Providing services equitably requires global health practitioners to have detailed data on the populations they are trying to reach. This episode of Take as Directed, hosted by Senior Fellow Nellie Bristol, highlights new initiatives to collect and analyze sub-national data to give a clearer picture of children being missed. Nellie is joined by guests Laurie Werner, Global Director for the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative at PATH, and Jon Mosser, a Fellow in pediatric infectious diseases at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington and Clinical Fellow with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. They discuss new initiatives to map vaccine coverage, technical challenges to collecting data in resource poor settings, and the importance of spending development dollars on data collection and analysis.
 
Hosted by Nellie Bristol. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

The world of global health security has been amassed in headlines over the past few weeks—from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the elimination of the Global Health Security Directorate within the White House National Security Council staff. For this episode of Take as Directed, we feature three leading health security experts with substantial frontline experience who discuss the current state of preparedness around the world, gaps and priorities looking ahead, and how to maintain pandemic preparedness as a high-level political priority at times of peace. Beth Cameron, Vice President of Global Biological Policy and Programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, serves as our guest host for this discussion, alongside featured guests Amadou Sall, CEO of Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, and Andrew Kitua, Africa Regional Director of the USAID Preparedness and Response project.

Amidst a time of potentially historic talks between the U.S. and North Korea, we take an inside look at the health challenges that North Korea faces and the opportunities for progress that can be made through key diplomatic steps. For this discussion, we turn to Dr. Kee B. Park, Paul Farmer Global Surgery Scholar at Harvard Medical School and Director of North Korea Programs for the Korean American Medical Association. Dr. Park has just returned from another trip to North Korea and joins us to discuss his latest visit, the potential impacts of economic sanctions on humanitarian engagement, and the operating environment that influenced the Global Fund's decision to close its TB and malaria programs. We conclude by hearing about some exciting new initiatives Dr. Park is pursuing to strengthen U.S.-North Korea collaboration in the health sector and his optimism looking forward. Dr. Park is also one of many co-authors on our recent commentary “The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea.”

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.
 

Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), is a pioneer in the world of global burden of disease measurement. In April, IHME released their annual report on global health financing and two accompanying articles in The Lancet. Chris joins us for today’s episode to discuss the future of financing the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and the efforts to move towards universal health coverage around the world.
 
Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Despite substantial progress made in expanding access to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention options, a vaccine for HIV—even an imperfect one—is likely needed to put a durable end to the epidemic. In this episode of Take as Directed, Dr. Mark Feinberg, President and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) discusses the landscape of HIV vaccine development and why he thinks a vaccine remains a necessary pursuit. Dr. Feinberg also discusses the facilitating role that IAVI plays in the HIV vaccine development process.

Hosted by Sara Allinder. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

During World Immunization Week, Take as Directed highlights an important but sometimes overshadowed aspect of vaccine coverage improvement—innovations designed to make vaccine delivery easier, especially in low-resource settings. This episode features Darin Zehrung, Global Program Leader for Devices and Tools at PATH, and Mark Papania, Measles Elimination Team Lead in the Global Immunization Division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both men are involved in developing technologies, such as microarray patches, that offer alternatives to needle and syringe delivery methods. The patches and other new technologies make vaccines easier to administer and less burdensome on fragile cold chain systems in developing countries.
 
Hosted by Nellie Bristol. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

The World Health Organization (WHO) faced significant criticism following the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, calling into question the organization’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to large-scale health emergencies. Dr. Peter Salama serves as the Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response at WHO, where he directs the Health Emergencies Progamme—which was established in 2016 as a major piece of the reform efforts made since the Ebola outbreak. Dr. Salama joins us to discuss how these reforms have been going so far and where the WHO and international community still have work to do in the areas of preparedness and response to major health emergencies. Dr. Salama also speaks with us about the new efforts the WHO has implemented to better track the rising trend of attacks on health and humanitarian workers.

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Face it Together is a South Dakota-based nonprofit that takes a business approach to solving our nation’s addiction crisis. They place a unique focus on leveraging the role that employers can play in changing the culture and stigma surrounding addiction and removing many of the barriers that prevent people from receiving treatment. Steve Schwartz and David Whitestock of Face it Together join us to discuss their innovative approaches to the issue of addiction and the barriers that keep them and others from doing more. Our guests also react to recent developments at the national level and discuss where the business community and Congress can play different roles in further addressing workplace addiction issues.
 
Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Dr. Alma Crumm Golden is Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Global Health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In this episode of Take As Directed, Dr. Golden discusses how her career as a pediatrician first brought her attention to the need for integrated health services in promoting maternal and child health—treating each patient as a whole person—and how she has brought this perspective into her work in domestic health policy at the Department of Health and Human Services and now in her global work at USAID. We ask Dr. Golden about her priorities at USAID, the role of the private sector, and how the agency might need to shift its approach to adapt to potential cuts to global health funding outlined in President Trump’s FY 2019 budget request.
 
Hosted by Sara Allinder. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

At the end of January, health leaders from around the world convened for the 142nd executive board meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO)—the first to occur under new Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In this episode of Take as Directed, we discuss Dr. Tedros’s proposed program of work and key priorities, the U.S. priorities for the WHO this year, and the current state of polio transition and the WHO transition plan presented at the meeting. We are joined by guests Amb. John E. Lange, Senior Fellow for Global Health Diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation, and Jenifer Healy, Chief of Staff, Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 
Hosted by Nellie Bristol. Produced by Alex Bush. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.