In Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, oil bunkering — the practice of siphoning oil from pipelines — has transformed parts of the once-thriving delta ecosystem into an ecological dead zone, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption
The palms of a patient with mpox during an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. The country is now seeing a dramatic spike in mpox — with a strain that is deadlier than the one that sparked the global outbreak in 2022. CDC/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
When Australia's black flying foxes are well-fed, they tend to be healthy. A lack of food stresses the bats — and stress causes them to shed, or release, viruses into the environment. Ko Konno/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption
Palestinian people with empty bowls wait for food at a donation point in Rafah. A report out this week shows widespread hunger and malnutrition in Gaza but stopped short of declaring it a "famine." Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption
Opponents of the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) gather outside the National Assembly in Banjul, The Gambia, on March 18, 2024. Lawmakers voted to advance a highly controversial bill that would lift the ban on FGM. Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The U.S. ranks higher in the world happiness report when it comes to people aged 60 and older. Thomas Barwick/Getty Images hide caption
Azzam, 12, hugs a sheep, the only source of his family's livelihood in rural Damascus on Feb 21, 2022. Azzam and his family have experienced firsthand the harrowing impact of the conflict. In 2015, when Azzam was five years old, a shell fell on the building where he was sitting with his family. Hasan Belal for NPR hide caption
Rahima Banu had the last recorded case of naturally occurring variola major smallpox, a deadly strain of the virus, in 1975. At left: Banu in her mother's arms as a small child. At right: Banu today, close to 50 years old, lives in a small village in Bangladesh with her husband, Rafiqul Islam, and their children. Michael Schwartz/CDC, Céline Gounder/KFF Health News hide caption
A store in Monrovia, Liberia, advertises Coca-Cola. The photo is from circa 1947. Alberts/Alberts/Three Lions via Getty Images hide caption
This hospital in Port-au-Prince was damaged during an armed attack in November. With the current unrest in Haiti, health-care facilities are at even greater risk as are staff and patients. Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, the brand ambassador for the billion dollar company Patanjali Ayurved, addresses the media during a launch of "premium products" in New Delhi. Rahul Singh/ANI via Reuters Connect hide caption
Isabela Oside, 45, washes hands of her daughter Faith, 3, who completed doses through the worlds first malaria vaccine. Malaria is one of the preventable diseases that contributes to worldwide child mortality. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Paul Alexander, who held a Guinness World Record for living the longest with the help of an iron lung, has died. Here, medical staff stand among iron lung machines in an emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 16, 1955, when the city's polio epidemic hit a high of 480 cases. AP hide caption
Millions of people are affected by long COVID, a disease that encompasses a range of symptoms — everything from brain fog to chronic fatigue — and that manifests differently across patients. The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption
Police escort men accused of allegedly raping a tourist to a district court in Dumka, in India's Jharkhand state, on March 4. The attack took place on March 1; the woman posted a video describing what happened on social media. AFP via Getty Images hide caption