752 - The Health Care Crisis At the U.S.-Mexico Border Part 1: Children and Families
Release Date: 04/29/2024
Public Health On Call
Armed internal conflict in Sudan has created a humanitarian crisis with millions of people displaced both internally and to neighboring countries. Dr. Salim Mohamednour, a medical epidemiologist with expertise in emergency response and the national health coordinator at the WHO country office in Sudan, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the unfolding catastrophe and what needs to be done. Special thanks to Aseel Salih, Hassan Salih, and Laila Zomorodian, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health students who assisted with the production of this podcast. A note that Dr....
info_outline 760 - Planetary Health in the ER: The Role of Medicine In The Earth CrisisPublic Health On Call
The planetary health crisis can’t be ignored in hospitals where patients are sick from climate-driven things like asthma from air quality emergencies, COVID-19 from a zoonotic spillover event, and cardiovascular complications from heat waves. Chris Lemon, an ER doctor and Bloomberg Health Initiative fellow who focuses on the intersection of climate change and health, talks with Stephanie Desmon about his work bringing planetary health dialogue to hospital staff while also looking at ways health systems can lower their massive carbon footprints.
info_outline 759 - Book Club: What If Fungi Win?Public Health On Call
From mushrooms to microscopic organisms, fungi represent a serious—and still relatively unexplored—threat to human health. Dr. Arturo Casadevall returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, What If Fungi Win? which looks at why certain fungal infections take off, why they’re so hard to treat, and why we will most certainly see more of them with climate change and treatment-resistant strains. Learn more:
info_outline 758 - Homelessness and SCOTUS: What Happens When People Experiencing Homelessness Are Forced To Move?Public Health On Call
Johnson v. Grants Pass, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, raises the question of whether homelessness can be criminalized. Ashley Meehan, a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the public health dimensions of this issue. They discuss her research looking into what happens to people after encampment sweeps and what policies would benefit not only people experiencing homelessness but their communities and cities as well. Listen to our previous episode on this issue:
info_outline 757 - How to Prevent Dengue or “Break-Bone Fever”Public Health On Call
Dengue, or “break-bone fever”—a disease transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause serious fever, rash, muscle and joint pain and even problems with bleeding and shock—is surging around the world and popping up in new places like the U.S. Vaccine expert Anna Durbin returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about these trends and the general status of vaccines, treatments, and prevention. Learn more:
info_outline 756 - Electronic Cigarettes Part 2: How Serious are the Health Risks Associated with E-cigs?Public Health On Call
More than a decade after electronic cigarettes became broadly available in the United States, their merits are still being debated. Do these products help people quit smoking? How serious are the health risks associated with these products? In a two-part series, we hear from two researchers in tobacco control about their views. In part two, Stan Glantz, the Truth Initiative Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control at the University of California San Francisco talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his research into the harms of electronic cigarettes and the dangers of "dual use" of...
info_outline BONUS - An Update on Bird Flu in the U.S.Public Health On Call
Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz and public health veterinary expert Dr. Meghan Davis return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about what we’ve learned so far from viral sequencing of H5N1, its presence in milk, what we know about infections in humans, the status of the overall response to a major pathogen of concern on the heels of COVID-19, and more. Read Dr. Davis’s recent New York Times essay on protecting the dairy workforce here:
info_outline 755 - Electronic Cigarettes Part 1: Do E-cigs Help People Quit Smoking?Public Health On Call
More than a decade after electronic cigarettes became broadly available in the United States, their merits are still being debated. Do these products help people quit smoking? How serious are the health risks associated with these products? In a two-part series, we hear from two researchers in tobacco control about their views. In part one, Dr. Nancy Rigotti, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. Read her editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine:
info_outline 754 - A Public Health Emergency: Syphilis Surges in the Great Plains RegionPublic Health On Call
An alarming and dangerous syphilis surge across the Great Plains Region, an area spanning North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, has prompted tribal officials to urge HHS Secretary to declare a public health emergency. Dr. Meghan Curry O’Connell, chief public health officer at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board and a member of the Cherokee Nation, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about the outbreak and why public health officials are struggling to respond. Learn more:
info_outline 753 - The Health Care Crisis At the U.S.-Mexico Border Part 2: Border Walls and Traumatic Brain and Spinal InjuriesPublic Health On Call
In part two of a two-part series about the crisis of health care for immigrants and refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Alexander Tenorio, a neurosurgical resident at the University of California, San Diego, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the influx of traumatic brain and spinal injuries his team has seen from people attempting to climb the border wall. They discuss the scope of the problem and the policies behind it, and why it often takes hours for victims to get critical care. They also talk about Dr. Tenorio’s personal connection to the situation as a first-generation American...
info_outlineIn part one of a two-part series about the crisis of health care for immigrants and refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Janine Young, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Diego, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the tenuous situation for children and families. More and more people are showing up at the border in poor health—dehydrated, malnourished, some severely injured and many traumatized—without any adequate care to meet them. They talk about the immigration policies that have led to a system ill-equipped to properly triage and treat the children and families seeking refuge in the U.S., and the misconceptions around people who are fleeing for their lives.