Global Health

Report: Japan’s High Suicide Rates Linked to Unemployment

Photo by Flickr user Patrik Ragnarsson. The Aokigahara Forest is a vast, tranquil and densely wooded area at the base of Mt. Fuji known as the "sea of trees." But in the last two decades the woods have earned…

Brazil’s Shifting Views of Church, Abortion and Lifestyle

By Fred de Sam Lazaro

Family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo by Nicole See. Brazil's plummeting birth rate would seem like a triumph for the country's women's movement, which has long fought for information about, and access to, contraception. Today, in what remains the…

Obama Initiative Targets Malnutrition in Guatemala

By Talea Miller

Chronic malnutrition is the single biggest contributor to the deaths of children under 5 in Guatemala.

Global Health Week in Tweets

Each week the NewsHour's global health unit highlights what's new in the Twitterverse from the world of health and development. Follow us on Twitter at NewsHourGlobal. View "Weekly Twitter Round Up" on Storify…

Obesity Rates Rising Worldwide, Half of U.S. Could Be Obese by 2030

By Talea Miller

There are an estimated 502 million obese adults worldwide. Photo by Flickr user Malingering. The world is getting fatter, and packing on the pounds is not just for wealthy nations anymore. Obesity is sweeping into low and middle-income countries, reports…

‘Long-term’ Needs Grow in Horn of Africa as Drought Shows No Signs of Abating

By Larisa Epatko

Many in East Africa, still suffering from drought and hunger, are streaming into refugee camps as other countries try to close a $1.1 billion shortfall in needed funding for relief supplies.

Starving Somalis Latest Victims of Broken Government

A mother and child from Somalia at a refugee camp in Kenya. Photo by Kate Holt, CARE. The food crisis in Somalia gets worse by the day. Desperately hungry people are pouring out of their home provinces, crossing borders…

‘Explosive’ Growth in Foreign Drug Testing Raises Ethical Questions

Photo by Flickr user Sharyn Morrow. Peek inside any American family's medicine cabinet and you're likely to find a drug that was tested in a foreign country. Pharmaceutical companies have been shifting research overseas for years and the number…

Overtreating Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa

By Talea Miller

In countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, health workers often treat patients for malaria even when a test indicates the parasite isn't present. The practice worries many health experts.

Global Health Week in Tweets