• India's emergency medical care system in tatters

    Nasr Ul Hadi / AP

    Rajendra Jain, 57, is pulled out of an auto rickshaw by his broken leg, on to a stretcher at a hospital in New Delhi, India on Aug. 22, 2012. Trauma patients in India are often mishandled by those who mean to help them, because there are only a few thousand trained paramedics for a population of 1.2 billion. Photos made available to NBC News on Sept. 5, 2012.

    The Associated Press reports — Trauma care barely exists across much of India, where 160,000 people die in road accidents every year. Some of those people would surely survive if the system were better.

    Ambulances have no medical equipment, and very few doctors are trained in emergency care, said Piyush Tewari, whose nonprofit helps trauma victims get medical attention within the first 60 minutes after an emergency, when medical intervention has the best chance of saving a victim's life. A 2006 report in the Indian Journal of Surgery found that more than 80 percent of Indians don't get care within that "golden hour." Read the full story.

    Nasr Ul Hadi / AP

    Mahfooz Hasan, 33, sleeps in the waiting room at a trauma center in New Delhi on Aug. 22, 2012, with his urine bag on the floor. Hasan had traveled hundreds of miles to squat in the city hospital, because he did not have access to emergency care in his hometown.

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  • New brides in Poland take the plunge for charity

    Marek Zakrzewski / EPA

    Four new brides slide down a water slide in Poland for charity on Aug. 26.

    Marek Zakrzewski / EPA

    Dozens of brides emerge from a swimming pool after a charity photo shoot in Poland on Aug. 26. Most of the participating brides were married in the past few months.

    Polish Newlyweds participated in a photo shoot in Poznan, Poland on Sunday in a special event, ‘Brides Conquer City for a Sick Child.’ Proceeds from the fundraiser will help purchase a special wheelchair for an eight-year-old armless child.

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  • Simon Akam / Reuters

    A child stands in pouring rain in the slum of Susan's Bay in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, Aug. 22. At the height of the wet season, over-populated areas with poor water and sanitation are exacerbating the spread of the disease.

    Cholera infects 13,000 in Sierra Leone, national emergency declared

    Sierra Leone's government has described the current cholera outbreak in the West African state of Sierra Leone as a "national emergency." According to Associated Press, more than 258 have been killed and some 13,000 more are infected by the disease.

    "All of this is the aftermath of the 11 years rebel war when we had a huge rural-to-urban migration and a huge population clustered in the urban area where adequate provision has not been made for water and sanitation. This is what we have been witnessing today," Minister of Health and Sanitation Zainab Hawa Bangura. Continue reading AP article.

    Cholera is an infection of the small intestine, contracted by eating or drinking contaminated food or liquids. It can cause acute diarrhea and vomiting and can kill within hours.

  • Albert Gonzalez Farran / UNAMID via AFP - Getty Images

    A faith healer's brew

    A Faki (religious healer) from Abu Shouk, North Darfur, Sudan, holds a smoking pot during the preparation of the Bakhra, a traditional treatment for mental illness. The patient has to inhale the smoke that comes up from a piece of paper (with lines from the Koran written on it) fired with charcoal and roots.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This image, taken on June 21, 2012 and made available to NBC News on August 23, was handed out by the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

  • Mothers give birth in an already overpopulated Manila

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Mothers and their newborns share space on a bed after giving birth in the maternity ward at the government-run Jose Fabella maternity hospital in Manila, Philippines.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    A woman holds a cross while dealing with labor pains at the government-run Jose Fabella maternity hospital.

    More than 65 babies are born at the government operated Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines every day.

    Manila is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and many of the city dwellers are forced to live on every bit of spare land they can find. Poverty causes people to live under bridges, railway lines and even cemeteries.

    Getty Images photographer Paula Bronstein created these images on Aug. 18-20 and made them available to NBCNews.com today.

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    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    A mother is in pain while her newborn baby rests on her chest as she gets surgically sutured after giving birth in a delivery room at the Jose Fabella Hospital.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    A mother is seen on the operation table next to her new baby moments after a Caesarean operation.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Mothers breast feed their babies in a special room at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital.

  • Michelle Obama hosts kids' lunchtime 'state dinner' at White House

    Larry Downing / Reuters

    First lady Michelle Obama hosts the first ever "Kids' State Dinner" in the East Room at the White House in Washington, on Aug. 20.

    Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

    Party balloons sit on the floor of the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, on Aug. 20, 2012, in preparations for the "Kids' State Dinner," hosted by first lady Michelle Obama.

    Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

    US President Barack Obama shakes hands with mothers and their children during first ever Kids' "State Dinner" at the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 20.

    AP reports -- At the first ever White House "kids state dinner," first lady Michelle Obama told America's top junior chefs Monday that the dishes they created are proving that fun eating can be "healthy and tasty at the same time."

    "Your recipes truly stood out," she said to an East Room filled with kids who won a nationwide recipe competition. "You came up with dishes that were packed with nutritious, delicious ingredients — dishes that are good for you but more importantly they taste good, too. See? It can happen."

    The event was the latest effort in Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity with more exercise and a better diet.

    Continue reading.

    Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

    US First Lady Michelle Obama hugs her introducer, 12-year-old Marshall Reid from North Carolina and author of "Portion Size Me: A Kid-Driven Plan to a Healthier Family," during a Kids' "State Dinner" in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 20. This first time event includes 54 children, ages 8-12, from all US states, three territories and Washington, DC, to a luncheon in support of the Let's Move campaign, featuring healthy recipes and a performance by Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush.

    Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

    A place setting is seen on a table during the first ever "Kids' State Dinner" at the White House in Washington on Aug. 20. The Obama's hosted 54 kids whose recipes were selected for the "Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook".

    Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

    Michael Lakind of Texas, speaks with the media as he arrives at the Bookseller's Area for a Kids' "State Dinner" hosted by US First Lady Michelle Obama in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 20. This first time event includes 54 kids, ages 8-12, from all US states, three territories and Washington, DC, to a luncheon in support of the Let's Move campaign, featuring healthy recipes and a performance by Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush.

     

  • Drug dealers say no to crack in Rio

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A man smokes crack in the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 7. Some drug bosses say they have stopped selling crack because it destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government. City authorities take credit for the change, arguing that drug gangs are trying to create a distraction and make police back off their offensive to take back the slums.

    Business was brisk in the Mandela shantytown on a recent night. In the glow of a weak light bulb, customers pawed through packets of powdered cocaine and marijuana priced at $5, $10, $25. Teenage boys with semiautomatic weapons took in money and made change while flirting with girls in belly-baring tops lounging nearby.

    Next to them, a gaggle of kids jumped on a trampoline, oblivious to the guns and drug-running that are part of everyday life in this and hundreds of other slums, known as favelas, across this metropolitan area of 12 million people. Conspicuously absent from the scene was crack, the most addictive and destructive drug in the triad that fuels Rio's lucrative narcotics trade.

    -- Reported by the Associated Press

    Read the full story.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers and users gather at a drug selling point in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    People gather in an area known as "Crackland" inside the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A trafficker test fires a riffle in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A trafficker stands at a drug selling point that stopped selling crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A masked and armed trafficker at a drug selling point that no longer sells crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Crack users gather under a bridge in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A crack user leaves a crack house near the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

     

  • San Salvador combats dengue fever

    Luis Romero / AP

    A San Salvador government worker fumigates houses in the northern area of the capital city, to eliminate mosquitos, transmitters of the dengue disease in San Salvador, El Salvador, Aug. 17, 2012.

    From the Pan American Health Organization website:

    In Key West, there's talk of releasing genetically-modified mosquitoes to fight dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness. WFLA's Brooks Garner reports.

    In recent months dengue has gotten worse in El Salvador, a trend that has turned combating the disease into a national priority. According to a World Health Organization Representative in El Salvador, by June 15, the number of clinical cases of Dengue reached 1301.Children between the ages of 5 and 9 years are most affected.

    In light of this situation, the President of El Salvador has declared a state of emergency in the departments of San Salvador, Libertad, Santa Ana, and Cabañas, and a yellow alert in the rest of the country. Activities aimed at control include day and night sprayings, which are being intensified by army personnel, while brigades from schools, universities and communities help with the mechanical destruction of larval breeding sites. Additional activities have focused on the dissemination of information, increased communication, and face to face education, with the participation of radio and television networks.

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  • Sabah Arar / AFP - Getty Images

    Iraqi Salman al-Khafaji, right, treats a man at his clinic in central Baghdad on June 27. Dozens of patients flock to the clinic of the former nurse each day, believing that the octogenarian would end the suffering from the burns and skin diseases that doctors failed to treat.

    Healer in Baghdad fills in some of hospitals' gaps

    "Sometimes I receive people suffering from burns who have come directly from Yarmuk hospital, or Medical City, or others," he says, referring to some of the city's largest hospitals.

    "They need constant care for long sessions, and that is not always available in hospitals."

    The walls of Khafaji's house in Karrada, Baghdad's main commercial district, are lined with framed verses from the Koran and also paintings of the Virgin Mary.

    -- Reported by AFP

    Read the full story.

  • Spanish woman climbs into coffin to keep a promise

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia covers her face from the sun with a fan while she is carried in a coffin during a procession through the village of Santa Marta de Ribarteme, Spain, on July 29, 2012. Emilia climbed into the coffin to keep a promise made to her 76-year-old father, Jose Manuel, after he survived a difficult medical procedure.

    Every year one of the most curious pilgrimages in Spain is held in the small village of Santa Marta de Ribarteme in Las Nieves municipality, Getty Images reports.

    Starting after a mass at the village's parish church, believers grateful for the miracle of being saved from death go on a pilgrimage in a procession of coffins. Carried by friends and relatives singing 'Virgin Santa Marta, star of the North, we bring you those who saw death', the pilgrims process to the cemetery and back to the church, ending at a statue of Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the patron saint of resurrection.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    A believer waits to receive a devotional that has touched the statue of Saint Marta de Ribarteme during a mass given by father Don Alfonso.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia is helped out of the coffin at the end of the procession.

    Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

    Emilia is embraced by her father Jose Manuel after she took part in the procession to keep a promise she had made in aid of his recovery.

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  • Abir Sultan / EPA

    A tourist smeared with mud from the Dead Sea stands in a coastal resort near Ein Gedi, Israel on July 25.

    Covered head to toe in Dead Sea mud

    Mud from the Dead Sea, which is rich on several minerals, is said to be good for the regeneration of the skin and is even sold as a cosmetic therapy for skin diseases.

  • Remote Area Medical offers free healthcare to impoverished Appalachia

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    People wait to receive a wristband number for medical treatment at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic in Wise, Va. on July 20. RAM clinics bring free medical, dental and vision care to uninsured and under-insured people around the world.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    RAM founder Stan Brock calls patients wristband numbers at the RAM clinic in Wise, Va. The Wise clinic was the 647th RAM expedition since 1985 and drew 1,700 patients from 14 states, organizers said.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    A patient has an eye exam at the Wise, Va. RAM clinic on July 20.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    Dentists work on patients at the RAM clinic in Wise, Va.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    Joe Roberts, from Sutherland, Va., intending to have ten teeth extracted, waits for his wristband number to be called at the RAM clinic on July 20.

    By Jon Sweeney, NBC News

    Remote Area Medical clinics bring free health, dental and vision care to uninsured and under-insured people across the country and abroad. The Wise, Va. clinic held on July 20, was the 647th RAM expedition since 1985 and drew 1,700 patients from 14 states, organizers said.

    Reuters photographer, Mark Makela wrote in his blog: Witnessing horrific health cases, one after the other, was a heartbreaking experience.

    A 20-year-old had 20 teeth extracted. A mother of two who lost her job due to poor eye sight came for eye care and glasses. A three-year-old had to undergo oral surgery for a root canal and front teeth extraction. These were just a few of the heart-wrenching health cases I observed.

    There was a chronic pattern of poor oral hygiene and due to patients’ extreme dental pain they asked for teeth extraction instead of teeth repair. Continue reading

    Photos in this blog post were taken on July 20, but made available to NBC News today.

     

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    A dentist displays extracted teeth at the Wise, Va. RAM clinic, and drops them in a gallon jug of distilled water.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    A board lists the variety of medical talks offered at the RAM clinic.

    Mark Makela / Reuters

    A chihuahua named Bella leans on her owner the night before the RAM clinic opens in Wise, Va. on July 19.

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