Public Health On Call

Malaria infects hundreds of millions of people around the globe each year and kills more than 600,000. But the disease has been eliminated in many of the countries providing significant support in the fight against malaria, like the U.S. For World Malaria Day, Thomas Locke, host of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute's podcast, Malaria Minute, talks with some advocates in the U.S. who are passionate about rallying political support around the fight against malaria and raising the bar for the role young people play in global health advocacy.

In the 1980s and 90s, the world came together to successfully address a major environmental problem: a growing hole in the ozone layer. So why hasn't that success translated to global collaboration to make a dent in climate change? For Earth Day, David Victor, professor at UC San Diego, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the unique problem of climate change, and some optimistic and realistic signs of progress.

Antibiotics are marvels of modern medicine but overuse has created deadly strains of bacteria that can't be treated. Where and how could prescriptions be curtailed to have the biggest effects? Dr. David Wallinga, a physician-scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the murky picture of unnecessary antibiotic use in animals in the US and the "dismal" near future where many more may die before efforts are made to get overuse under control.

Algorithms—formulas that do everything from suggesting Netflix shows to streamlining Google results—are increasingly used in health care settings. But could these tools be introducing bias? Kadija Ferryman, a cultural anthropologist and faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what algorithms are and the double-edged sword of their use in medicine.

Dire statistics about birth outcomes for Black people in the U.S. have become front-page news in recent years. But this problem isn't new—in fact, it has roots in the very fabric of American society and health care with structural and systemic racism at its core. Kicking off a series from Public Health in the Field, Rachel Bervell and Annalies Winny explore how and why the nation has come to recognize this crisis in Black maternal health, what it means for health care as a whole, and possible solutions that could benefit the entire field of reproductive health at a challenging time. Listen to the full series and access the resources mentioned in it: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/solving-the-black-maternal-health-crisis

This week is Black Maternal Health Week in the US and to kick off the conversation, Dr. Josh Sharfstein speaks with author and New York Times contributor Linda Villarosa about her new book on racism and health. They discuss how she came to this topic after her years being a health editor at Essence magazine and why the picture is particularly stark for the health of Black women and their infants. They also talk about why she's optimistic about the health of Black people and how personal stories are helping to create societal change. You can read her article on maternal mortality mentioned in the podcast here.

Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, an obstetrician-gynecologist and CEO of Power to Decide, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the Texas case that invalidated FDA approval of the abortion medication mifepristone. They discuss what the ruling might mean in the short term and the broader implications for reproductive health, FDA approval of other drugs, and the field of medicine.

A U.S. district court in Texas issued a ruling limiting the scope of the Affordable Care Act's requirements for coverage of preventive services. On today's podcast, Joe Palmore, a former assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice and current co-chair of the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group at the law firm Morrison Foerster, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the Braidwood Management Inc versus Becerra case, its consequences, and what comes next.

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed a man subject to an intimate partner violence restraining order to keep his guns. Kelly Roskum, the director of law and policy for the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk about this decision and what's next for guns and the courts.

A new report entitled "Building the CDC the Country Needs," makes recommendations for how to return trust and confidence to the nation's top public health agency's tarnished reputation. Stephanie Desmon talks to the co-chairs of the report, Steve Morrison, a global health policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Tom Inglesby, who heads the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. They discuss what has happened to the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, and outline what needs to be done before the next one.