In the final episode of this series, we revisit where we are now. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to work together, and this was eye-opening in showing how much can be achieved with co-ordination and collaboration. We examine how we can replicate this without the need for a global crisis with Dr Chikwe Iheweazu Assistant Director General of WHO.

We finish with the story that started Seema’s journey to become a doctor - her mother, Yasmin Halima, with her work as an AIDS activist in 90s and 2000s. Yasmin talks about making science and politics meet to combat HIV and how that gives us hope for the future in our fight against disease.

Guests featured:

- Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu - WHO Assistant Director-General of WHO for Health Emergency Intelligence and Surveillance Systems.

https://www.who.int/director-general/who-headquarters-leadership-team

- Yasmin Halima - award winning activist.

https://dci.stanford.edu/fellow/yasmin-halima/

In this episode we track the spread of Mpox and ask, how does the pandemic alarm system work? Does the global alarm system work?

We have powerful vaccine technologies and we are making incredible strides in understanding pathogens that threaten the health of our populations, but how we move vaccines and resources to people in need is still a major challenge for global health organisations and governments.

Seema explores mpox and it’s recent global spread and talked to Dr Mark Ecclestone-Turner about global health systems, and asks difficult questions about the effectiveness and fairness of what we have in place.

Finally we hear a report from Dr Nicaise Ndembi, from the frontline of the fight against Mpox where things are improving.

Featured Guests

- Dr. Mark Ecclestone-Turner on how the global health system reacts to emerging pandemics https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/mark-eccleston-turner

- Dr. Nicaise Ndembi on the emergence of the Mpox Clade 1b virus and sounding the alarm. https://africacdc.org/people/dr-nicaise-ndembi/

Smallpox is a pathogen specific to our species and it has wreaked havoc with human populations over the centuries. Ultimately it gave rise to what we now think of as immunisation and vaccine technology and is the only disease we have ever eradicated.

In this episode we explore this epic history of the Variola virus with Professor Gareth Williams, hear from Dr Celine Gounder, who sought out and interviewed the last survivor of smallpox in the wild, and confront a still controversial predicament: should all remaining live samples of the smallpox virus be destroyed? with Professor David Heymann.

Featured guests:

Prof. Gareth Williams, author of ‘Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox’ - on the history of smallpox https://thesohoagency.co.uk/authors/gareth-williams/

Dr. Celine Gounder on Rahima Braha the last survivor of smallpox in the wild https://www.celinegounder.com/

Professor David Heymann on the eradication of wild smallpox and the argument for retaining live virus samples for research https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/heymann.david