Global Health

Strategy To Prevent HIV In Newborns Sparks Enthusiasm And Skepticism

By taking antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy, this Tanzanian mother lowered the risk of passing HIV to her daughter. Siegfried Modola/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Siegfried Modola/AFP/Getty Images

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Strategy To Prevent HIV In Newborns Sparks Enthusiasm And Skepticism

February 28, 2013 • Every year about 300,000 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are born with HIV. A new strategy aims to reduce these infections by putting every pregnant woman with HIV on drug treatment for the rest of her life. The approach has worked well, so far, in the small country of Malawi.

What Happened To The Aid Meant To Rebuild Haiti?

Many homes that were rebuilt after the earthquake in 2010 are even more dangerous than the original ones. This three-story home was put up after the quake but is already slated for demolition to make way for an 18-unit housing project. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

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David Gilkey/NPR

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What Happened To The Aid Meant To Rebuild Haiti?

February 28, 2013 • Three years after an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's capital, it's clear that only a fraction of the $9 billion pledged in international relief reached the country. Most of what did arrive went to short-term relief, instead of rebuilding people's homes.

What Happened To The Aid Meant To Rebuild Haiti?

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U.S. Doctors Head Overseas To Train, Not Just Treat

Partnerships instead of short-term help: Jean Jumeau Batsch, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is collaborating with Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, from New York City, to build a training program for Haitian OB-GYNs. Courtesy of Dr. Ambereen Sleemi. hide caption

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Courtesy of Dr. Ambereen Sleemi.

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U.S. Doctors Head Overseas To Train, Not Just Treat

February 26, 2013 • Many American doctors are nurses are helping to build medical schools abroad, as funding agencies push for this collaborative style of philanthropy. Even former President Clinton is getting involved. He's launched a $15 million initiative to revamp Rwanda's health care system.

Contagion On The Couch: CDC App Poses Fun Disease Puzzles

As an armchair disease detective, you don't have to bother with mundane tasks, like culturing fluorescent bacteria or interviewing the ill. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hide caption

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Contagion On The Couch: CDC App Poses Fun Disease Puzzles

February 22, 2013 • Dozens of kids get sick after a seemingly innocent birthday party. Was it the homemade ice cream or an accident in the pool? A new iPad app lets you solve outbreak puzzles just like real disease detectives. It's pleasing entertainment, if not as infectious as real video games.

Treating HIV Patients Protects Whole Community

HIV drugs not only can keep patients healthy but also can stop the sexual transmission of the virus. Here an HIV-positive mother picks up medications at a hospital outside Johannesburg, South Africa. Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

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Treating HIV Patients Protects Whole Community

February 22, 2013 • Treating people for HIV isn't just beneficial for those infected but also helps the entire community. Two studies show that where HIV drugs are widely available, the risk for new HIV infections drops dramatically and overall life expectancy increases by more than a decade.

Treating HIV Patients Protects Whole Community

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Feds Set New Rules For Controversial Bird Flu Research

Health officials around the world are on constant lookout for the deadly bird flu. Here a worker collects chickens on a farm in Kathamndu, Nepal, where the virus was suspected of infecting poultry last October. Prakas Mathema/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Prakas Mathema/AFP/Getty Images

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Feds Set New Rules For Controversial Bird Flu Research

February 21, 2013 • In early 2012, experiments that made H5N1 bird flu more contagious caused an uproar. People feared that mutant viruses could escape the lab and kill people. To prevent a repeat, the government has unveiled a policy describing how scientists should study dangerous pathogens and toxins.

Feds Set New Rules For Controversial Bird Flu Research

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British Man Dies From SARS-Like Virus In U.K. Hospital

Coronaviruses have a characteristic crown of tentacles when viewed under the electron microscope. BSIP/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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BSIP/UIG via Getty Images

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British Man Dies From SARS-Like Virus In U.K. Hospital

February 19, 2013 • A new virus, which causes severe pneumonia, has killed a British man with a suppressed immune system. This is the sixth death from the coronavirus and the first outside the Middle East, where it emerged last year. Officials say the risk to the general population is low.

Report: Action Needed To Wipe Out Fake And Substandard Drugs

Shoppers buy smuggled counterfeit drugs at the Adjame market in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 2007. Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

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Report: Action Needed To Wipe Out Fake And Substandard Drugs

February 13, 2013 • Contaminated and counterfeit drugs can be more profitable than illegal ones, and they're spreading. This problem is killing people around the world, including in the U.S., and hampering efforts to control diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS.

SARS-Like Virus Spreads From One Person To Another

Virologists discovered the new coronavirus after it killed a Saudi Arabian man last summer. Elizabeth R. Fischer/Rocky Mountain Labs/NIAID/NIH hide caption

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Elizabeth R. Fischer/Rocky Mountain Labs/NIAID/NIH

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SARS-Like Virus Spreads From One Person To Another

February 13, 2013 • Until now, a new SARS-like virus showed little signs of being contagious. Only 10 cases have been reported, and all appeared to originate in the Middle East. Health officials now say a British resident likely caught the virus from a family member in the U.K., indicating that the virus can spread between people.

Attacks On Health Workers Put Fight To End Polio Under Fire

A Nigerian health commissioner Dr. Sani Malam vaccinates a child for polio during a national immunization drive in Bauchi, Nigeria, last week. Deji Yake/EPA /Landov hide caption

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Deji Yake/EPA /Landov

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Attacks On Health Workers Put Fight To End Polio Under Fire

February 12, 2013 • The world is close to wiping out polio, as the number of new cases is at an all-time low. But recent violence against polio vaccinators threatens to reverse this progress. Recently, gunmen killed nine polio vaccinators in Nigeria, mirroring attacks in Pakistan in December.

Obscure Chagas' Disease Takes Costly Toll

An artist on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach puts the final touches on a sand sculpture of the kissing bug, which spreads Chagas' disease. The sculpture was part of an event in 2009 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the disease. Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

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Obscure Chagas' Disease Takes Costly Toll

February 10, 2013 • Chagas' disease, which is transmitted by the "kissing bug," occurs mainly in Latin America. But the illness is on the rise in the U.S. Health economists now estimate that Chagas costs the world about $7 billion annually, which is more than the cost of cervical cancer or cholera.

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Despite Rocky Economy, Money For Global Health Remains Solid

February 7, 2013 • Money to fight HIV and tuberculosis worldwide went through a huge growth in the early 2000s. But donations have plateaued in the past few years, economists say, as governments tighten their budgets. The U.S. is still the biggest contributor to global health, giving about $10 billion in 2010.

Nigeria Moves To Clean Up Lead Pollution From Gold Mines

A boy works at an illegal gold mine in northern Nigeria. Lead from these mines has sickened thousands of children in region. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

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David Gilkey/NPR

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Nigeria Moves To Clean Up Lead Pollution From Gold Mines

February 6, 2013 • Thousands of kids have been exposed to toxic levels of lead around illegal gold mines in northern Nigeria. After months of delay, the Nigerian government has released money to clean up the lead in these areas.

Experimental Tuberculosis Vaccine Fails To Protect Infants

Nurse Christel Petersen inoculates a child in the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative study in 2011. Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images