Bulbul Aktar, a shasthya kormi, or community health worker, with the malaria elimination program in Bangladesh, goes door to door to treat malaria patients. "This is my job, my duty," says Aktar. "Every single home, I have to know about them and visit them." Fatima Tuj Johora for 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
A nurse checks a baby in a hospital basement being used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine. More than 300 health facilities lie within conflict lines or areas that Russia claims to control, according to the World Health Organization. Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Hussein Raad, a 22-year-old college student, gets his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Zayoona Mall in Baghdad. Ahmed Kusy Mostafa hide caption
Dr. Storm Bissict, 35, dives in False Bay along the coast of Cape Town. It's her way of decompressing from her hectic pandemic days. Charlie Shoemaker for NPR hide caption
Polio vaccinator Zeenat Parveen, holding the clipboard, and a volunteer go door-to-door to reach children in Rawalpindi, a city near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption
Health workers are briefed before conducting COVID-19 swab tests on public transportation drivers at a slum area in Manila. The Philippines is one of the Southeast Asian countries hit hardest by the pandemic. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images hide caption
Wilson County Commissioner Andy Miller says Dr. McKenney created a storm when she criticized President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Jim McLean/KCUR hide caption
The federal government estimates one in 10 healthcare workers experience substance use disorder. There is rising concern that medical professionals are stealing powerful opioid pain medications meant for their patients. Kaz Fantone/NPR hide caption
A health worker in personal protective equipment stands in a COVID-19 intensive care unit in Taiz, Yemen. Ahmad Al-Basha/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Left: Jana De Brauwere, a contact tracer in California. Right: Rachel Saykpah, a nurse in Liberia who has overseen contact tracers in Africa since 2014. Jana De Brauwere; Rachel Saykpah hide caption
A pint of beer is poured at the 2015 Great British Beer Festival in London. A brewery in the northeast of England is giving away beer to help raise money for the National Health Service during the coronavirus pandemic. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP hide caption
Medical workers transfer a patient from the Doctors Without Borders cholera treatment unit to the intensive care unit at the general hospital in Masisi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Alexis Huget/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
In South Sudan, the staff of Doctors Without Borders has newly devised "runaway bags," filled with medical supplies so the health workers can provide care if people have to flee because of conflict. MSF hide caption
On August 8, 2016, a suicide bomber killed 74 people and wounded 112 others at a government-run hospital in Quetta, Pakistan. Arshad Butt/AP hide caption