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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An ulcer drug is dramatically changing the face of back-alley abortions in developing countries and cutting the rate of maternal deaths. Misoprostol is widely available even where abortion is banned.
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Christina Quintanilla faced up to 50 years in prison after an anonymous hospital worker accused her of having an abortion.
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The ambitious scope of the intervention has impressed aid workers, who have been crying for help for months. But the plan will need to be implemented quickly to get ahead of the spread of infections.
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A brief video captures the chaos of Ebola in Liberia. A suspected patient, who allegedly fled a treatment center, is pursued by health workers and wrestled into a truck.
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In an exclusive interview with NPR, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shares his impressions from a visit to West Africa.
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Being a health worker usually isn't controversial. But in Pakistan, it can get you killed. Fatima Noor explains why she still goes door to door to immunize kids, even though she's scared.
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The effort to end polio is taking a toll on Pakistan's already overstretched health system. With more children dying of measles and diarrhea, some question whether the focus on polio is worth it.
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There is no cure for Ebola. But doctors are able to treat the virus successfully, raising hope that the outbreak that began in West Africa in March will eventually be brought under control.
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Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has a fatality rate of about 30 percent. An uptick in new cases in Saudi Arabia has health specialists concerned that the virus could spread outside the region.
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The $31.3 billion given by wealthy nations, aid groups, charities, large foundations and others in 2013 reflects the shifting mix of donors backing international health projects, an analysis suggests.