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Anna Maria Barry-Jester

The USAID logo is seen on a machine that processes recycled plastic into construction blocks at the Pasig Eco Hub, a project impacted by the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid, on March 10, 2025 in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Death, sexual violence and human trafficking: The global fallout from killing USAID

Brett Murphy, Anna Maria Barry-Jester
A Vietnamese soldier stands next to a hazardous warning sign by a runway at Bien Hoa air base, on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, as US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis visits the former US air base on October 17, 2018. - The toxic legacy of the Vietnam War came under the spotlight again on October 17 when Mattis visits a former storage site for Agent Orange, which is blamed for birth defects and cancers among a million Vietnamese. (THOMAS WATKINS/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump halted an Agent Orange cleanup. That puts hundreds of thousands at risk for poisoning

Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Brett Murphy, Le Van
Mother and baby (Getty Images/Stanislaw Pytel)

Syphilis is killing babies. The U.S. government Is failing to stop the disease from spreading

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Medical syringe and vaccine with cash (Getty Images/Yulia Naumenko)

How a Big Pharma company stalled a potentially lifesaving vaccine in pursuit of bigger profits

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
A pregnant woman receiving an ultrasound (Getty Images/Antenna)

Racism a strong factor in Black women’s high rate of premature births, study finds

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers gathered at Indiana University's Sample Gates to protest against mandatory Covid vaccinations IU is requiring for students, staff and faculty during the upcoming fall semester. (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Over half of states have rolled back public health powers in pandemic

Lauren Weber, Anna Maria Barry-Jester
A health worker wearing a personal protective equipment suit (PPE) take the cover off a manhole for inspection in Marseille. The COMETE unit (Covid Marseille Environmental Testing Expertise) collects samples of wastewater at various points in the city to determine the neighborhoods, schools or certain buildings contaminated by Covid-19 through testing of these samples. (Denis Thaust/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The newest disease detection tool for COVID and beyond: poop

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
A vaccine syringe is held over a model of a coronavirus (Peter Endig/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Can the U.S. keep COVID variants in check? Here’s what it takes

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Gavin Newsom (GettyKevork Djansezian)

After COVID-19 spike, California shifts its strategy

Angela Hart, Anna Maria Barry-Jester

Efforts to curb STDs falter in COVID’s shadow

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Passengers wear face masks to protect against the spread of the Coronavirus as they arrive on a flight from Asia at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on January 29, 2020. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

New California coronavirus case reveals problems with U.S. testing protocols

Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Rachel Bluth
A Cal Fire firefighter monitors the Kincaide Fire as it burns a hillside on October 24, 2019 in Geyserville, California. Fueled by high winds, the Kincaide Fire has burned over 7,000 acres in a matter of hours and has prompted evacuations in the Geyserville area. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images))

Farmworkers face daunting health risks in California’s wildfires

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
(Getty/licsiren)

Juul hires leading teen addiction researcher as medical director

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
(Getty/lamontak590623)

As temperatures climb, a new push to keep workers safe

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
(JASPER JACOBS/AFP/Getty Images)

A proposal to make it harder for kids to skip vaccines gives powerful voices pause

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Tania (not her real name) washes clothes at a shelter in Mexicali where she stayed with her family for several weeks, first waiting to apply for asylum, and then waiting for a court hearing. A week after this photo was taken, she fainted in the heat and was hospitalized. (Anna Maria Barry-Jester/Kaiser Health News) (Anna Maria Barry-Jester/Kaiser Health News)

Heat and violence pose twin threats for asylum-seekers waiting at border

Anna Maria Barry-Jester
(Rainmaker Photo/MediaPunch/IPX)

Planned parenthood’s “risky strategy” to update its image

Shefali Luthra, Anna Maria Barry-Jester