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Chernobyl's legacy 30 years on

Wed, 2016-04-27 09:46 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Image: Dr Rachel Furley (centre) with members of the Kartuzovi family, one of the many families her charity helps.

bbc.com - April 26th 2016 - Tom Burridge

Children are still being born with severe birth defects and rare types of cancer in areas near to Chernobyl, according to a British charity, three decades on from the world's worst civil nuclear disaster.

The accident on 26 April 1986 contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union, changed the way the world thinks about nuclear energy and has affected an unquantifiable number of people in the region.

For British paediatrician Dr Rachel Furley, the "desperately sad" reality is that women who have spent their entire lives exposed to high levels of radiation are now having children. 

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How Do You Stay Cool In What's Quite Literally A Killer Heat Wave?

Wed, 2016-04-20 20:37 — Maeryn Obley

Municipal water pipes help keep people cool in Allahbad, India. Ritesh Shukla/NurPhoto/Corbis

Image: Municipal water pipes help keep people cool in Allahbad, India. Ritesh Shukla/NurPhoto/Corbis 

NPR.org - April 20th 2016 - Marc Silver

"It is unbelievable, sir."

That's how NPR contributor Wilbur Sargunaraj characterizes the heat that is gripping parts of his native India. "It's just getting worse and worse and worse, and people are suffering."

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Eating Leaves, and Other Ways Besieged Syrians Try to Survive

Thu, 2016-03-10 12:08 — Maeryn Obley

nytimes.com - March 8th 2016 - Rick Gladstone

Medical workers in parts of Syria have been forced to let the wounded bleed to death for lack of bandages, and have opted to use catheter bags meant for urine to administer intravenous fluids to newborns because proper drip bags are gone.

Expectant mothers in areas vulnerable to shelling and bombing give birth by cesarean section rather than risk natural childbirth in an attack. Malnourished children are eating animal feed and leaves, in some cases only miles from warehouses full of food.

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Boko Haram Falls Victim to a Food Crisis It Created

Fri, 2016-03-04 11:34 — Maeryn Obley

A village hosting internally displaced people in Mora, Cameroon, where Boko Haram fighters have conducted raids on livestock. The hunt for food appears to be pushing the militants deeper into Cameroon. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Image: A village hosting internally displaced people in Mora, Cameroon, where Boko Haram fighters have conducted raids on livestock. The hunt for food appears to be pushing the militants deeper into Cameroon. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

nytimes.com - March 4th 2016 - Dionne Searcey

At first, the attack had all the hallmarks of a typical Boko Haram assault. Armed fighters stormed a town on the border with Nigeria, shooting every man they saw.

But this time, instead of burning homes and abducting hostages, the fighters gathered cows, goats and any kind of food they could round up, then fled with it all.

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A country in love with injections and drips

Sun, 2016-01-03 22:15 — Maeryn Obley

A person draws liquid from a vial into a needle.

Video: A person draws liquid from a vial into a needle.

bbc.com - December 17th, 2015 - John Murphy

In Cambodia almost anyone who sees a doctor or goes to hospital, is given an injection or put on an intravenous drip. This is what patients want, and what medical staff give them - it has become part of the healthcare routine. But it has serious, sometimes tragic, effects.

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Climate Scientists Used to Just Get Angry. Now They’re Taking Action

Sun, 2015-12-20 21:57 — Maeryn Obley

Climate talks in Paris 2015. Christophe Morin/Bloomberg /Getty Images

Image: Climate talks in Paris 2015. Christophe Morin/Bloomberg /Getty Images

wired.com - December 4th, 2015 - Lizzie Wade

Ken Caldeira liked plenty of things about working in finance in the early 1980s. He had studied applied science as an undergrad, and developing software on Wall Street kept his problem-solving skills sharp. But however interesting he found the day-to-day work, Caldeira couldn’t escape the thought that in the grand scheme of things, all he was really doing was “helping rich people get a little richer.”

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Sierra Leone May Be Ebola-Free But The Virus Still Casts A Shadow

Mon, 2015-11-09 21:57 — Maeryn Obley

Health workers in Sierra Leone check travelers entering the country from Liberia. Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images

Image: Health workers in Sierra Leone check travelers entering the country from Liberia. Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images

npr.org - November 7th, 2015 - Nahid Bhadelia

Today marks the 42nd day that Sierra Leone has had no new cases of Ebola. That potentially signals the end of the epidemic in that country.

I spent almost three months in Sierra Leone over the last year, both as a clinician in Ebola treatment units and as an infection control educator.

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Why A Snakebite Victim In An Indian Village Won't Walk Through A Door

Sat, 2015-09-19 23:20 — Maeryn Obley

npr.org - September 17th, 2015 - Ankita Rao

When a young boy in a village in Jangjir, India, came home with a snakebite, his family needed to get him to a clinic. But they didn't dare take him out through the front door. Instead, a handful of men dismantled the thatch roof of his home. Then family members inside lifted the boy up, out through the roof and over a six-foot wall into their arms.

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Rural women’s groups in peacebuilding activities

Sat, 2015-07-04 11:10 — Maeryn Obley

Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

Image: Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

fao.org - June 25th, 2015

FAO’s integrated approach of reaching Ebola-hit farmers in Liberia’s Lofa County is bearing increased results not only in crop production, VSLA (village savings and loan associations) revitalization and education in Ebola prevention but the help is also uniting women in peacebuilding, palaver management as well as visiting sick members.

The women associations have transcended the normal call of duty to VSLA and business activities among members to also get involved in other “worthy communal undertakings.” They have expanded shared group engagements to include sympathizing with bereaved members and palaver resolution among aggrieved women.

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Scientists Crack A 50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine

Sun, 2015-05-10 20:51 — Maeryn Obley

Worth a little pain? Back in 1990, a school boy got a measles shot in the U.K., and it turns out, he got more than protection against the measles. Photofusion/UIG via Getty Images

Image: Worth a little pain? Back in 1990, a school boy got a measles shot in the U.K., and it turns out, he got more than protection against the measles. Photofusion/UIG via Getty Images

npr.org - May 7th, 2015 - Michaeleen Doucleff

Back in the 1960s, the U.S. started vaccinating kids for measles. As expected, children stopped getting measles.

But something else happened.

Childhood deaths from all infectious diseases plummeted. Even deaths from diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea were cut by half.

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