We’re sharing the first episode of “Silence in Sikeston,” a new podcast from KFF Health News and WORLD
The 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. The 2020 police shooting of Denzel Taylor. Two Black men killed nearly 80 years apart by a public health threat of their time. Silence in Sikeston explores what it means to live with racism and violence, then charts the toll on our health — from hives, high blood pressure, inflammation and heart disease to struggles with mental health.
All four episodes of Silence of Sikeston are available now on Apple, Spotify, or PRX
Dec 9, 2024
26 min
The series finale of “Epidemic: Eradicating Smallpox” is a visit to the home of Rahima Banu, the last person with a documented case of naturally occurring variola major smallpox. When the virus was declared eradicated, she became a symbol of one of the greatest victories in global public health. What happened to Rahima Banu afterward?
Nov 7, 2023
16 min
What good is a vaccine when there is no rice? Episode 7 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores the barriers public health workers face in communities where people’s basic needs aren’t being met.
Oct 24, 2023
18 min
Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.
Oct 10, 2023
20 min
Episode 5 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast explores how a partnership between public health institutions and a huge, influential private company was key in the campaign to eliminate smallpox.
Sep 26, 2023
24 min
Join an online conversation led by Céline Gounder, a physician-epidemiologist and the host Season 2 of the “Epidemic” podcast, at noon ET on Thursday Sept. 14 about what the success of smallpox eradication can teach us about the public health challenges of the future.
Sep 12, 2023
48 sec
In Bangladesh, smallpox eradication workers went to great lengths to vaccinate even one person, sometimes traveling by speedboat, crossing rickety bamboo bridges or leech-infested paddy fields. Episode 4 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast is about what it takes to bring care directly to people where they are.
Aug 29, 2023
21 min
In the early 1970s, public health workers buoyed by the motto “zero pox!” worked across India to achieve 100% vaccination against smallpox. This episode is about what happened when these zealous young people encountered hesitation.
Aug 15, 2023
18 min
Who gets credit for wiping smallpox from the planet? American men have been widely recognized while the contributions of South Asian public health workers have been less celebrated. Episode 2 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast tells the story of Mahendra Dutta, an Indian public health leader, whose political savvy helped usher in a transformative approach to finding and containing smallpox cases.
Aug 1, 2023
24 min
To defeat smallpox in South Asia, public health workers had to navigate the region’s layered cultural ideas about the virus. They also dreamed big. In Episode 1, host Céline Gounder wonders how the U.S. might tap into similar “moral imagination” to prepare for the next public health crisis.
To close the episode, Céline Gounder wonders how the U.S. might tap into similar “moral imagination” to prepare for the next public health crisis.
Jul 18, 2023
22 min
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