When I began working on tuberculosis (TB) four years ago, it seemed like an insurmountable global challenge that hardly anyone was paying attention to. At the outset of my career, I honestly didn’t even know it was still a major public health problem around the world. Even now, as a firmly entrenched global health professional, I see that TB only gets a fraction of the attention of diseases that kill far fewer people. Many in […]

Felisa Hilbert was a young nurse when she first held a dying child in her arms. She was working at a small rural health clinic in Mexico, her native country, when a young woman arrived carrying her sick son. It had taken three hours on a bus for this mother to reach the clinic. By the time they arrived, the boy was fatally ill and beyond saving. “His little body was lifeless when his mother

Two and half years ago, Charlie Webster thought she was going to die. The British journalist had just completed a five-week, 3,000-mile charity bike ride from London to Rio de Janeiro to commemorate the 2016 Olympic Games when she came down with an illness that baffled local doctors and left her on life support. At one point, doctors told her family that she had less than 24 hours to live. Webster’s dire condition and the

When global leaders gather in New York later this year to address the climate crisis, they need to do more than give speeches. That’s the message from the person tasked by the Secretary-General to make September’s major United Nations Climate Summit a real breakthrough moment. Special Envoy Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba hopes powerful decision makers from all sectors will go beyond re-stating commitments already made, including under the Paris Agreement. The challenge he is

At the heart of the World Health Organization’s mission is universal health coverage — a basic principle that everyone everywhere should have access to the care they need, when they need it, in their own communities and without incurring undue financial burden. Yet half of the world’s population still lack comprehensive access to the health services they need to survive. That’s why universal health coverage is the focus for World Health Day on April 7th.

When asked what he remembers about the night almost exactly 25 years ago that violence erupted in his country of Rwanda, Cedric Habiyaremye recalls the panic on his father’s face as he came running into the house, saying the family had to leave right away. “I was only 7 years old, and I remember thinking, ‘What did my father do to get us in trouble?’ I didn’t understand what was going on.” He’ll never forget

The United Nations is home to more than diplomats; it’s a place for passionate advocates, doctors pushing new frontiers, and young people redefining leadership. As part of our series highlighting heroes of the UN, or, as we say (s)heroes, we’re bringing you the stories of women at the UN who are creating change. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has made gender equity – both within the UN and around the world – a key priority. Women