Power and Health Inequities

We’ve known about the health harms of lead exposure for more than 1,000 years. But many people, including children, are still exposed to lead through various sources including paint, water and soil. In this episode, Dan Kass, Senior Vice President of Environmental, Climate and Urban Health at Vital Strategies joins us to discuss this pervasive public health problem, what governments can do to monitor lead exposure and what you can do to protect yourself from lead poisoning.

Improving diets by creating and maintaining healthier food systems and environments is paramount to addressing the $2 trillion global obesity epidemic. It’s a task that seems almost impossible under the deluge of ultra-processed products that make up most of our food intake. In this episode, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health joins us to discuss her new report, “Food, nutrition and the right to health,” and how food security and nutrition are necessary elements for global progress toward all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Featuring:
 
- Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
- Isabel Barbosa, Senior Associate, Health and Human Rights Initiative at the O’Neill Institute
- Luyanda Majija, Associate Director of Communication, Food Policy Program at Vital Strategies

 Access the report Food, nutrition and the right to health. 

The U.S. drug overdose crisis has created new urgency to shift from punitive measures to a public health perspective, focused on harm reduction. Opioid settlements, agreements between governments and pharmaceutical entities, offer an opportunity to allocate funds toward preventing future crises.

Christine Minhee, Founder, OpioidSettlementTracker.com and Kate Boulton, Senior Legal Technical Advisor at Vital Strategies, highlight the importance of transparency and public involvement in decision-making processes on how these resources will be used, while discussing how health advocates can access the funds for harm reduction initiatives. Discover how these resources empower individuals and communities to influence the impact of settlement funds on global health.

This episode features:

• Christine Minhee, Founder, OpioidSettlementTracker.com
• Kate Boulton, Senior Legal Technical Advisor at Vital Strategies

This episode features highlights from our VitalTalks Live event, held in New York.

One in three women worldwide have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes—an alarming statistic that only scratches the surface of this global atrocity.

The event heard from experts who are using innovative data and advocacy to help bring gender-based violence out of the shadows and into the public eye.

You can watch the full video of the event at https://www.vitalstrategies.org/can-data-end-gender-based-violence/

Speakers include:

• Ruxana Jina, Director, Data Impact Program, Vital Strategies
• Márcia Lima, National Secretary of Policies for Affirmative Action and Fighting and Overcoming Racism, Ministry of Racial Equality, Brazil
• Erin Leasure, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Specialist, International Center for Research on Women
• Leila Milani, Program Director, Global Policy & Advocacy, Futures without Violence
• With moderation by Shakuntala “Shaks” Santhiran an international broadcast journalist and professional moderator
• With remarks from Vital Strategies’ Fatima Marinho, Principal Technical Advisor, Women’s Health and Gender Equity, Brazil and Sharon Kim-Gibbons, Vice President, Public Health Programs and Acting Director, Data Driven Policy Initiative for Women’s Health

Our first interview on this episode is with Lili Farhang, co-director of Human Impact Partners (HIP), a national public health nonprofit. Lili discusses HIP's mission to leverage public health for policy and systems change by addressing power imbalances through equity and collective power that centers social justice movements.

Then we are joined by Hattie from ANSWER Detroit, a sex worker justice collective. Hattie discusses how their mutual aid network supports sex workers' health and well-being, and the significance of public health officials supporting mutual aid groups and including leaders from marginalized communities.

Speakers include:

• Lili Farhang, Co-Director of Human Impact Partners
• Hattie, an organizer with ANSWER Detroit

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

Human Impact Partners: https://humanimpact.org

Health Equity Guide Toolkit: https://healthequityguide.org

ANSWER Detroit: https://answerdetroit.org 

Lack of investment in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics has been called one of the most important shortfalls in global development over the last 30 years, and the results are devastating.

Tens of millions without identity and rights. Governments flying blind.

For the first time in history, we have the technology, tools and know-how to make every person count. We’ve proven that in Bangladesh, where birth and death registration have been boosted fivefold since 2015.

This episode features a recording of our recent CRVS roundtable event, where you’ll hear from leading experts engaged in the life-changing work of making millions of invisible people visible.

The event was moderated by Femi Oke, international journalist and broadcaster, with speakers including:

• Irina Dincu, Senior Technical Advisor CRVS—United Nations Population Fund
• Janet Miki Ohno, Ph.D., Consultant, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
• William Muhwava, Chief, Demographic and Social Statistics Section, African Center for
Statistics, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
• Philip Setel, Vice President, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, Vital Strategies

With opening remarks by Jennifer Ellis, Data for Health Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Read more about our CRVS work in this New York Times Magazine cover story by Jeneen Interlandi, The incredible challenge of counting every global birth and death:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/magazine/birth-death-tally.html 

In this episode, we discuss funding trends in global public health and the potential that new or different financing models have to catalyze impact.

The episode features Ash Rogers, Co-CEO, Lwala Community Alliance; Julius Mbeya, Co-CEO, Lwala Community Alliance and Grace Chiang Nicolette, Vice President of Programming and External Relations, Center for Effective Philanthropy.

The Lwala Community Alliance is a community-led organization based in Kenya that strengthens the capacity of rural communities to advance their own well-being. Lwala is also a grant recipient from Yield Giving, a fund established by McKenzie Scott to provide organizations with unrestricted funding that is transforming the nature and impact of philanthropic giving. Ash & Julius delve into the current financing landscape and what they believe is needed to catalyze impact that prioritizes community needs and leadership.

The Center for Philanthropy (CEP) is a US-based nonprofit that provides data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness. They do this work because of the belief that effective donors can profoundly contribute to creating a better and more just world.

In this episode we meet with experts who are advancing new models of collaboration that put countries in the global south at the forefront.

We're joined by Dr. Mamka Anyona to discuss the Health4Life Fund, a U.N. led global financing partnership to accelerate action towards noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health in low- and middle-income countries. What makes the Health4Life Fund innovative is its aim to transform the NCDs and mental health landscape through a country-led approach that centers collective action and health equity.

We also discuss new models for collaboration with Dr. Mazvita Muchengeti, an Epidemiologist and the Acting Head of the National Cancer Registry in South Africa. Dr. Muchengeti leads the IARC-GICR collaborating center in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is one of the three collaborating centers facilitating better access to cancer data in sub-Saharan Africa. She explains how collective action enables the centers to leverage knowledge and funding in a low resource setting.

This episode features:

• Dr. Mamka Anyona, Policy and Strategy Lead for the Health4Life Fund
• Dr. Mazvita Muchengeti, Epidemiologist and the Acting Head of the National Cancer Registry in South Africa

In part two of our series on health equity, we asked four more guests for their perspectives on health equity and what it means to them.

This episode features:

- Linda Villarosa, Author and contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine

- Lola Adedokun, Executive Director of the Aspen Global Innovators Group

- Carol McGruder, Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

- Dr. Phil Gardiner, Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

What does health equity mean to you and how can it help advance public health?

As we launch our revamped VitalTalks podcast, we asked public health experts and those deeply engaged in equity work to join us to share their perspective in this special two-part series.

Guests on this episode include:

- Neena Prasad, Food Policy Program Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies

- Keecha Harris, President of Keecha Harris and Associates

- Pedro de Paula, Country Director for the Vital Strategies Brazil office