• The Speed of Life and Death

    A small health clinic in the south of New Delhi, doctors and community health workers are tackling the tuberculosis crisis in their midst. This one location manages the care of almost 100 TB patients, including drug-resistant forms of the disease — difficult, expensive and often deadly.

  • Participant - Tembisa, South Africa

    Participant

    From the Faces of TB series. Solving the world’s toughest global health problems doesn’t happen without a wide array of partnerships. But critical, and often overlooked, are the people who agree to participate in clinical trials of vaccines. They help the world understand more about the diseases we fight, how we fight them, and how we get closer to answers we need. To solutions. So many individuals, like this man, in their own ways, help move us forward, together.

  • Respirator

    On the front lines of tuberculosis, healthcare workers have varying degrees of personal protective equipment. Around the world, N95 respirators (masks) are becoming more common amongst staff, but still not nearly ubiquitous.

  • Bundled

    A woman leaves the Migowi Healthy Center with her child in tow, in the Phalombe District of Malawi.

  • Registration

    A woman completes the initial registration steps with her child at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe.

  • Grandmother

    A woman waits with her family members in the triage area of Lilongwe’s Kamuzu Central Hospital.

  • Hallway Sign

    In an almost-dark hallway at Kamuzu Central Hospital.

  • Antimalarial Distribution

    At the Healthy Center in Mpemba, a Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) distributes Coartem for children, an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of acute, uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

  • Agnes

    One of the many positive outcomes of Likalawe’s monthly outreach clinics is the gratitude of the villagers. And few gestures could better signify this goodwill than what Agnes Sumali does for the HSAs that make the monthly trip from Mpemba.

  • Smiling Kids

    Some of the smiling kids in the village, excited to talk to their visitors.

  • Clinic Mother

    A mother with her children after the mobile outreach clinic in Likalawe Village, Malawi.

  • Healthcare Where The Road Ends

    On the second Tuesday of each month, about 6km beyond the village of Mpemba, where the narrow road hugs a hillside over rocks and streams, there is a clinic. The clinic isn’t a flashy building with bright hallways and fancy equipment, although there is a lot of natural light. There isn’t even a building at all.

  • Children’s Ward

    The Children’s Ward at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe. The closest beds are in the “Red Zone,” with the sickest children and getting the highest attention from staff.

  • Waiting Mothers

    Just outside the main room of the Pediatric Ward, two mothers wait with their children.

  • Nurse Kunkeyani

    Nurse Kunkeyani, outside the maternity unit where she works, at Kamuzu Central Hospital.

  • Waiting Area

    A father waits with his son in the Emergency Department of Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe.

  • Things We Take For Granted

    Preparing to travel to sub-Saharan Africa brings a host of health requirements and recommendations. Western clinics respond by offering us vaccines and pills and sprays and solutions and nets. Three sets of vials are on the counter in this photo: Meningitis, Polio and Yellow Fever. A few dollars, a few needles and a few minutes later, I’m protected from diseases – more than 10 in all – that continue to take massive toll around the globe. It’s all so easy for us. Yet for millions on the continent where I’m headed, getting such protection is anything but easy. These are some of the things we take for granted.