The CommonHealth

February 6th marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a United Nations-sponsored awareness day meant to highlight efforts to eradicate FGM. An estimated 200 million women and girls today have undergone some form of FGM, a practice that can cause irreversible physical and mental health challenges. In this episode of Take as Directed, CSIS Global Health Policy Center Senior Associate Janet Fleischman speaks with Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, a Kenyan educator, activist, and founder of “Kakenya’s Dream”, a leading nongovernmental organization for girls’ education, health, and empowerment, which also works to end FGM and child marriage. Dr. Ntaiya discusses the personal journey that led her to form “Kakenya’s Dream”, and how her work is helping to develop the next generation of women leaders in her community. Hosted by Janet Fleischman.

Adrien de Chaisemartin from Gavi discusses strategies to improve global vaccine access, country engagement, and management practices. The podcast explores Gavi's role in supporting low-income countries, transitioning countries out of support, and collaborating with partners for effective vaccine distribution.

Around 47,600 Americans died in 2017 of opioid overdoses. It’s the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, surpassing car accidents. What makes this crisis have such a wide reach and penetrate racial, economic, and geographic lines? Take As Directed host Steve Morrison dives into its origins of the crisis in the first episode of a special miniseries on the American opioid epidemic. Episode produced in 2018 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

While global rates of malaria have been declining over the last fifteen years, those unprecedented gains have recently slowed. In this episode of Take as Directed, we are joined by Dr. Philip Welkhoff, an expert in disease modeling who is the current director for malaria at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Welkhoff speaks with guest host Robert Newman, GHPC Senior Associate, to address this plateauing of progress while also discussing data integration, the new malaria strategy of the Gates Foundation, and the importance of U.S. funding and leadership in the malaria endgame.

Greater attention and resources to low-income country vaccination programs over the last decade have resulted in tremendous gains in immunization coverage. But coverage rates have now stalled, calling for new approaches to overcoming enduring barriers to health care access. In this episode of Take as Directed we are joined by Dr. Orin Levine, Director of Vaccine Delivery for the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss the potential of new technologies, strategies, and partnerships to improve vaccination rates and strengthen immunization systems even in the most difficult of settings. Hosted by Nellie Bristol.

The ongoing Ebola crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first Ebola outbreak in a war zone, is posing unprecedented challenges to responders. Much of the difficulty stems from the difficult security situation in the region, yet the particulars remain a mystery to many. In this episode of Take as Directed, we are joined by Judd Devermont, Director of the CSIS Africa Program, for a conversation that provides critical context on operating in eastern DRC, including clarity on who the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are and perspective on the relationship between the Ebola outbreak and the upcoming, highly anticipated elections in DRC. Hosted by J. Stephen Morrison.

Women’s health services, including maternal health and family planning, are critical to enable women and girls to access economic empowerment opportunities. In this episode of Take as Directed, GHPC Senior Associate Janet Fleischman speaks with Margaret Schuler, Senior Vice President of the International Programs Group at World Vision, and David Ray, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at CARE. The three discuss how the current bipartisan momentum around economic empowerment for women provides an opportunity to strengthen linkages with U.S. investments in women’s global health, how such an approach fits with USAID’s “Journey to Self-Reliance” framework, and the role of women’s groups and faith-based organizations in promoting access to both economic empowerment programs and women’s health services.  Hosted by Janet Fleischman.

In this episode of Take as Directed, we hear from Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, about his reflections on his first 7 months in that post, takeaways from the UNGA high-level meeting on tuberculosis, as well as his expectations for the lead-up to the 2019 Global Fund replenishment conference, set to take place in France. He also discusses the importance of creative financing needed to achieve The Global Fund’s goal of investing resources to end the pandemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Hosted by Sara Allinder.

In part two of our series with Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he addresses what he calls “the public health crisis of our time” – the ongoing opioid epidemic.  Combating the opioid epidemic has proven to be a challenge with a multitude of complexities, and Dr. Redfield shares his thoughts on where we are in the arc of this epidemic, the gaps that exist in treatment and recovery services, and the dangers of stigma in the midst of a public health crisis.   Hosted by J. Stephen Morrison.

Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC Director, discusses the complexities of the polio endgame and CDC's significant contributions. Topics include hurdles in eradicating polio, sustaining global initiatives, and preserving assets for future health efforts.