Jason Beaubien

Tuberculosis is now killing more people each year than HIV, according to new data from the World Health Organization.

WHO estimates there were almost 10 million new cases of TB last year; the disease caused 1.5 million deaths. By comparison, 1.2 million lives were claimed by HIV.

That makes ...

Nigeria is now off the list — the last case was in 2014. That leaves Afghanistan and Pakistan as the last two countries harboring the virus.

Fatmeh is one of hundreds of thousands of children who have fled Syria with their families. In Lebanon, she works in the fields up to 14 hours a day, clinging to her dream of going to college.

Pauline Cafferkey, who caught the virus last winter in Sierra Leone, was taken to the hospital with an "unusual late complication" from her previous infection. That's a surprise — and a concern.

The World Health Organization has revised its guidelines to say that every person infected with HIV should now be given powerful anti-AIDS drugs. But many countries in Africa have str...

The scientists from the U.S., Japan and China were awarded the Nobel Prize Monday for discovering drugs to treat parasitic diseases such as malaria, river blindness and elephantiasis.

Pope Francis, addressing the U.N. General Assembly today, urged international cooperation not only to solve humanity's largest problems but to save humanity itself.

Quoting a speech to the U.N. by his predecessor Pope Paul VI in 1965, Francis said of the world today: "The real danger comes from man...."

He ...

And there are just 15 years to accomplish them. Here's a rundown of the 17 aims, which include ending poverty, hunger and AIDS, fixing the environment and giving everyone access to green space.

The oil-rich West African nation of Angola has a dubious distinction. Its child mortality rate is the world's worst: 157 kids out of every 1,000 die before their 5th birthday. By comparison the child mortality rate in the U.S. is 7 deaths per 1,000. In Europe it's between 3 and ...

On the same week that President Robert Mugabe made it clear that goats are not welcome in the streets of Zimbabwe's capital, a herd of goats got a hero's welcome in the capital of the free world.

"Mommy, I see the goats! Look at the goats!" squealed a little girl ...

Today there are 7.3 billion people on planet Earth, according to the United Nations.

If you think that's a lot ... just wait.

A new U.N. report forecasts the biggest growth spurt in history. By the year 2030, the report predicts, Earth's population is expected to jump to 8.5 ...

Tensions are rising between the flood of refugees and the Lebanese, who fear that the camps will become a drain on the country's resources. "We don't have anyplace to go," is one Syrian's cry.

The first vaccine against a parasite — one that causes malaria — was recommended for approval. It's not as effective as researchers had hoped, but they still think it could make a big difference.

The health agency says kissing and cuddling chickens could be contributing to outbreaks of salmonella. But backyard chicken owners aren't about to lay off the birds.

The global middle class is growing ... but slowly. (A lot of the credit goes to China.) And more than 70 percent of the world's population still falls below what would be considered "middle" income.

Nigeria is one of three places where polio is still a problem. But there hasn't been a case in almost a year. So Africa is on the verge of being polio-free.

As South Koreans continue to struggle with the worst outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, ever recorded outside the Middle East, their comrades to the north say, "We've got a cure for that!"

The World Health Organization says there's no known cure or vaccine for MERS, but state-run ...

Over the past few months, case tallies have dipped toward zero, only to bounce back up. Health officials worry the outbreak could never end if people keep hiding cases and dead bodies.

It's unknown what triggers an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome. But scientists think the virus comes from camels. So until we stop it in animals, MERS will continue to cause trouble.

Where did the money go? An NPR and ProPublica investigation has raised troubling questions about what happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars raised by the American Red Cross for earthquake relief in Haiti.

Goats and Soda posed a few questions to NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan about her ...