US soldiers have intervened in during natural disasters such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. But a disease outbreak is more complicated.
SSgt. Chad Chisholm/U.S. Dept. of Defense
hide caption
itoggle caption
SSgt. Chad Chisholm/U.S. Dept. of Defense
PCR tests like this can tell if a virus is an enterovirus, but they can't ID the new virus that has caused a surge in serious respiratory infections.
BSIP / Science Source
hide caption
About 1 in 3 suicides is due to self-poisoning with pesticides, often by farmers in Asia, Central America and Africa.
Sarojini Manikandan/WHO
hide caption
She's a mother talking to another mother — and both are HIV-positive. That's the mentoring role played by Phelokazi Tinzi, who works for mothers2mothers in South Africa.
Anders Kelto/NPR
hide caption
Not every business has been hurt by the Ebola epidemic: Stephen Kollie says his newspaper stand is thriving because people are hungry for the latest Ebola information. But many of his usual expatriate customers have left the country, he says.
Tommy Trenchard for NPR
hide caption
Mountains of "little blue pills" and their chemical kin have transformed the way many people think about sex and aging.
Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
hide caption
Randen Patterson left a research career in physiology at U.C. Davis when funding got too tight. He now owns a grocery store in Guinda, Calif.
Max Whittaker/Prime for NPR
hide caption