A March 2017 study reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that American women affected by the Zika virus were 20 times more likely to give birth to babies with severe birth defects than U.S. mothers who contracted Zika two years ago.

In 1999, not long after the end of NATO’s aerial bombing of Serbia, the U.S. State Department asked me to join a team that the Department had assembled to build a network of seven Internet Access Centers (IAC) across Kosovo.

Every year billions of people experience a foodborne disease (FBD) without ever knowing that their illness was caused by food. WiRED International now offers a Foodborne Diseases Module, which describes FBDs, identifies their causes and tells how to avoid contracting them.

By unanimous vote, the Western Psychological Association (WPA) recently granted its 2017 Social Responsibility Award to William Crano, Ph.D., a member of WiRED’s Advisory Board. This WPA award “is given to an individual in recognition of substantial and influential work that facilitates peace, freedom, social justice and/or protection of this planet’s natural environment.”

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.