Fatma Tanis
Fatma Tanis is a correspondent covering global health and development for NPR.
Tanis reports on U.S. foreign aid policy, the global humanitarian aid sector, as well as poverty and hunger, among other global health issues.
She's covered some of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world from Yemen, Chad, Gaza and Ukraine. Her reporting has often focused on the most vulnerable populations around the world and how they are impacted by the policies of governments.
For over a decade Tanis has reported on major events from all around the world, with a focus on the Middle East – including the social changes in Saudi Arabia in 2018 and onwards, the aftermath of the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Iran in 2023, Turkey's geopolitical strategy vis-à-vis Russia and the West, the plight of Syrian refugees in Turkey, and the war between Israel and Hamas.
Tanis speaks Turkish and Arabic and can survive in Persian.
Tanis can be reached via encrypted message at fxtanis.05 on Signal.
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Drones carrying medical supplies constantly crisscross the skies of Rwanda. The Trump administration is giving a major grant to the effort — and at the same time cutting aid to the country. -
President Trump's arrival in Ankara kicks off another potentially tense meeting for NATO. -
Former USAID administrator reflects on a year since USAID's shutdown and the new direction of US foreign aid. -
Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised: "We have a whole-of-government response. It'll be big; it'll be fast; and it'll be effective." -
Nicholas Enrich, on staff at the U.S. Agency for International Aid under 4 administrations, talks about Into the Woodchipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID. -
Researchers looked at whether a tried-and-true poverty alleviation effort that gives cash and coaching to households, and is typically implemented in rural areas, could work in an urban setting. -
Fuel costs more. Food is harder to get. Jobs are evaporating. And in Cairo, cafes and restaurants are ordered to close at 9 p.m. -
The U.S. government long saw giving international aid as a way to build goodwill throughout the world. Did it work? And what does the reducing of foreign aid mean for that effort now? -
The war in Iran has slowed down international shipping, much of which contains medical and humanitarian goods destined for Asia and Africa. -
U.S. work combatting HIV/AIDS has saved millions of lives globally. Under the Trump administration, funding has been slow in coming and unpredictable, wreaking havoc on people trying to do the work.
