraj Nayer for NPR; Ben de la Cruz/NPR; Gustavo Minas for NPR hide caption

Scenes from popular Instagram posts from Goats and Soda: from left: a school for somewhat clueless men trying to master the art of the ponytail, harvesting water from fog in Kenya, COVID commentary (from our editor) and bold Bolivian skateboarders. NPR hide caption

Clockwise from upper left: elephants are clashing with villagers in Zambia; a Sudanese refugee in Chad; 15-year-old Paris Lekuuk of Kenya has decided to start his schooling and is in third grade; artifacts from an Afghan museum honoring those who died in attacks and conflict.
Clockwise from upper left: Tommy Trenchard for NPR; Claire Harbage/NPR; Afghanistan Memory Home; Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

Fishermen from the Vezo community have become "ocean monitors." Above: They're diving around a coral reef in Madagascar's Barren Isles to collect data that can be used to assess ocean health and improve conservation efforts. Julie Bourdin hide caption

Paul Ninson of Ghana embraced photography as a career -- and was inspired to create a library of photobooks about Africa. Above: Ninson in the Dikan Center in the capital city of Accra, which marked its second anniversary this month. He's holding a copy of the center's oldest book, The Gold Coast Yesterday and Today, published in the early 1940s. Nana Kofi Acquah for NPR hide caption

The skateboarders of Bolivia's Imilla Skate do their heel flips and backslides in polleras — colorful, layered skirts worn by the country's Indigenous Aymara and Quechua population. "By skating in polleras, we want to show that girls and women can do anything, no matter how you look or how people see you," says Daniela Santiváñez, who founded the group with two friends in 2019. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

A woman in Manila gets blood drawn for an HIV test. HIV infections are soaring in the Philippines. Health specialists blame a lack of sex education and the stigma associated with visiting an HIV clinic in this deeply religious country. Ted Aljibe//AFP via Getty Images hide caption

An image of the human herpes virus, HSV, taken with transmission electron microscope. Two types can cause genital herpes: HSV-1 and HSV-2. BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Universal Images Group Editorial hide caption

Clockwise from upper left: Mahamat Djouma, 14, fled the war in Sudan without parents and with his 5-year-old twin brothers, whom he now cares for. Eddie Almance (left) and his sister Leila of Texas pose before heading to prom. Their grandmother says that for seven generations, the family members have forged close bonds. A magnification of the anterior of the larva of the pork tapeworm. This year, the press reported on a past deposition by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he had been infected by a parasitic worm. He did not specify the type but worm researchers believe it could have been a pork tapeworm. Simon Aniah, a 24-year-old from Ghana, burns electrical cables to recover the copper wiring. Clockwise from top left: Claire Harbage/NPR; Danielle Villasana for NPR; Muntaka Chasant for Fondation Carmignac; Garry DeLong/ Science Source hide caption

Shahu Patole prepares food in his mother's kitchen in Khamgaon, India. He's the author of the cookbook Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada. Maya Levin for NPR hide caption

A father teaches his child to swim in a pond in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Drowning is a leading causes of death globally for children, according to the first ever report on drowning as a public health issue issued by the World Health Organization. Md Rafayat Haque Khan/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images hide caption