In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps into the chamber of decision-making where evidence meets constraint. Public health operates under limited budgets, competing priorities, and ethical trade-offs. Economic appraisal provides the structured tools to guide those choices.

Holmes introduces the core approaches to economic evaluation:

* Cost-minimisation analy…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes confronts a reality of modern public health: most meaningful interventions are not single actions, but interconnected systems of change.

A vaccination is simple. A health system reform is not. Reducing obesity, improving mental health, tackling health inequalities - these require interventions with multiple components, int…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes moves from measuring populations to mobilising them. Health promotion is not simply about delivering information - it is about enabling people to improve and sustain their wellbeing.

Holmes begins by revisiting the foundational principles of modern health promotion, including the shift from disease treatment to empowerment…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes turns his attention to the architecture of populations. Demography is the study of population size, structure, and change - and it underpins nearly every public health decision.

Holmes begins with the core components of demographic change:

* Fertility

* Mortality

* Migration

We explore key demographic measures: crude birth and death…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes approaches one of the most sensitive and socially complex domains of public health: sexuality.

Sexual health is not merely the absence of disease. It encompasses physical wellbeing, psychological safety, consent, reproductive autonomy, identity, and human rights. Holmes explores how sexuality intersects with infectious dis…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes turns his attention from pathogens and probabilities to people and power. Public health is not solely biological - it is deeply social and psychological.

We explore how sociology examines the structures that shape health: social class, inequality, institutions, norms, culture, and power dynamics. Holmes investigates how so…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps away from snapshots of disease and instead examines the long arc of health across an entire lifetime.

Life course epidemiology asks a transformative question: How do exposures at different stages of life influence later health outcomes? Health is not merely the product of present conditions - it is layered, cumulativ…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes shifts from prediction to vigilance. Public health surveillance is not passive data collection - it is structured, continuous, systematic observation designed to trigger action.

Holmes begins by defining surveillance in its modern sense: the ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of health data for…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes enters the world of dynamic systems - where infections move not randomly, but according to patterns that can be described, simulated, and sometimes predicted.

Mathematical modelling of infectious disease seeks to answer urgent questions:How fast will an outbreak grow?When will it peak?What level of vaccination is needed fo…

In this episode, Medlock Holmes steps onto a global stage. Instead of a single outbreak or local study, we now examine the health of entire populations - across countries, decades, and causes.

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) framework was developed to answer a profound question: How do we compare the impact of different diseases, injuries, and risk fa…