Maria Cheng –

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Karachi, Pakistan, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

The world nearly beat polio. But fake records, an imperfect vaccine and missteps aided its comeback

August 5, 2025 at 1:26 p.m.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been derailed by mismanagement and what insiders describe as blind allegiance to an outdated strategy and a problematic oral vaccine, according to workers, polio...

FILE – This colorized electron microscope image provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow, the virus that causes AIDS. (Seth Pincus, Elizabeth Fischer, Austin Athman/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH via AP, File)

UN says if US funding for HIV programs is not replaced, millions more will die by 2029

July 10, 2025 at 8:41 a.m.

Years of American-led investment into AIDS programs has reduced the number of people killed by the disease to the lowest levels seen in more than three decades, and provided life-saving...

A statue of Pope John Paul II is seen in front of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, where Pope Francis has been hospitalized to undergo some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue his ongoing treatment for bronchitis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope will remain hospitalized as doctors treat a complex respiratory tract infection, Vatican says

February 17, 2025 at 4:23 p.m.

Pope Francis’ respiratory infection is presenting a “complex clinical picture” that will require further hospitalization, the Vatican said Monday, as concerns grew about the increasingly frail health of the 88-year-old...

FILE – Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, attends the 47th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP, File)

HIV infections could jump over 6 times if US support is dropped and not replaced, UNAIDS chief says

February 10, 2025 at 8:36 a.m.

The head of the U.N. AIDS agency said Monday the number of new HIV infections could jump more than six times by 2029 if American support of the biggest AIDS...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here’s what may happen next

January 21, 2025 at 1:14 p.m.

President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the...

In this Jan. 1, 2019, file photo a “Happy New Year” hat lies on the wet ground along with other items following the celebration in New York’s Times Square. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)

Making any New Year’s resolutions? Here are some tips to help make them stick

December 31, 2024 at 7:59 p.m.

Experts say January can be a good time to reflect on self-improvement, but acknowledge it takes work to make resolutions stick.

FILE – A pharmacist holds a vial of lenacapavir, the new HIV prevention injectable drug, at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation’s Masiphumelele Research Site, in Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, which was one of the sites for Gilead’s lenacapavir drug trial. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht, File)

A twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS. But will it get to everyone who needs it?

December 1, 2024 at 9:12 a.m.

A twice-yearly shot was 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in a study of women.

This photo combo shows 2024 Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine Gary Ruvkun, American molecular biologist, left, and Victor Ambros, professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Newton, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Nobel Prize in medicine honors 2 scientists for their discovery of microRNA

October 7, 2024 at 4:36 p.m.

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Monday for their discovery of microRNA, tiny bits of genetic material that serve as on and off switches inside...

Sarah Bagheni, in the Bulengo refugee camp in Goma, Congo, suspects she may be infected with Mpox after the World Health Organization had declared Thursday, Aug, 15, 2024, the increasing spread of mpox in Africa a global health emergency, warning the virus might ultimately spill across international borders. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Now that mpox is a global health emergency, will it trigger another pandemic?

August 16, 2024 at 12:15 p.m.

The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus’ transmission.

Family nurse practitioner Carol Ramsubhag-Carela prepares a syringe with the Mpox vaccine before inoculating a patient at a vaccinations site on, Aug. 30, 2022, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)

WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as new form of the virus spreads

August 14, 2024 at 2:45 p.m.

The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency.

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