
Jason Beaubien
Jason Beaubien is NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent on the Science Desk.
In this role, he reports on a range of issues across the world. He's covered the plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, mass cataract surgeries in Ethiopia, abortion in El Salvador, poisonous gold mines in Nigeria, drug-resistant malaria in Myanmar and tuberculosis in Tajikistan. He was part of a team of reporters at NPR that won a Peabody Award in 2015 for their extensive coverage of the West Africa Ebola outbreak. His current beat also examines development issues including why Niger has the highest birth rate in the world, can private schools serve some of the poorest kids on the planet and the links between obesity and economic growth.
Prior to becoming the Global Health and Development Correspondent in 2012, Beaubien spent four years based in Mexico City covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In that role, Beaubien filed stories on politics in Cuba, the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the FMLN victory in El Salvador, the world's richest man and Mexico's brutal drug war.
For his first multi-part series as the Mexico City correspondent, Beaubien drove the length of the U.S./Mexico border making a point to touch his toes in both oceans. The stories chronicled the economic, social and political changes along the violent frontier.
In 2002, Beaubien joined NPR after volunteering to cover a coup attempt in the Ivory Coast. Over the next four years, Beaubien worked as a foreign correspondent in sub-Saharan Africa, visiting 27 countries on the continent. His reporting ranged from poverty on the world's poorest continent, the HIV in the epicenter of the epidemic, and the all-night a cappella contests in South Africa, to Afro-pop stars in Nigeria and a trial of white mercenaries in Equatorial Guinea.
During this time, he covered the famines and wars of Africa, as well as inspiring preachers and Nobel laureates. Beaubien was one of the first journalists to report on the huge exodus of people out of Sudan's Darfur region into Chad, as villagers fled some of the initial attacks by the Janjawid. He reported extensively on the steady deterioration of Zimbabwe and still has a collection of worthless Zimbabwean currency.
In 2006, Beaubien was awarded a Knight-Wallace fellowship at the University of Michigan to study the relationship between the developed and the developing world.
Beaubien grew up in Maine, started his radio career as an intern at NPR Member Station KQED in San Francisco and worked at WBUR in Boston before joining NPR.
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The island nation is going it alone. No contracts with big drug makers, no support from WHO's vaccine program. If successful, Cuba will be the first producer of a vaccine in Latin America.
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A rare blood clotting condition has occurred in some people after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. If the new research is correct, it could mean that blood clots could be easily treated.
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"Too many people are coming here right now," Mayor Dan Gelber said on Saturday as he proclaimed a 72-hour state of emergency to address swelling crowds and fears of fueling a surge in COVID-19 cases.
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The agency's conclusion comes as the Biden administration announced it would send AstraZeneca vaccines to Canada and Mexico.
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The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago gave an impassioned speech about the vaccine rollout, warning of hoarding and price gouging. Here's what we could find out about the cost of a dose.
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For low- and middle-income countries, just obtaining doses has been a challenge. And now concerns are being raised about the effectiveness of the more affordable AstraZeneca option.
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A small study in South Africa has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, particularly in fighting virus variants.
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As wealthier countries horde doses, the Latin American nation is struggling to obtain an ample supply for its population while dealing with a daunting caseload.
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Swarms of locusts have reached dangerous levels in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. They're reproducing rapidly in part because of unusual rainfall patterns.
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The team's owner said Jared Porter has been terminated after ESPN reported he repeatedly sent explicit messages to a reporter while he worked for the Chicago Cubs in 2016.