The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that each year 303,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth; there are 2.6 million stillbirths, and 2.7 million babies die within 28 days of being born.

Merceline Achieng is a teenage girl who lives in Kisumu, Kenya, and attends St. Theresa’s Girls Secondary School. She recently joined the Kisumu Urban Apostolate Programme in Pandipieri, where she studies training modules at WiRED’s Health Learning Center.

WiRED International is pleased to offer a health learning module on airborne diseases, as part of WiRED’s upcoming Infectious Disease series. WiRED’s Airborne Disease Module defines airborne diseases, identifies their causes and tells how to avoid contracting them.

February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, where about one in four people die from heart disease.

Winter brings seasonal increases in strep throat, a bacterial infection which can lead to rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and even death. Although RHD is completely preventable, it affects 15.6 million people worldwide, two-thirds of them children in low-resource countries.

Vaccines are on the front pages of the news. An Ebola vaccine proved to be 100% effective in a recent medical trial. The search for a Zika vaccine is narrowing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds the public it is not too late in the season to get a flu shot.

Two computer technicians and I rode in a small van headed down a dark rutted road in far eastern Croatia. We had worked a long day in the war-damaged school in Vukovar, a town disfigured and dispirited by conflict sitting on the edge of the Danube River.

Climate change shapes the social and environmental determinants of health, which are clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. Developing countries especially are ill-equipped to prepare for and respond to the consequences of climate change.

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated one million-plus women worldwide are currently living with cervical cancer. The majority of women affected live in low- and middle-income countries, where they know little about prevention and have no access to treatment or care.

According to HealthDay, a new study finds that people with mental health issues rank their pets as their number one support — above family, friends and hobbies. Cats, birds, dogs and other animals help individuals manage their mental health issues by calming them, providing them with distractions and helping them in moments of crisis.