This two-part episode shines a light on the lived experiences of two remarkable individuals affected by NTDs. We explore firsthand how disability influences and affects their lives. In part 1, host Garry Aslanyan speaks with Mulikat Okanlawon, a survivor of noma in Nigeria and President of the Elysium Noma Survivors Association. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of Mulikat and other survivors, noma was officially recognized as an NTD by the World Health Organization in 2023. Claire Jeantet, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, speaks about collaborating with Mulikat over the past eight years to bring her story and the stories of other noma survivors to policymakers, academics and the public.

Related episode documents, transcripts and other information can be found on our website.

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Ability in disability from noma: neglected tropical diseases part 1

With so many pressing global health challenges and limited resources, what determines whether an issue makes it onto the global health agenda? What factors shape its priority status? In this episode, using oral health as a case example, we take a closer look at the framing of global health issues. Host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan speaks with Habib Benzian, a dentist, professor of epidemiology and health promotion at New York University and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborative Center on Oral Health. Bulela Vava is a dentist and President of the Public Oral Health Forum in South Africa.

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Framing global health issues: the case of oral health

Trailblazers with Garry: a conversation with Tulio de Oliveira

"Trailblazers with Garry" is a new series from Global Health Matters, where host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan sits down with trailblazers — thinkers, leaders, and influencers shaping the future of global health — for short face-to-face conversations, available in both audio and video formats. It’s a chance to get to know the people behind the work and hear their perspectives on the current global health landscape.

Our first trailblazer is Tulio de Oliviera, Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Tulio was recognized by Time magazine in 2024 as one of the 100 most influential people in global health. He led the research group that confirmed the Beta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 and led the early trials in testing COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in South Africa. Garry sat down with Tulio in his lab to hear about his experience behind the discoveries and also to discuss the progress made in pandemic preparedness.

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Trailblazers with Garry: a conversation with Tulio de Oliveira

From a global challenge to the Maasai steppe of Tanzania
Most climate change predictions show an upward trend in temperature for at least the next nine decades. Rural communities whose health and livelihoods depend on the environment are more vulnerable to climate change. In recent years, persistent droughts have made Maasai communities in northern Tanzania vulnerable to sleeping sickness, a disease spread by the tsetse fly. Paul Gwakisa of Sokoine University has dedicated his research to helping the Maasai people better understand and prevent outbreaks of sleeping sickness in their communities. Pierre Quiblier of the UN Environment Programme also speaks about global efforts to better tackle climate change through an integrated “One Health” approach that brings together sectors such as agriculture, health and the environment.


Host Garry Aslanyan is joined by the following guests:

Paul Gwakisa,
Professor of Immunology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania

Pierre Quiblier
Programme Officer, Chemicals and Health Branch, United Nations Environment Programme

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Encore - Climate change’s impact on health

In this episode of Dialogues, host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan  speaks with Chikwe Ihekweazu, Assistant Director General at the World Health Organization (WHO) and acting Regional Director for the WHO Regional Office for Africa, and his wife, Vivianne Ihekweazu, Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch. The conversation centers on their latest book, An Imperfect Storm: A Pandemic and the Coming of Age of a Nigerian Institution.  Chikwe discusses his personal journey in establishing the Nigerian Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria as well as how they as a couple balance personal life with demanding work during challenging times.

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Dialogues: A conversation with Chikwe and Vivianne Ihekweazu

"Trailblazers with Garry" is a new series from Global Health Matters, where host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan sits down with trailblazers — thinkers, leaders, and influencers shaping the future of global health — for short face-to-face conversations, available in both audio and video formats. It’s a chance to get to know the people behind the work and hear their perspectives on the current global health landscape.

Step inside the Wellcome Trust in London with our next trailblazer, the newly appointed CEO John-Arne Røttingen — former head of CEPI and Norway’s Ambassador for Global Health — traces his leadership journey and vision for the foundation. He explains why bolder citizen-scientist partnerships are crucial to navigating the global-health funding crunch ahead.

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Trailblazers - John-Arne Rottingen

This episode features three renowned communicators of science who work to inform, educate and inspire the public about health issues. Microbiologist Natalia Pasternak has become one of the leading communicators of science in Brazil and internationally. As founder of Instituto Questão de Ciência, she offers advice on how others can set up science communication institutes in their countries.  Imogen Foulkes reflects upon how scientists can better communicate their research to the public, given her experience as a journalist with the BBC News and SWI swissinfo.ch based in Geneva. And Sonia Lowman of International Medical Corps highlights the power of film to connect audiences to global health issues and create a vision for the way forward.

Host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan speaks with the following guests:

Natalia Pasternak – Founder, Instituto Questão de Ciência in Brazil
Imogen Foulkes - Geneva correspondent, BBC News and SWI swissinfo.ch
Sonia Lowman -  Filmmaker and Senior Communications Specialist, International Medial Corps
Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Global Health Matters podcast series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of TDR or the World Health Organization.

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The CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO creative commons licence allows users to freely copy, reproduce, reprint, distribute, translate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided TDR is acknowledged as the source and adapted material is issued under the same licensing terms using the following suggested citation: Global Health Matters. Geneva: TDR; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

All content © 2025 Global Health Matters.

Encore episode - Episode 7: Communicating science, not fiction

Substance use is a global public health challenge, affecting Northern and Southern countries alike. Yet strategies for managing it have varied widely. In this episode, host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan speaks with Kwame McKenzie, a practicing psychiatrist and CEO of the Wellesley Institute. He's also Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada. Together they unpack how language shapes policy, explore the impact of the pandemic on substance use and discuss lessons from different national approaches to addressing this complex issue.

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From cannabis to kush: perspectives on substance use

What are the colonial legacies in global health? And what impact have they had on how some health and health research programmes are run in Africa? In this episode, we speak to two visionary women leaders who tell us what’s wrong in global health and give concrete steps toward more equitable and inclusive partnerships. 

Host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan  speaks with the following guests:

Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya

Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda

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The CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO creative commons licence allows users to freely copy, reproduce, reprint, distribute, translate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided TDR is acknowledged as the source and adapted material is issued under the same licensing terms using the following suggested citation: Global Health Matters. Geneva: TDR; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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Encore - Actions for decolonizing global health

The World Health Organization recently made the historic recommendation to widely use the first ever malaria vaccine, RTS,S. This recommendation was based on evidence generated from a pilot vaccine implementation programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 800 000 children since 2019. This is an excellent example of how evidence based on implementation research tells us whether health interventions, such as vaccines, will be effective in real life, after clinical trials show its efficacy and safety. In this episode, Margaret Gyapong of the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana shares her first-hand experiences and learnings from the malaria vaccine pilot. Lee Hampton of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, also tells us how implementation research has played a key role in the success of health programmes for diseases such as yellow fever, typhoid and more.

Host Garry Aslanyan speaks with the following guests:

Margaret Gyapong: Director, Institute for Health Research at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana 

Lee Hampton: Vaccine preventable disease surveillance and vaccine safety focal point at
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Switzerland

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The CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO creative commons licence allows users to freely copy, reproduce, reprint, distribute, translate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided TDR is acknowledged as the source and adapted material is issued under the same licensing terms using the following suggested citation: Global Health Matters. Geneva: TDR; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

All content © 2025 Global Health Matters.

Encore - Discoveries from vaccine implementation

"Trailblazers with Garry" is a new series from Global Health Matters, where host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan sits down with trailblazers — thinkers, leaders, and influencers shaping the future of global health — for short face-to-face conversations, available in both audio and video formats. It’s a chance to get to know the people behind the work and hear their perspectives on the current global health landscape.

In this Trailblazers episode, Garry sits down with Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, Dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, to talk about the future of public health education, learning health systems and the core competencies tomorrow’s leaders will need to make an impact on public health.

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Trailblazers with Garry - a conversation with Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown

From climate change and conflict to economic instability, today’s converging global crises are reshaping the landscape of child health. In this episode, host twitter.com/GarryAslanyan  speaks with two leading voices in global health: Landry Tsague, Director of the Center for Primary Health Care at Africa CDC, and Debra Jackson, Takeda Chair in Global Child Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. They share insights on what should be done to strengthen health systems, empower communities and create conditions where children not only survive, but thrive amid the turbulence of the metacrisis.

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Child health in the metacrisis

Global Health Matters podcast - bringing you experienced and emerging voices in research and health

This podcast is filled with innovative and inspiring episodes on how health for all can be achieved.  The host of our podcast, Dr Garry Aslanyan (https://twitter.com/GarryAslanyan), discusses thought-provoking topics such as access to medicines, science diplomacy, the future of public health programmes in a post-pandemic world, diversity in global health and many more. You’ll hear from renowned experts and emerging voices with a focus on low- and middle-income country perspectives.

For more information, please visit: https://tdr.who.int/global-health-matters-podcast

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