February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, where about one in four people die from heart disease.

Winter brings seasonal increases in strep throat, a bacterial infection which can lead to rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and even death. Although RHD is completely preventable, it affects 15.6 million people worldwide, two-thirds of them children in low-resource countries.

Vaccines are on the front pages of the news. An Ebola vaccine proved to be 100% effective in a recent medical trial. The search for a Zika vaccine is narrowing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds the public it is not too late in the season to get a flu shot.

Two computer technicians and I rode in a small van headed down a dark rutted road in far eastern Croatia. We had worked a long day in the war-damaged school in Vukovar, a town disfigured and dispirited by conflict sitting on the edge of the Danube River.

Climate change shapes the social and environmental determinants of health, which are clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. Developing countries especially are ill-equipped to prepare for and respond to the consequences of climate change.

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated one million-plus women worldwide are currently living with cervical cancer. The majority of women affected live in low- and middle-income countries, where they know little about prevention and have no access to treatment or care.

According to HealthDay, a new study finds that people with mental health issues rank their pets as their number one support — above family, friends and hobbies. Cats, birds, dogs and other animals help individuals manage their mental health issues by calming them, providing them with distractions and helping them in moments of crisis.

WiRED International started operations in 1997 by providing Internet connections in war-ravaged towns throughout the former Yugoslavia. We now begin our 20th year and plan to use this Web space to review our past two decades of work and to look ahead at our expanding range of programs that provide health education in low-resource regions.

All of us at WiRED International would like to offer our friends best wishes for a healthy and enjoyable 2017. With your input and support, we look forward to growing our community training programs and adding new features that improve the health of people in low resource regions.

A medical trial led by the World Health Organization (WHO) has resulted in an effective Ebola vaccine. In the trial the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine protected all 5,837 recipients in Guinea who received it; whereas 23 people who did not take the vaccine contracted Ebola. The vaccine is now awaiting approval for wider use.