Disease

Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid on a beachfront in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Feb. 25, 2024.

'Everyone is worried about starvation': Aid worker discusses dire situation in Gaza

The UN says it's no longer able to run humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip. In recent days, the number of relief trucks getting into the territory has dwindled. The World's host Carolyn Beeler spoke to Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Jerusalem, who says the situation in northern Gaza is especially bad.

'Everyone is worried about starvation': Aid worker discusses dire situation in Gaza
parent holds child in doctor’s office

Why kids struggle with long COVID

Why kids struggle with long COVID
Air quality levels have been bad in Accra since December as harmattan season kicks in across Ghana. The data coming in shows the situation is not improving.

Hazy skies over Accra: Harsh harmattan season in Ghana leads to health hazards, poor air quality

Hazy skies over Accra: Harsh harmattan season in Ghana leads to health hazards, poor air quality
Children stand in front of the building of the Peruvian Congress as part of a call to demand accountability for cancer patients in Peru, September 2023.

Desperate cancer patients in Peru look for options across the Atlantic

Desperate cancer patients in Peru look for options across the Atlantic
COWS GRAZING ON A FARM WITH A GEEEN MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE

Cow plague threatening ranches in southern Europe

Cow plague threatening ranches in southern Europe
man holding a sign with people passing by in the background

Spain to compensate thalidomide victims decades later

Europe’s final victims of a drug scandal dating back more than half a century are finally being compensated. Partially, at least.

Spain to compensate thalidomide victims decades later
landfill

Trash sorters in Ghana face health and safety risks

Waste pickers play an important role in the recycling process. But for waste pickers working in a landfill in Accra, Ghana, it’s dangerous work.

Trash sorters in Ghana face health and safety risks
COVID-19 antigen home tests indicating a positive result are photographed in New York, April 5, 2023.

Pandemic recovery will require much focus and attention, Dr. Atul Gawande says

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed about 7 million people worldwide, ravaging health care systems and economies. Dr. Atul Gawande, head of global health at the US Agency for International Development, spoke with The World's Carolyn Beeler about how pandemic recovery "will require as much focus and attention as it did when it first started."

Pandemic recovery will require much focus and attention, Dr. Atul Gawande says
A woman walks outside of a COVID-19 testing center at the Incheon International Airport In Incheon, South Korea, on Feb. 10, 2023. 

'The pandemic is still with us': The bumpy road to the end of COVID

Pinpointing the “end” of the coronavirus pandemic depends on the vantage point. The World's host Marco Werman spoke with Dr. Michael Mina, a leading epidemiologist and the chief science officer at EMed, a digital health care company, along with Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and professor at Columbia University, to learn more about the "bumpy, difficult off-ramp" from COVID-19.

'The pandemic is still with us': The bumpy road to the end of COVID
As vaccination levels drop in Ghana, the threat of a measles outbreak looms.

'Red alert for child health': A nationwide vaccine shortage hits Ghana amid measles outbreak

In Ghana, a shortage of childhood vaccines has mothers traveling from hospital to hospital in search of immunizations to protect their infants. As a result, measles are breaking out in some parts of the country.

'Red alert for child health': A nationwide vaccine shortage hits Ghana amid measles outbreak
a young man in a mask

Three years into the pandemic, mask usage varies from country to country

Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, and masks became a primary tool to combat the disease's spread, their usage has dropped off dramatically around the world. But many Mexicans are holding on to their facial coverings, and cultural differences are impacting mask use around the globe.

Three years into the pandemic, mask usage varies from country to country
Boats carrying mining supplies move along the Uraricoera River in Alto Alegre, Roraima state, Brazil, as some miners leave Yanomami Indigenous territory ahead of expected operations against illegal mining, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. 

Lula declares humanitarian crisis for Brazil's Yanomami territory, cracks down on illegal mining

A humanitarian crisis looms in Brazil's Yanomami territory, where communities have been ravaged by malnutrition, malaria, COVID-19 and widespread illegal mining. Now, the central government is trying to crack down on illegal mining and support these communities after years of neglect.

Lula declares humanitarian crisis for Brazil's Yanomami territory, cracks down on illegal mining
people at barbershop

A spike in ringworm cases in Spain leads to a surprising culprit: the barbershop

​​​​​​​A ringworm outbreak among Spanish teens has been traced back to barbershops and a fashionable haircut: the fade. Spanish dermatologists blame dirty electric razors.

A spike in ringworm cases in Spain leads to a surprising culprit: the barbershop
The book includes haunting photos from inside the ghetto, along with its record of the medical effects of starvation.

Warsaw Ghetto’s defiant Jewish doctors secretly documented the medical effects of Nazi starvation policies

A researcher at Tufts University near Boston discovered an old book full of research on starvation written by Jewish doctors imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Warsaw Ghetto’s defiant Jewish doctors secretly documented the medical effects of Nazi starvation policies
Haitians line up outside an immigration office as they wait their turns to apply for a passport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 10, 2023.

‘Haiti has zero elected officials’ as cholera, gang violence persist, journalist says

As of Monday, Haiti no longer has any democratically elected government officials, after the terms for the remaining senators in government expired. Journalist Widlore Mérancourt, editor-in-chief of AyiboPost, discusses the worsening situation with The World's host Marco Werman.

‘Haiti has zero elected officials’ as cholera, gang violence persist, journalist says