This episode turns the spotlight on political will as the decisive, often underestimated force in strengthening global public health. Our guest is former President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, whose government steered the country through the COVID-19 pandemic on the strength of a public health system decades in the making, and who has continued to shape global conversations on public health, climate change, and governance since leaving office. Drawing on his leadership in Costa Rica and his ongoing work in global health diplomacy, this conversation explores what it truly takes - politically, institutionally, and personally - to build health systems that hold up under pressure, and what it will take to do the same at regional and global scales. President Alvarado is also a member of Club de Madrid.

Special thanks to Club de Madrid.

Link to recording: https://riverside.com/dashboard/studios/denys-nazarovs-studio/recordings/04baae43-c4e5-48c3-9752-3d20315ca628

The media can save lives, and it can cost them. Kerry Cullinan, editor at Health Policy Watch, joins the podcast to explore what it really takes for health journalism to be effective in a world overcome by misinformation. Candid, specific, and occasionally blunt, this conversation digs into the conditions that make trustworthy health reporting possible, and what's lost when it isn't.