In India, which ranks 142 out of 180 countries for safety and freedom of the press, journalists have braved backlash to take a firmer stance against Prime Minister Modi's handling of the pandemic after the country's deadly second wave this spring. Xavier Galiana/Getty Images hide caption
Lightening the mood, the otherwise serious health care proceedings are punctuated by song and dance. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton/NPR hide caption
Khasrat and Qadar Gul struggle to reconcile their cleric's teachings against contraception with husband Qadar's desire not to father more children. "We are poor and cannot afford a bigger family," Qadar Gul says. Julie McCarthy/NPR hide caption
Lucrecia Silva and her daughter, Helena, are both HIV-positive. They wait as a nurse in Macia writes a prescription for Helena's anti-retroviral drugs. Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption
Cassimo Bique, an OB-GYN, sits with traditional birth attendants in Mozambique. Bique is an advocate for the drug misoprostol, which can prevent postpartum hemorrhaging in women. Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption
Many of the women in the community called "The 25th of June" began childbearing as teenagers in Mozambique. They all say that soon after their first periods, they took part in an initiation ritual called okanone that taught them about sex. Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption