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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Leaders of NATO and the G7 will hold an emergency summit in Brussels to talk about the war in Ukraine. But Ukrainian officials are hoping for more than speeches — they want weapons and sanctions.
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While welcome, some donations don't address the needs of displaced and homeless Ukrainians who've lost nearly everything they own. Several aid groups are turning to a new tactic: cash aid. -
Russian forces have shown few signs of advancing but are still actively destroying Ukraine. In the southern city of Mariupol, bombs targeted a school which was sheltering about 400 displaced people.
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This vibrant street art is a sign of the spirited rebuilding going on in the northern Iraqi city, after ISIS was defeated in 2017. -
Russia claims to have hit a weapons depot in Ukraine's west, and Ukrainians continue to seek refuge in other parts of their country, as well as neighboring countries.
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The legacy of old wars in Iraq takes the form of mines and cluster bombs that still injure people, often children. Groups are trying to educate kids about the dangers.
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The iconic 12th Century mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul is being rebuilt after ISIS nearly destroyed it five years ago. It's now well under reconstruction — a symbol of the city's comeback.
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Iraq's capital city is already seeing record heat — up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. A report predicts more 120-plus degree days to come. And the "urban heat island" effect will make things even worse. -
Last year, the region imported more than 36 million metric tons of wheat, mostly from Russia and Ukraine. The concern is that Russia's war in Ukraine could disrupt supplies and drive up prices. -
The vaccination rate is only 17%. People are scared and skeptical for many reasons. Now government health workers are trying to up the numbers. One strategy: vaccination booths in the mall.
