• The life of a female cardiologist in Afghanistan

    Bay Ismoyo / AFP - Getty Images

    Afghan cardiologist Rahima Stanikzair, 43, travels to her private clinic after finishing work at the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul on May 13, 2012.

    Agence France Presse reports — Afghan cardiologist Rahima Stanikzair works 14 hours a day serving dozens of patients with heart problems at a private clinic as well as at the French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul.

    When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, she continued working as a doctor as male medical personnel were banned from examining women.

    Previously on PhotoBlog:

    Bay Ismoyo / AFP - Getty Images

    Rahima Stanikzair monitors an infant's heart at the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul on May 13, 2012.

    Bay Ismoyo / AFP - Getty Images

    Rahima Stanikzair leaves her office during her lunch break on May 13, 2012.

     

  • Woman who became world's oldest doctor dies at 114

    AP: Dr. Leila Denmark, the world's oldest practicing physician when she retired at age 103, died Sunday in Athens, her family members said. She was 114. "The kids would come in and she would spend as much time as she needed with the parents to help fix that baby or that child," said her grandson, Steve Hutcherson, "What she would do is figure out how to help them stay well."

    Lynn Johnson/ handout via EPA

    Dr. Leila Denmark examines a child in the 1990s, in Athens, Georgia. Denmark died 01 April 2012 at the age of 114. Denmark, a pediatrician, practiced medicine for more than 70 years, until she retired in 2001 at the age of 103.

    She treated some of Atlanta's poorest children as a volunteer at the Central Presbyterian Baby Clinic near the state capitol in Atlanta, said her daughter, Mary Hutcherson of Athens. Mill workers and other poor people who had no other way to get medical care would bring their sick children to the clinic.

    Denmark Family handout via EPA

    Dr. Leila Denmark and her husband Eustace Denmark.

    "She absolutely loved practicing medicine more than anything else in the world," said another grandson, Dr. James Hutcherson of Evergreen, Colo. "She never referred to practicing medicine as work." Full story

    Trevor Frey / Athens Banner Herald via EPA

    Dr. Leila Denmark (R) listens to her grand niece Jackie Bennett as she celebrates her 110th birthday in 2008.

  • Galo Imagesvia Getty Images

    Doctor Amith Ramcharan examines a child at the Banadir Hospital on September 7, 2011 in Mogadishu, Somalia. This is the Gift Of The Givers Foundation's second mercy mission to Somalia, where they will provide medical services and food aid to the famine stricken Somalia. This delegation includes doctors, nurses, dieticians and other medical personnel.

    Doctors try to save lives in famine-stricken Somalia

    More photos in our slideshow.

  • German doctor makes house calls in rural region struggling with medical shortage

    Carsten Koall / Getty Images

    Country doctor Dieter Baermann measures the blood pressure of an elderly patient Giesela Herfert in the patient's home on August 8 in Sachsendorf near Seelow, Germany. Baermann works in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany, a region that is struggling with a shortage of doctors in rural areas. Critics charge that current laws actually discourage doctors from taking up posts in rural areas, and the German government is debating a new law intended to reverse the trend. Many doctors across Germany complain about a legal system that they claim burdens them with too many costs and hampers their ability to provide the best care.

    Carsten Koall / Getty Images

    Country doctor Dieter Baermann measures the blood sugar level of an elderly patient in the patient's home on August 8 in Sachsendorf, Germany.

    Carsten Koall / Getty Images

    Baermann touches the face of patient Margot Panzer on August 8 in Sachsendorf, Germany.

    Carsten Koall / Getty Images

    Country doctor Dieter Baermann arrives for a home visit of a patient.

     

  • In rural Afghanistan, the doctor arrives on the back of a donkey

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Doctor Basir Ahmad Jaghori, left, rides a donkey with his medical team to the top of the mountain pass on a two hour trek on June 9, heading to the mountain village of Raquol, in Panjab district, Afghanistan. Dr. Jaghori and his team had to carry everything in by foot and donkey. The team saw 160 patients during the monthly visit to the village, including patients from ten outlying villages.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Doctor Mohammed Rashidi deals with a long line of patients at a mosque serving as a makeshift mobile health clinic on June 12 in the village of Gharmboloq, in Shahidan district, Afghanistan.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Women wait to be seen by a doctor on June 11 in the mountain village of Faladi, in Bamiyan district, Afghanistan.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Photographer Paula Bronstein has been documenting the work of medical teams delivering free health care to remote communities in Afghanistan. There are six mobile health units working in Bamiyan, Yakawlang, Waras, Panjab and Kahmard districts, each team consisting of a doctor, a midwife, and a vaccinator. The program, which is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),  aims to reach approximately 100,000 individuals in 400 villages.