Dr. Denis Mukwege is a gynecologist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate against sexual violence in conflict zones like his homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is now speaking out against the reports of rapes committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine. Fabian Sommer/Picture Alliance via Getty Images hide caption
Demonstrators in Krakow, Poland, hold a banner reading "Legal Abortion Without Compromise" at a December 2021 protest. Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
Commuters make their way through a water-logged street after a heavy downpour in Dhaka. Bangladesh is one of many countries struggling to protect residents from the effects of climate change. Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A health worker vaccinates a Kenyan child with the world's first malaria vaccine. Kenya has given at least one dose to 300,000 children so far. Brian Ongoro /AFP via Getty Images hide caption
People line up to get the Sinopharm vaccine in Harare, Zimbabwe. World leaders promised to speed up vaccine distribution to low- and middle-income countries at the White House's second Global COVID-19 Summit on May 12. Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images hide caption
Dr. Jesse Clark is an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The COVID pandemic "has spurred people to try to end the HIV epidemic again," he says. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption
President Joe Biden speaks at the virtual Global COVID-19 Summit on Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington, D.C. On May 12, the White House will host the second Global COVID-19 Summit. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
Demonstrators who support abortion rights celebrate outside the Constitutional Court in Bogota, Colombia on February 21. After an 8-hour debate, the court decriminalized abortions during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Chepa Beltran/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
This Doctors Without Borders clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is called Pran Men'm (Take My Hand) in the local language. The humanitarian medical aid group operates in more than 70 countries. Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Journalists and politicians mingled at an afterparty following the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 30. Based on COVID cases among attendees at the main event, SARS-CoV-2 was mingling as well. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/for The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption
CNN international anchor Zain Asher poses with her mother, Obiajulu Ejiofor. After losing her husband in a car crash, Ejiofor raised four children with strict and innovative practices — including, when Asher was a teenager, using scissors to cut the power cord of the TV set. Obiajulu told her daughter she could watch television again once she'd earned admission to Oxford. Courtesy of Zain Asher hide caption
Ukrainian refugee Alina Archipova gives her daughter medication at a temporary shelter in Berlin, Germany, on March 10. Carsten Koall/Getty Images hide caption
A mass cremation of people who died from from COVID-19 in New Delhi, India on April 28, 2021. A new WHO report on "excess deaths" compares their calculations with official numbers and finds millions more people died that the government-provided global total, with India a key example. India disputes the WHO finding and stands by its lower numbers. Imtiyaz Khan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption
Cynthia Rosenzweig has been named the 2022 World Food Prize Laureate for her work to determine the impact of climate change on worldwide food production. Yana Paskova/for NPR hide caption
Afghan girls and women and girls protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Kabul on March 26, 2022, demanding that high schools be reopened for girls. Ahmad Sahel Arman /AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A woman wears a face shield to protect against COVID-19 at a taxi stand in Soweto, South Africa, where an omicron variant is causing a COVID-19 surge. Denis Farrell/AP hide caption
A baby who is suffering from pneumonia receives treatment at a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 13, 2022. A new study points to concerns about childhood deaths after a hospitalization for such diseases as pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria. Syed Mahamudur Rahman/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
A child receives a polio vaccine in Kampala, Uganda, on Jan. 14, 2022. Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images hide caption
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says her advice to women in politics is to "stay the course" and be ready for criticism. Shuran Huang/For NPR hide caption